Patricia Devanny (5 November 1913 – 5 December 1980), also known as Patricia Hurd, was an Australian political activist. Devanny was born at

Pūponga Pūponga is a tiny settlement in New Zealand and is the northernmost settlement in the South Island. It is in the Tasman District, north of Collingwood, at the foot of Farewell Spit. The spit's airstrip, Triangle Flat Airstrip is just north ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, to miner Francis Harold Devanny and

Jean Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * J ...

, who were both active in the

New Zealand Labour Party The New Zealand Labour Party, also known simply as Labour (), is a Centre-left politics, centre-left political party in New Zealand. The party's platform programme describes its founding principle as democratic socialism, while observers descri ...

. The family moved to

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

in August 1929, at the beginning of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, and became involved in the

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

movement through the unemployed workers movement. Patricia, having joined the Young Communist League, was arrested in November 1930 and sentenced to fourteen days in prison for participating in an unauthorised demonstration. While in

Long Bay gaol The Long Bay Correctional Complex, commonly called Long Bay, is a correctional facility comprising a heritage-listed maximum and minimum security prison for males and females and a hospital to treat prisoners, psychiatric cases and remandees, loc ...

, she and several other women participated in a

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...

to support the "Clovelly boys", who had been imprisoned for arson after they burned the house of a landlord who evicted an unemployed family. Devanny's activism gained her respect in the Communist Party and, in 1931, she was sent to the

Communist International The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internationa ...

school in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, where she studied Marxist-Leninist theory. After returning to Australia in 1933, she became national secretary of the Young Communist League of Australia and led the organisation from semi-secrecy into daily political life. She and her husband, seaman Ronald William Jackson Hurd, who had fought with a British battalion in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

, travelled to New Zealand for the birth of her son before returning to Sydney. The family then spent some time in

Fremantle, Western Australia Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

, before moving to

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, where Devanny broke with the communist movement and joined the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

. Devanny drowned in a neighbour's swimming pool in

Townsville, Queensland The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

in 1980 and was cremated.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devanny, Pat 1913 births 1980 deaths People from Golden Bay New Zealand emigrants to Australia Deaths by drowning in Australia 20th-century Australian women Communist Party of Australia members