Labour Australia

Frank Condon, n.d.

Francis Joseph (Frank) Condon (1884-1961) flour mill worker, trade union leader and politician

Birth: 3 December 1884 in Burra, South Australia, son of William Alfred Condon (1860-1932), a labourer born in Mitchelstown, County Cork, Ireland, and Catherine Kelly, née Tobin (1860-1946). Marriage: 1917, to Mary ‘Mollie’ Murphy (1892-1964). They had one son and two daughters. Death: 15 July 1961 in North Adelaide. Religion: Catholic. 

• Educated at St Mark’s School, Port Pirie. In 1897 started work for Adelaide Milling Co., Port Pirie.
• 1906 honorary secretary of Port Pirie Flour Millers’ Union and 1909 sent to Adelaide to organise union there. Worked as a needleman, sewing bags of flour. A great supporter of all athletic movements in the district.
• 1910 general secretary SA branch of Federated Millers and Mill Employees’ Association, later federal president and court advocate. President then secretary of Port Adelaide Trades and Labor Council 1912-1922. In 1915 was appointed to the Prices Regulation Commission. Elected member of Port Adelaide City Council for East ward in 1920.
• Member of the South Australian House of Assembly for Port Adelaide from 5 April 1924 to 25 March 1927.
• Member of the Legislative Council of SA for Central District from 27 October 1928 to his death.
• Appointed C.M.G. in 1954.

Sources
Howard Coxon, John Playford and Robert Reid, Biographical Register of the South Australian Parliament 1857-1957 (Adelaide, 1985; Australian Worker (Sydney), 3 June 1915, p 17; The Union News, September 1961.