Herbert Michael "Bert" Cremean (8 May 1900 – 24 May 1945) was an Australian politician. He was a Labor Party member of the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the states and territories of Australia, state lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the state upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament H ...

for the districts of Dandenong (1929–1932) and Clifton Hill (1934–1945). He was Deputy Premier of Victoria for four days in September

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 � ...

.Cremean, Herbert Michael
''Re-member'' (Parliament of Victoria).

Early life

In May 1900, Cremean was born in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

, an inner suburb of

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. His parents were Cecelia Hannah O'Connell and carpenter Timothy Carton Cremean. He was educated at St Ignatius' School in Richmond and St Patrick's College in East Melbourne, and had a broad range of occupations, including clerk, timberworker, machinist and tram driver.

Political career

The Cremean family were active in local Labor politics, with both his mother and uncle having served as mayor of the

City of Richmond The City of Richmond was a local government area about east of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The city covered an area of , and existed from 1855 until 1994. History Richmond was incorporated as a municipality on 24 A ...

. Cremean joined Richmond Council in 1926, and was mayor from 1928 to 1929, during a time in which the council was split by factional rivalries. In 1929, Cremean sought preselection for the Victorian lower house seat of

, but was defeated by Ted Cotter in controversial circumstances. Cremean then sought and won preselection for the seat of Dandenong, and defeated the incumbent Nationalist Party member and railways minister, Frank Groves at the 1929 state election. Cremean represented Dandenong for one term, until Groves regained the seat for the

United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four Elections in Australia, federal elections in that time, usually governing Coalition (Australia), in coalition ...

at the election in 1932. Following his defeat, Cremean worked as an assistant purchasing officer for the

Vacuum Oil Company Vacuum Oil Company was an American petroleum, oil company. After being taken over by the original Standard Oil Company and then becoming independent again, in 1931 Vacuum Oil merged with the Mobil, Standard Oil Company of New York to form Socony ...

. In 1934, Cremean was preselected for the by-election for the seat of Clifton Hill, which was vacated by Maurice Blackburn, who had resigned to contest the federal seat of Bourke. As the only candidate at the close of nominations, Cremean was elected unopposed. In 1941, Cremean was instrumental in the founding of " The Movement"—a consolidation of Catholic trade union groups to combat communist influence in the labour movement. Although he did not live to see the Australian Labor Party split of 1955 which resulted, Cremean was the person who suggested the formation of the group, and worked closely with B. A. Santamaria to organise it. In December 1942, Cremean authored and published a booklet, ''Red Glows the Dawn: A History of the Australian Communist Party'', under the pseudonym Michael Lamb, warning of communist tactics and infiltration of the Labor Party.Duncan, Bruce (2001): ''Crusade Or Conspiracy: Catholics and the Anti-Communist Struggle in Australia'', UNSW Press. . In 1943, Cremean was appointed Deputy Premier and Chief Secretary in the First Cain Ministry, which lasted less than four days before having its commission withdrawn after the Governor refused the request of the Premier John Cain to dissolve parliament.

Death

In 1945, Cremean underwent surgery for a long-standing colonic

fistula In anatomy, a fistula (: fistulas or fistulae ; from Latin ''fistula'', "tube, pipe") is an abnormal connection (i.e. tube) joining two hollow spaces (technically, two epithelialized surfaces), such as blood vessels, intestines, or other h ...

at Mount St Evin's Hospital in Fitzroy, but he contracted

peritonitis Peritonitis is inflammation of the localized or generalized peritoneum, the lining of the inner wall of the abdomen and covering of the abdominal organs. Symptoms may include severe pain, swelling of the abdomen, fever, or weight loss. One pa ...

and died on 24 May. Cremean's death triggered a by-election for Clifton Hill, at which his brother, Jack Cremean, was elected.

References

External links

*
Red Glows the Dawn
', Cremean's anti-communist booklet {{DEFAULTSORT:Cremean, Bert 1900 births 1945 deaths Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Chief secretaries of Victoria Deputy premiers of Victoria Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Victoria Mayors of places in Victoria (state) Australian anti-communists Australian Roman Catholics Deaths from peritonitis People from Richmond, Victoria Politicians from Melbourne 20th-century mayors of places in Australia