By Bernie Brian
WOLLONGONG — To the strains of the "Internationale", hundreds of friends and comrades gathered on March 26 to farewell and celebrate the life of Stan Woodbury, who had died peacefully at Port Kembla Hospital two days earlier from a long illness. His coffin was decorated only by a simple red flag and the flag of the Australian Peace Committee because one of his last wishes was for people not to buy flowers but to donate money to the South Coast Workers Medical Centre instead.
A friend and comrade of many years and former president of the Miners Federation, Fred Moore told the gathering that Stan learnt the harsh realities of life growing up on the NSW Central Coast as a timber-cutter's son amid the sufferings of the depression years.
"It was this environment that helped make him into a fine, principled, militant fighter for people's rights. At all times he tried to improve the quality of life for all humanity without ever once turning his back on a battler who needed his help. It was Stan's nature to support the underprivileged and the less fortunate throughout his life, and he never once looked for self-gain or attempted to improve his lot at the expense of others. He was a very loyal person to his union and his work mates, striving and fighting at all times to safeguard their hard-won conditions."
Stan's life remains an inspiration to all of us committed to a more just and humane world. For over half a century he participated in every major working-class struggle in this country.
He was expelled from the Labor Party when he spoke against the Chifley government's use of troops against striking coal miners in 1949. He was active in the struggle against the Vietnam War. He was a long time campaigner against apartheid in South Africa. In recent years he was active in helping to raise funds to send a solidarity ship to Cuba. His active support for Cuba goes back as far as the Hands Off Cuba Committees of the early '60s. Stan was an active campaigner for peace and a lifetime member of the South Coast May Day Committee.
It is as a militant unionist that many people will remember him. His activities on the Port Kembla waterfront as an official of the Painters and Dockers Union directly saved the lives of hundreds of merchant seamen as he led a fight against the dangerous "rust buckets" that crowd the coast. In 1990 he threatened to blockade a local hospital to stop a shipping company deporting a seriously ill Indian seaman.
Stan's unionism was not one that fitted comfortably in the boardroom of the Reserve Bank or in the offices of various tripartite committees. To illustrate this, Fred Moore referred to the outcome of a meeting between Stan and young ACTU advocate Bob Hawke some years ago. "Hawke, with all his aims and ambitions and self-interest went rther his career, and he eventually became a millionaire, while Stanley and the best of us went in a vastly different way.
"Stan was a dedicated socialist, and he had a great faith in the class struggle. He despised and hated insincerity, particularly in the trade union movement. His expression was that they talked left and walked right. While a member of the NSW Labour Council, he referred to it as the graveyard of disputes, where everything was settled and nothing was ever won."
When other unionists were slow to see the importance of the environment movement, Stan in his capacity as May Day president was inviting Greenpeace to speak at the annual celebrations. He was always keen to encourage and support young people active in the movement. He will be remembered especially for his non-sectarian approach to all fighters for the working class.
In the words of the Cuban consul General, Francisco Marchante, who sent a message of condolence to the gathering: "The best way to pay tribute to our sincere friend, is by committing ourselves to continue our struggle to achieve our people's objective, that Stan had dreamt for the whole of humanity".
Stan, the rebel, communist, friend, father to Steve and husband to Cheryl, has left a vacuum that will be hard to fill. He will be sadly missed by all who had the good fortune to work with him. Young people today would have to go far to find a better role model.