Family background
Joseph Cyril Carroll was born on 8 November 1901 at Warrenpoint, County Down, Ireland. In 1926 at Woollahra NSW he married Gladys Murray and had six children. In 1962 he married a second time to Marjorie Claire Carroll. He died on 27 January 1998, aged 96, at Sylvania, NSW, survived by his daughter and four sons. A Mass was held at Our Lady of the Way at Sylvania before his interment at Woronora Cemetery.
Occupation & interests
Joseph Cyril Carroll was an Irish patriot who fought on the Republican side in the Irish War of Independence from 1917 to 1922. During this time, he served a five year apprenticeship as a fitter, turner and mechanical draftsman. He was imprisoned in Dublin for 10 months before leaving Ireland in 1922, when he ‘went to sea’. He was a member of the Seaman’s Union and travelled widely on merchant vessels to America, Africa and Europe.
Carroll jumped ship in Sydney in 1924 and settled in suburban Sylvania. He was an apprentice engineer at Mort’s Dock and Engineering Company in Balmain, rising to the position of works manager and Chief Estimator, which ‘entailed the preparation of all tenders and the handling of all contracts’. He then went on to supply surgical instruments for St Vincent’s Hospital, establishing his own company in Pyrmont called the Anaesthetic and Portable Machine which he ran until his retirement in 1963. He was an inventive engineer and in 1925 he and Michel Maximov applied for copyright in a work entitled Letter Checking Method Puzzle (NAA: A1336, 14457). His interests were politics and horse racing. In 1994 he was invited to lead the St Patrick’s Day Parade in Sydney, attended by the Irish Minister for the Environment.
Community activity
J C Carroll was a Justice of the Peace (JP). He was a member of the Australian Society of Engineers while employed at Mort’s Dock, and later a member of the Amalgamated Engineering Union when manufacturing his own surgical equipment. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), and by 1949, held the positions of President of the West Sydney Federal Electorate Council, President of the King State Electoral Council and Secretary of the Pyrmont Branch of the ALP.
Parliamentary service
Carroll unsuccessfully nominated for the Federal seat of West Sydney in a preselection ballot held in 1949.
Local government service
Carroll was an Alderman for Phillip Ward and Municipality of Darlington, 4 December 1948 to 12 December 1953. He was a member of the Works Committee, 1949-52; the Health and Recreations Committee, 1949-52; the Finance Committee, 1953; and the City Planning and Improvements Committee, 1953.
References
Information on Joseph Cyril Carroll courtesy Dawn Carroll, City of Sydney 2010/119508-01
‘Obituary’, Sydney Morning Herald, 7 February 1998
City of Sydney Archives: Aldermen’s Files
Society of Australian Genealogists: AGCI index