Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Reilly, Betty Mary
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
- Betty McCann
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1910 – c. 2003
History
Betty Reilly was born on 15 November 1910. She married Frederick John Reilly in 1936 and was later divorced in 1948. Reilly joined the St Kilda Branch of the Communist Party of Australia in 1937. She volunteered to assist the Newtown strike committee during the 1941 textile strike. She then worked at Bonds mill in Camperdown but was subsequently sacked; and found work as a doffer at Australian Woollen Mills, when she began organising workers into the Textile Workers’ Union. Reilly was appointed shop steward and was active in the 1943 Sydney textile strike but (reluctantly) supported the CPA’s call to end strike action. She became secretary of the CPA Women’s Committee. Active in Union of Australian Women; employed by Women’s International Democratic Federation, Berlin, 1952-55; and remained active in the women’s movement and peace movement in Australia. Her published articles include “A Stitch in time: experiences in the rag trade” (Australian Left Review, no. 82 September 1982) and “Knowing we were right” (Australian Left Review, no. 85 Spring 1983).
Places
Melbourne; Sydney
Legal status
Functions, occupations and activities
political activist; textile worker; trade unionist
Mandates/sources of authority
Internal structures/genealogy
General context
Relationships area
Access points area
Subject access points
Place access points
Occupations
Control area
Authority record identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation, revision and deletion
Entered from deposit description on 17 April 2012
Language(s)
Script(s)
Sources
Working Lives website, http://workinglives.econ.usyd.edu.au/reilly.html (accessed on 17 April 2012)
Ozleft website, http://members.optusnet.com.au/spainter/BReilly.html (accessed on 17 April 2012)