Alf Wallis

Who is Alf Wallis?

Alfred Russell "Alf" Wallis was an Australian trade unionist and conciliation commissioner.

Born at North Carlton in Melbourne to carpenter William Wallis and Mary Ann, née Gorman, he attended state schools at Horsham and Moreland before becoming a cutter's apprentice and journeyman. He joined the Victorian Socialist Party when he was eighteen, and in 1906 was sent to gaol for thirty days for his part in the party's free speech campaign. On his release he joined the Victorian Clothing Operatives' Union and represented it in the Trades Hall Council, also being elected to the VSP's executive. However, the increased stress of these positions led to a breakdown and Wallis retired to the country to recover. He returned to his career in 1908 and in 1909 was elected president of the Victorian branch of the Federated Clothing Trades Union of Australia. From 1912 he represented his union at state conferences of the Australian Labor Party.

In 1920 Wallis was appointed secretary of the Clothing Trades Union's Victorian branch and edited its journal, the Clothing Trades Gazette. At Collingwood on 5 March 1921 he married Josephine Wood.