Labour Australia

Lena Morrow, 1934

Barrier Truth Daily (Broken Hill, NSW), 29 May 1934

Helena Jessie (Lena) Morrow, née Newton (1886-1982) teacher and community activist 

Birth: 7 October 1886 at Gawler, South Australia, daughter of John Newton and Ellen, née Corley. Marriage: 1913 at Broken Hill, New South Wales, to Milton Morrow (1889-1925), a turner and Amalgamated Society of Engineers official born in South Australia. They had one daughter. Death: 20 July 1982 at Broken Hill, New South Wales. Religion: Methodist. 

• To Broken Hill from South Australia in 1903. Worked as a teacher at North Broken Hill school from 23 April 1903. Left work on marrying.
• In 1930 was convener of the North Broken Hill school parents and citizens’ association and for several years secretary of the ladies’ committee.
• Her parents in South Australia were interested in the co-operative movement and, having been associated with an earlier co-operative store on the Barrier, in about 1929 Mrs Morrow was member of the newly formed Broken Hill Co-operative Society and on its board of directors. Run on different lines to the earlier store, it “had no connection with the mining companies”, its administration was democratic , “and its goods sold at current prices”. Its basis was the Rochdale system.
• In 1933 she was a co-founder and secretary of the society’s ladies guild. This was “purely a women’s organisation. They want no meddling males interfering.”

Sources
Barrier Daily Truth, 29 May 1934 (biography)