Person:George Hurn (1)

George may have served in the Grenadier Guards in England for 2 years as a Guardsman. He may have gone to America before coming to Australia. He was reportedly working in the mining industry there when union organising caused men to be shot down and killed - as a result, he recommended a peaceful protest in Broken Hill in 1892.

1884 - George came into South Australia on the Oriana as a steerage passenger [and his brother Jack arrived with his wife Mary in 1865] to work in the mines in Burra Burra. It is presumed that he was on the historic "Wheel Barrow" walk from Burra Burra to Broken Hill when the silver lead ore was discovered.

1886 - He was married near Broken Hill (aged 40 years) to Matilda Hart (aged 30 years), a spinster and schoolteacher. George lived at Lady Day Dream Mine where he and Matilda had their first four children, three of whom died at a very early age. The fourth, George Sylvester Hurn survived to adulthood to be killed in the Great War on the Somme in 1918.

1892 - George HURN was arrested with 6 others in 1892 for "Seditious Conspiracy" and was transported from Broken Hill to Deniliquin by railway because there was the doubt that the 6 would have a fair trial (fair for the mine owners, that is). At each of the stops along the way (Pt Pirie, Adelaide, Melbourne, and Albury) the prisoners and their escort were feted and wined and dined by the waiting unionists. George evidently had the temerity to help organise the "Above Ground" union in Broken Hill which went against the wishes of the mine owners (this was the "Sedition" George was charged with). At the end of the trial, five of the seven were jailed for from 6 months to five years and George was set free. He supposedly walked from Deniliquin back to Broken Hill and was reunited with his family.

The following quote is from the book "Industrial History of Broken Hill" by George Dale printed in 1918 and reprinted in 1965 - Chapter V - STRIKE LEADERS ARRESTED: "More Police, More Arrests - Sleath and Ferguson Up for Seditious Conspiracy - Dibbs, Sir Henry Parkes, and G. H. Reid All of a piece - Scabs, and Still More Scabs - Strikers Defeated - Unequally Yoked Together - Jabez Assertive - Filthy Conditions. Thursday, September 15th, (1892,) was a red-letter day in Broken Hill history. Another large contingent of police arrived, after being publicly entertained at a dinner by the Employers Federation in Adelaide the previous day, and each man handed a bottle of whiskey, "just to keep his spirits up on his arrival at the Barrier." Mr. Whittingdale Johnson, in fining a man forty shillings for bad language (the man had sworn that he was neither a picket nor in any way connected with the strike) asked the constable: "Is this man one of those pickets?" The constable answered, "No." "

George, his wife Matilda, his sons George Sylvester and Edward Harry and his daughter Mildred eventually settled in a house in Sandwell Street, Peterhead (not more than 8 kilometers from where his Grandson, Kenneth George eventually bought his home in Osborne some 40 years later.)

George had two spells of about a month each in the Adelaide Hospital for "Plumbism" (Lead Poisoning), the first in August & September 1898 where he said he had been in the colony for 2 years. The second admission was in July August 1900 where he said he had been in the colony for 18 years.

After Matilda died, when George Sylvester was killed in France in the Great War and Edward Harry was reported missing in the British submarines, George moved up into the hills with Mildred onto a poultry farm where he lived until he died in 1929.

OBITUARY OF GEORGE HURN: "A LABOR VETERAN. MR. G. HURN'S DEATH. 8th April 1844 - 5th July 1929. Mr. George Hum, who died at the age of 85 at the home of his daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. James Stanbury, at Uraidla on Friday, was for many years an outstanding figure in the industrial life of Australia. Until recently he maintained a close connection with the Labor movement and one of his latest acts was to present the Labor Party with ten volumes of "Science and History of the Universe", intended as the nucleus of a library to be established at the Trades Hall. During the industrial disturbances in Broken Hill in the early days, when Messrs. Bleath, Ferguson, Polkinghorn and others were prosecuted, Mr. Hurn was also one of the leaders, but he was acquitted. He had advised the men against resorting to direct action. He had had experience in America, where he had seen workers shot down in industrial struggles. Mr. Hum's organising ability was recognised at Broken Hill during the strike, when by buying cattle and other supplies he was able to provide food for the miners and their dependents economically. Mr. Hum suffered from the miner's complaint as a result of his work in the silver mines. Later he lived for many years at Port Adelaide, where he was held in high esteem by all sections, and particularly by the Labor Party. He was a regular attendant at meetings and took part in the discussions. He was a prominent figure at the annual conferences of the Labor Party. With Messrs. C. Gilchrist and H. Mills, both of whom died recently, Mr. Hurn was regarded as among the veterans of the movement in this state. Mrs. Hurn died several years ago in 1918. One son was killed in the war, and one son and a daughter survive."