Deposit N296 - Bill Wood papers

William Arnold Whitfeld (Bill) Wood was born on 3 December 1911 in Sydney and was the son of historian George Arnold Wood (1865-1928) and Eleanor Wood. Wood was educated at Sydney Grammar School; Sydney University; and was Rhodes Scholar at Balliol, Oxford from 1932-1935. He graduated with a BA in 1936 and an MA in 1946. He worked on the Western Morning News, Plymouth in 1935; Sydney Daily Telegraph 1936; Labour Daily, Sydney in 1938. He ran unsuccessfully as a Labor candidate for the seat of Parramatta in the September 1949 Federal election; as State Labor candidate for Drummoyne in 1941 and for Willoughby in 1943; Communist Party candidate for North Sydney in 1947 and 1956; and Communist Party candidate for Mosman in 1959. He was Editor of Progress 1942-1945 before joining the Royal Australian Artillery as a gunner in 1945. Wood was a member of the Communist Party of Australia and in 1947 he became Foreign Editor of the Tribune, a newspaper published by the CPA. From 1969-1976, Wood worked as a Librarian at the Fisher Library, Sydney University.