Laurie Short
{{Short description|Australian trade unionist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}}
{{Use Australian English|date=August 2015}}
Laurence Elwyn Short {{post-nominals|country=AUS|AO|OBE}} (15 December 1915 – 24 March 2009) was an Australian trade union leader and leading figure in the Australian Labor Party (ALP). Short was the national secretary of the Federated Ironworkers' Association (FIA), now part of the Australian Workers' Union, from 1951 to 1982.{{cite news|url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25239802-12377,00.html|title=Union icon Laurie Short dies|date=25 March 2009|work=The Australian|accessdate=2009-03-25}}{{dead link|date=March 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
Biography
Short at first supported the idea of communism in Australia, but then rejected communism and then was an important anti-communist union leader.{{cite news|url=http://www.theage.com.au/national/unionist-kept-labor-intact-20090325-9aje.html?page=-1|last=Howes|first=Paul|title=Unionist kept Labor intact|date=26 March 2009|work=The Age|accessdate=2012-07-18}} Short ran against Ernest "Ernie" Thornton, a member of the Communist Party of Australia, in the 1949 FIA elections — Thornton at first claimed victory, but later his election was ruled invalid, and Short declared the winner.[http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A160470b.htm Australian Dictionary of Biography - Thornton, Ernest (1907–1969)] Short was a non-Catholic ally of B. A. Santamaria's Catholic Social Studies Movement,[http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ross-lloyd-robert-maxwell-15927 Australian Dictionary of Biography - Ross, Lloyd Robert Maxwell (1901–1987)] but was seen as playing a key role in preventing the New South Wales branch of the ALP from splitting along sectarian lines in the Australian Labor Party split of 1955.
Honours
He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1971{{cite web|url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1109692|title=SHORT, Laurence Edwin (OBE)|work=It's An Honour|publisher=Australian Government|accessdate=2009-03-25}} by John Gorton's Liberal-Country Party Government, and this was followed in 1980 by his appointment as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO){{cite web|url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/881855|title=SHORT, Laurence Edwin (AO)|work=It's An Honour|publisher=Australian Government|accessdate=2009-03-25}} by Malcolm Fraser.
Personal life
He married artist Nancy Borlase in 1941 and was father to journalist Susanna Short.{{cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/arts/portrait-of-the-artist-as-a-wife-and-mother/2009/03/17/1237054815915.html|title=Portrait of the artist as a wife and mother|last=Brown|first=Malcolm|date=18 March 2009|work=The Age|accessdate=2009-03-25}} Nancy died in 2002.
References
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Further reading
- {{cite book|last=Short|first=Susanna|title=Laurie Short: A Political Life|date=1992|publisher=Allen & Unwin|location=Sydney|isbn=1-86373-188-1}}
See also summary at [http://members.optushome.com.au/spainter/Shortsummary.html]
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Category:Australian trade unionists
Category:Officers of the Order of Australia
Category:Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire
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