George Fitzsimmons was a letter server, a clerk and a Chief President of the

Australian Natives' Association The Australian Natives' Association (ANA) was a mutual society founded in Melbourne, Australia in April 1871. It was founded by and for the benefit of native-born white Australians and membership was restricted exclusively to that group. The A ...

Background

Fitzsimmons was born in Ballarat East in 1858, the son of John Fitzsimmons and Ellen Lindsay. In 1877 he married Alice Scates. He joined the Victorian Post Office and Telegraph Department in 1875 as a letter server.

Employment

After Fitzsimmons joined the Victorian Post Office and Telegraph Department as a letter server in 1975, and by the 1890s had worked his way up to the position of clerk. In 1901, as a result of the Federation of the Australian States, the Victorian Post Office and Telegraph Department became part of the Australian Postmaster General's Department. For a number of years he was responsible for the Private Letters Branch. Fitzsimmons retired in 1916 after over 41 years of employment. Fitzsimmons became a Justice of the Peace (JP).

Australian Natives' Association

Fitzsimmons joined the

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. Within months of Vi ...

Branch of the ANA. In 1883 he moved to

Prahran Prahran (), also pronounced colloquially as Pran, is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Stonnington local government area. Prahran recorded a ...

and was secretary of the Prahran branch for 44 years from 1889 to 1933, and in 1894 Chief President of the association. His election was despite an objection from the floor of the conference that he was a Civil Servant. He was a well like able administrator. At the Prahran branch of the ANA he did not serve as president—the usual point of departure for the chief presidency—but as secretary, with responsibility for fees and membership. Another public role in 1894 was being a master of the Prahran

Loyal Orange Lodge The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants, particularly those of Ulster Scots heritage. It als ...

, a conservative and anti-republican body. 1894 was a past master to the Windsor

Masonic Lodge A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered ...

and was chaplain to the lodge for 30 years The 1894 ANA

Warrnambool Warrnambool ( Maar: ''Peetoop'' or ''Wheringkernitch'' or ''Warrnambool'') is a city on the south-western coast of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Warrnambool had a population of 35,743. Situated on the Princes Highway, Warrnambool (A ...

Conference passed a series of radical motions adopting as ANA ‘planks’ a tax on the unimproved value of land, a minimum wage for workers in public utilities, and full adult suffrage. George Fitzsimmons was elected Chief President at the head of a board containing a majority of men who had initiated or actively supported these motions. Many branch members objected to these motions as ‘party political’, and called for them to be rescinded. Fitzsimmons was not personally inclined to be radical, but he stood with his board and ignored calls to rescind the resolutions, while taking no action to promote them. ANA membership rose by 550 members to 10,200 during the year Fitzsimmons was Chief President. Fitzsimmons attended the opening of the remote and Walhalla ANA Branch No.151 on the way to the 1895

Bairnsdale Bairnsdale () ( Ganai: ''Wy-yung'') is a city in East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia in a region traditionally owned by the Tatungalung clan of the Gunaikurnai people. The estimated population of Bairnsdale urban area was 15,411 at ...

Conference. He also served as a Trustee of the Friendly Societies Garden as the ANA representative from 1896 - 1906. He spent 44 year as Secretary of the Prahran Branch, from 1889 - 1933.

Later years

Fitzsimmons died at home in Brighton in 1933 at 74 years old.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzsimmons, George 1858 births 1933 deaths Australian public servants People from Ballarat