About Harold Peden

Harold Peden was a senior trade union activist, State President of the Amalgamated Metal Workers Union, Senior Vice President of the Trades and Labor Council (now known as UnionsWA), State President of the Communist Party of Australia and a long-time activist in the peace movement, retiring in July 1985.

Each year since his untimely death in 1993 due to boating accident, The Australian Society for the Study of Labour History celebrates Harold’s life with a community lecture emphasising his work and passion.

Harold Peden was a man who took the cause of labour and labour history to his heart. A political activist and proud unionist throughout his working life, Harold was awarded the Order of Australia in 1990 for his services to the trade union movement and Western Australian workers.

Details and to RSVP for the 2022 Harold Peden Memorial Lecture are available online here.

L-R Harold Peden, Jim McKiernan and Bill Woods