Chummy Fleming

Who was Chummy Fleming?

John William 'Chummy' Fleming was a pioneer unionist, agitator for the unemployed, and anarchist in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

"Chummy" Fleming was instrumental in starting May Day celebrations and marches in Melbourne. He was a member of the Melbourne Anarchist Club which formed on 1 May 1886, the first formal anarchist organisation in Australia. In 1899 he was elected to the Trades Hall Eight Hours Day committee and to the executive of Trades Hall Council. He was President of the Fitzroy Political Labor League, the forerunner to an Australian Labor Party branch. For more than sixty years he was a regular speaker at the Queens Wharf and Yarra Bank speakers corners on Sundays.