Albert Monk was born in Waltham in Abbey, London on 16 September 1900. His family moved from England to Australia in 1910. His father was a technical officer, brought out to help establish a cordite factory in Maribyrnong, Victoria.

Mr. Monk spent his early years studying at Moonee Ponds West State School, but left at the age of fourteen, to work at a business college. At eighteen years of age he became an instructor in shorthand. From 1919, as a result of a recommendation from one of his students, Bob Chevey, the Secretary of the Carters' and Drivers' Union, he became a clerk in the Transport Workers Union.

From 1924-1929 he worked as a clerk in the office of the Victorian Trades Hall Council, rising through various offices to become Secretary of the Council between 1934-1939.

In 1927 he became minute secretary of the Australasian Council of Trade Unions and in 1933 was elected president. He served in that capacity until 1943.

From 1933 until 1949 he was full-time secretary and from 1949 until his retirement in 1969 he remained President (paid).

In 1939 Mr Monk served in the positions of President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, President of the Victorian Branch of the Australian Labor Party and President of the Victorian Trades Hall Council.

Other Australian bodies in which he was active were:- Federal Clerks Union, as both the Victorian and Federal President Victorian State Relief Committee, between 1934-1944, and 1954-1974 Workers Compensation Board, as one of the two lay members on the original board in 1939.

Albert Monk's overseas activities were considerable. He was a member of the governing body of the International Labour Office and the World Federation of Trade Unions from 1945 and an executive member of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions since its founding in 1949.

At the time of his retirement from the ACTU in 1969 he had made 62 tours overseas on union matters.

Albert Monk died in Melbourne on 11 February 1975, aged 74 years.

Honours

In 1966 he was honoured by the Queen with the Order of the Companion of St.Michael and St. George (CMG.).

Sources

Who's Who in Australia, 1974, p.744 Federal Guides, 1951 (p.16, 119); 1955 (p.18, 71, 129, 130); 1957 (p. 144,160); 1958 (p. 121, 122, 144, 162) Commonwealth Directory, 1964 (p. 163, 164); 1972 (p. 152, 175)

Agency associated with person unregistered

   1919-?      : Transport Workers' Union - Clerk
   1920-   1921: Conference of Federated Unions - Secretary
   1924-   1929: Victorian Trades Hall Council - Clerk
   1929-   1929: Victorian Trades Hall Council - Assistant Secretary
   1933-   1949: Australian Council of Trade Unions - Secretary
   1933-   1934: Victorian Trades Hall Council - Acting Secretary
   1934-   1944: Victorian State Relief Committee - Chairman
   1934-   1939: Victorian Trades Hall Council - Secretary
   1938-   1943: Victoria, State Parliamentary Advisory Committee -
                 Trades Hall Council Representative
   1938-   1943: Melbourne Technical College - Trades Hall Council
                 Representative
   1938-   1943: Victoria, State Workers' Compensation Board - Trades
                 Hall Council Representative
   1949-   1969: Australian Council of Trade Unions - President
by 1955-by 1957: Australian Atomic Energy Commission, Industry
                 Advisory Committee - Member
by 1957-c  1962: Australian Atomic Energy Commission, Business
                 Advisory Group - Member