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Muriel (Ida) Goss (1933–?)

by Allison Murchie

This article was published:

This entry is from People Australia

Muriel (Ida) Goss (1933-?) trade union official and women’s movement activist

Birth:  28 July 1933 at Adelaide, South Australia, daughter of Samuel Leonard Jenkins and Florence Ethel, née Wilson. Marriage: details unknown to Joseph Goss (1956-1975). Death: unknown. 

  • Educated at All Souls private school, St Peters, and Seaton Park Primary School, South Australia.
  • Member of the Communist Party of Australia from 1955 to 1968 and of the Socialist Party of Australia from 1969.
  • State Councillor of Amalgamated Metal Workers and Shipwrights’ Union (AMSWU) and delegate of Trades and Labour Council 1972-1975. State Councillor, Amalgamated and Engineering Union (AEU) 1969-1972. First woman to hold positions of branch secretary and State Councillor in AEU.
  • Wrote many articles for union journals.
  • Initiated Australian Council of Trade Unions’ Working Women’s Charter by drafting charter for women in 1972, endorsed by AMWSU and developed by other organisations.
  • State Secretary and national committee member of Union of Australian Women (UAW) from 1981, president of UAW SA from 1968, treasurer and assistant secretary from 1964 to 1968.
  • Organiser of SA May Day Committee 1980-81. Treasurer United Nations Status of women Committee SA from 1980.
  • Socialist candidate for the Australian Senate in 1975 and 1977.

Original Publication

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Citation details

Allison Murchie, 'Goss, Muriel (Ida) (1933–?)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://labouraustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/goss-muriel-ida-33829/text42367, accessed 28 April 2024.

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