I’ve been doing some research for a while now into Joseph Raynor’s life circa 1899.  Just to recap – in Jan 1899, he applied for naturalisation and enrolled to vote.  Further details are here  and my research at the Queensland State Archives are here.

Why in January 1899 did Joseph apply for both?  I believe it is to do with his Union membership – so that the Union could gain votes in support of the Australian Labour Party.  I’ve already established that naturalisation was compulsory for being a member of the Union, as identified in the Brandt Case 1940 .

I know that later in life Joseph became a member of  the Waterside Workers Federation, but while he was employed on the SS Bobby Towns he would have been a member of the Seamen’s Union of Australia.

In 1899, the Labor Party was relatively young, forming circa 1891.   The Labor Party briefly were in Government in Queensland in     December 1899 for one week, which was the first time the Labor Party held office in the world.  So in 1899, it was likely compulsory for Joseph to join the Union.

In searching for the Seamen’s Union of Australia archive records, I discovered this site:

Australian Trade Union – Archives

Had a look at the Seamen’s Union records, but they only relate to Melbourne and Sydney branches.   I then looked up the Waterside Federation Records which  do date back to 1899 with the following description below.

Records including minutes and membership records of Bowen, Bunbury, Bundaberg, Burnie, Busselton, Devonport, Fremantle, Newcastle, Port Augusta, Port Huon, Rockhampton, Townsville, Triabunna, Urangan and Maryborough branches transferred to Federal Office.

These records are held at the ANU Archives – Noel Butlin Centre, Canberra.  

Reference:  Z387

The only relevant information that might relate to Joseph is some Minutes of meetings records held in boxes 14-16, and may not be of much use to this family’s research:

Building 2 (R G Menzies Building), Fellows Road, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200  – only opened on weekdays, so it will be a while till I get there and have a look.  Unless I find some better leads.