Percy Edmund Creed Coleman (23 October 1892 – 25 May 1934) was an Australian union organiser and politician. Born at

Surry Hills Surry Hills is an Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), inner-east suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Surry Hills is immediately south-east of the Sydney central business district in the Local government in Australia, local gover ...

in Sydney to Thomas Coleman and Ellen, née Creed, Coleman was orphaned when still a young child and, after a New Zealand education, went to sea at the age of 13. After three years, he was a clerk with the Sydney branch of the Federated Seamen's Union of Australasia, and by 1916 he was general secretary of the United Clerks' Union of New South Wales.

Military service

Despite his opposition to

conscription Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it conti ...

, Coleman enrolled with the Australian Imperial Force in February 1918 and served with the Army Service Corps in France and England. Having been promoted to temporary sergeant by 1919, he became attached to

Australia House The High Commission of Australia in London is the diplomatic mission of Australia in the United Kingdom. It is located in Australia House, a Grade II listed building. It was Australia's first diplomatic mission and is the longest continuously ...

as a lecturer. He was discharged from the armed forces in April 1920.

Politics

Coleman toured the United States of America as a lecturer in 1920, and returned as secretary of the renamed Australian Clerical Association, a post he retained until 1922. He was also a founder and secretary of the Australian Alliance of Professional, Clerical and Government Employees' Associations. Coleman's standing in the union movement led him to be selected as the

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

candidate for the new seat of

Reid Reid is a surname of Scotland, Scottish origin. It means "red". People with the surname * Alec Cunningham-Reid (1895–1977), British politician * Alan Reid (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Reid (disambiguation), multiple people * Alexan ...

in 1922, an endeavour in which he was successful. He became known as a strong supporter of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

. Despite some negative publicity, during which he was called before a royal commission to testify with regard to apparent bribes made to some Labor members, Coleman easily held his seat in 1925 and 1929. Although he did not rise to become a minister in

James Scullin James Henry Scullin (18 September 1876 – 28 January 1953) was an Australian politician and trade unionist who served as the ninth prime minister of Australia from 1929 to 1932. He held office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), ...

's government, Coleman was appointed as the Australian representative at the

International Labour Conference The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is one of the firs ...

and the

League of Nations Mandates A League of Nations mandate represented a legal status under international law for specific territories following World War I, involving the transfer of control from one nation to another. These mandates served as legal documents establishing th ...

Commission meeting in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, as well as the British Commonwealth Labour Conference in London. He was again embroiled in controversy when he was accused of accepting a £500 bribe during an enquiry into the broadcasting stations, but was cleared of all charges. In 1931, Coleman, who had remained loyal to Scullin's Labor, was defeated in his seat by the

Lang Labor Lang Labor was a faction of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) consisting of the supporters of Jack Lang, who served two terms as Premier of New South Wales and was the party's state leader from 1923 to 1939. It controlled the New South Wale ...

candidate,

Joe Gander Joseph Herbert Gander (1888 – 22 November 1954) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1931 to 1940, representing the Sydney-based seat of Reid for the first Lang Labor (1931–1936), the ...

, and became a strong opponent of Jack Lang's "dictatorship" in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. Although he attempted to re-enter parliament via a by-election for the seat of East Sydney in 1932, he was forced to withdraw due to sickness, and was also narrowly unsuccessful in his bid to enter the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...

by contesting Lang's own seat of Auburn. Admitted to the bar in 1933, he became president of the New South Wales (Federal) branch of the Australian Labor Party, but died unexpectedly on 25 May 1934 while in a car at

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other words Arts and media * ''Concord'' (video game), a defunct 2024 first-person sh ...

. It was later determined that the cause was

heart disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina pectoris, angina, myocardial infarction, heart attack), heart failure, ...

. Coleman had married Elsie Allen Victoria Prince on 17 December 1921 in Sydney; he was survived by her and their daughter.

Military service

Politics

References

Further reading