Family background
George Boyd was probably born on 12 August 1866 in Old Monkland, Lanark, Scotland, the son of James Boyd, a stonemason, and Sarah née Kerr. He possibly arrived at Sydney on board the vessel Lochee, on 19 May 1883, however, the shipping record notes the George Boyd on board was a 22-year-old ‘goods brokerman’, as opposed to a 16-year-old.
Boyd married Margaret Taylor (1868-1962) at St Peters Anglican Church on Cooks River Road (Princes Highway) on 17 August 1889. She was the daughter of James Taylor, a farmer, and Ann née McPherson. They had 2 sons and 5 daughters. Boyd lived at 457 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills during the 1930s. He died 23 September 1938 at Redfern, and was buried in the Presbyterian Section of Botany Cemetery.
Occupation & interests
A shipping record notes a Mr George Boyd, a 22-year-old ‘goods brokerman’, arrived in Sydney in 1883, however, Boyd would have been 16 years old if he arrived that year. Boyd’s listed occupation on his marriage record in 1889 was ‘groom’.
From July 1899 he was temporarily employed as a labourer by the electrical tram branch of the Railway Commissioners of NSW, which turned into a permanent appointment at the tram station at Ultimo in January 1901. From July 1902, he worked as a pitman at the station and in 1908 was relocated to the station at Ruscutters Bay. He then worked at Waverley and Randwick in 1912 and 1913 respectively, before he was dismissed in March 1915 for ‘unsatisfactory conduct’ in relation to the ‘settlement of his debts’.
Boyd was employed at the engineering workshops at the Eveleigh Railway Workshops and worked as a boilermaker, specifically a oxy-acetylene welder. He played a prominent role during the Great Strike of 1917. In April 1937 the Labor Daily newspaper reported a ‘send-off’ at the engineering shop for ‘railway man’, ‘Mr G Boyd’, on the eve of his retirement. Mr A V D Jonson, chairman, spoke at the gathering of 150 colleagues, noting Boyd’s qualities as a ‘man and sportsman’, and a Mr J Turner, president of the Boilermakers’ Society said he had known Boyd as ‘a great worker for his union.’ The electoral rolls of the 1930s recorded his occupation as ‘useful’.
During George Boyd’s term as Mayor in 1924, Redfern Council increased the mayoral allowance to £225 a year. “A money man might be able to accept the office for the love of the thing”, said Boyd “but it is not possible for a working man to do that”.
Community activity
An article in the Evening News described him as ‘prominent in Labor circles’. He served as vice-president (1916-17) and then president of the NSW Boilermakers’ Society in 1917, representing the union during one of Australia’s largest industrial conflicts. He served on the Strike Defence Committee, representing the Boilermakers and Shipbuilders unions in meetings with the NSW Government.
In August 1917 at a mass meeting of the unions at Sydney Town Hall, he seconded a motion condemning the NSW Government’s response to the strike and re-affirming the position of the amalgamated unions. He was quoted as saying that “The result of this meeting will go all over Australia…and I appeal to you all after this meeting not to go back as a rabble, but to stand firm, and, when the time comes, we will all go back together with the flags flying and the bands playing.”
He was president of the Botany State Council and Darlington branch of the Australian Labor Party. He also served as president of the Werriwa Electoral Council and the Goulburn branch of the ALP, and was a member of the NSW Labor Council.
Local government service
George Boyd was elected an alderman for Golden Grove Ward of Redfern Council in 1922-24. In December 1923 he was elected mayor of Redfern.
References
‘Scotland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950
Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980
George Boyd, Railway Personal History Cards, State Archives Collection, NRS-12922-1-[11/16568]-[182], https://search.records.nsw.gov.au/permalink/f/1ebnd1l/ADLIB_RNSW113711363
‘News of the Week’, Australian Town and Country Journal, 4 April 1917, p. 45, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article263609351
‘Mass Meeting at Town Hall’, Sydney Morning Herald, 1 September 1917, p. 12, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15747023
‘Unions’ Mass Meeting’, Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate, 1 September 1917, 7, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138749804
‘Railway Elections’, Newcastle Sun, 16 September 1922, p. 6, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article162780041
‘The Councils’, Sydney Morning Herald, 4 December 1922, p.10, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/16049491
‘Family Notices’, The Daily Telegraph, 24 September 1938, p. 7, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article247355828
State Archives and Records Authority of New South Wales; Kingswood, NSW, Australia; Inward passenger lists; Series: 13278; Roll: 455
‘Mayor of Redfern’, Evening News, 21 December 1923, p. 6, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article119198036