User:The Drover's Wife/George Sangster

George Sangster (June 1845 - 8 April 1915) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1894 to 1915, representing the electorate of Port Melbourne. He was a Labor member from 1894 to 1902, an independent Labor member from 1902 to 1906, and a Labor member again from 1906 until his death.

Sangster was born near Aberdeen in Scotland. He went to sea as a fireman around 1867, and arrived in Melbourne in 1870 on the ship "Great Britain". He worked on ships in Australian waters from 1870 to 1874, and worked alternately on shore in Melbourne and at sea thereafter. He joined the Seamen's Union of Australia soon after its formation in 1872, and in 1880, was sent by the union to New Zealand to organise branches there, succeeding in doing so in Auckland, Port Chalmers and Wellington.

Sangster was elected as the union's representative to the Trades Hall Council and as the council's vice-president in 1888. Sangster was the Victorian president of the Seamen's Union during the 1890 maritime strike and the union's secretary during the 1893 strike. He was elected as both the president of the Trades Hall Council and a Town of Port Melbourne councillor in 1893.

- article about the funds from the 1870s - http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/result?q=sangster+port+melbourne&sortby=dateAsc&l-category=Article&s=80 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/137280491?searchTerm=sangster%20seamen%27s%20union&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc - New Great Britain Hotel PDF http://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/government/dissent/display/33121-george-sangster - grandson in the Painters and Dockers - http://books.google.com.au/books?id=Lq2w9PpluU8C&pg=PA34&lpg=PA34&dq=george+sangster+port+melbourne&source=bl&ots=2VtfkTGgJC&sig=Y_cdx4TjTAp1LOWA4JR5BLQCMCc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=R3JFU7bAEYnVkgW6q4C4BQ&ved=0CFoQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=george%20sangster%20port%20melbourne&f=false