Wharfie by Wal Stubbings and Lesley Synge (review)

Wal Stubbings was a Brisbane communist and a leader of the Waterside Workers Federation in that city. He moved there with his wife from Tasmania during World War II and was caught up in the post-war confrontations with Queensland’s authoritarian Labor government. Hence, in 1948, he was one of the bearers of the coffin in the St Patrick’s Day protest against the government’s anti-picketing law to break the railway strike, fighting the police who attacked the demonstration, when – like Fred Paterson – he was struck down from behind by a baton. He remained a party member until it dissolved, active in all manner of causes, keeping up his friendships, caring as best he could for his wife Ada as she declined with dementia. He died in 2014, shortly after his 101st birthday.

With the encouragement of his son, Stubbings created an archive of the family history and dictated a lengthy account of his life that Lesley Synge, who met him through the Communist Party in the 1970s, has worked into a narrative. It tells of his childhood, the son of a timber-cutter on the West Coast of Tasmania, and the Methodist minister who married him and his childhood sweetheart when she fell pregnant, then introduced him to socialism. Stubbings relates his work experience particularly well, describing the art of labouring and the hazardous nature of working cargo. He remained close to his family, particularly after his father committed suicide, and in later life explored the emotional reticence that prevailed when he was younger. Similarly, he reflects on the failure of communism, casting back to a visit to the Soviet Union as part of a party delegation in 1963 when foreign guests were always taken to the front of the queue. An international champion in veteran athletics, he loved his sport and found happiness helping others.