Obituaries Australia

Colin Willman, a well-known personality in the trade union movement until his retirement due to ill health, died recently.

He worked for many years in the Victorian office of the Painters and Decorators Union where, among other things, he assisted many workers with compensation problems.

He was a pioneer in two areas. He took an interest before most people in the effects of industrial paints, solvents and other chemicals on workers' health.

Colin then took an active interest in the general problems of clean air in Melbourne, long before questions of pollution were of more general concern. He became Trades Hall Council representative on the Clean Air Committee, a predecessor of the Environmental Protection Authority, and was repeatedly re-elected to that position despite efforts by some to oust him because of his Communist Party membership.

His campaigning on clean air frequently forced the issue into the mass media, making an important contribution to the rise of the environmental movement.

Colin Willman was widely respected for his views on trade unionism and the need to broaden the horizons of the movement. Tribune extends its sympathies to his family.