William Guthrie Spence was a leading unionist in the early Australian Labor movement.
Early years
Spence was born in Orkney, Scotland in 1846. He arrived in Victoria during the Gold Rush in the early 1850s. With no formal schooling, he had several rural jobs and held his first miner’s right at the age of 14.
Career
Spence played an important role in the early Labor movement in Australia. In 1874, he initiated a trade union for miners in the Clunes district in Central Victoria. He went on to become general secretary of the Amalgamated Miners’ Association (AMA) in Victoria. A superb negotiator, he aimed to unite all miners. By 1884 several unions had affiliated to form the AMA of Australasia.
Spence also helped establish the Amalgamated Shearers’ Union (ASU) of Australasia in 1886. They made him President and by 1890 he had unionized most shearers in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales.
In 1894, Spence founded the Australian Workers’ Union. He served as its Secretary from 1894 to 1898 and was President from 1898 to 1917. Spence regarded the union as the industrial wing of the new Labor Party.
Towards the end of the 1890s he moved to NSW and ran for the seat of Cobar in the NSW Legislative Assembly. He held the seat from 1898 until 1901.
A supporter of Federation, he also ran for the first Federal Parliament in 1901 as member for Darling. He held this seat until defeated in 1917 after falling out with the Labor Party.
Later that same year he won the seat of Darwin in Tasmania as a Nationalist. He held this seat for 2 years.
Personal life
Spence married Ann Jane Savage in 1871 and they had 9 children.
Death
Spence died at his son’s home in Terang, Victoria on 13 December 1926 aged 80.
Bibliography
Adapted from material supplied by historian Dr Jan Penney, GMCT Trust member 2010-2020 and by the Friends of Coburg Cemetery Inc.
Bowden B (2011) The Rise and Decline of Australian Unionism: A History of Industrial Labour from the 1820s to 2010, Labour History, no. 100
Lansbury C & Nairn B (1976) Spence, William Guthrie (1846–1926) - Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian National University [website]
Spence W G (1911) The History of the A.W.A., Worker Trustees
