Percy Clarey
Percy James Clarey (20 January 1890 – 17 May 1960) was an Australian trade union leader and politician. He led the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) from 1943 to 1949 and represented the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in the Victorian Legislative Council (1937–1949) and in the Australian House of Representatives (1949–1960).
He was born in Bairnsdale, Victoria, the fifth child of Francis William Clarey and Jessie Lawson Clarey. The family moved to Melbourne, where Percy went to South Yarra State School and the Working Men’s College. He developed rheumatoid arthritis as a young man and used crutches for the rest of his life. He joined the labor movement early, becoming secretary of the Kensington ALP branch and rising to become Victorian president of the Federated Clerks’ Union by age 24 and federal president of both the Amalgamated Food Preserving Employees’ Union and the Federated Storemen and Packers’ Union.
Clarey married Katherine Mary Isabel Chambers in 1917. They had two sons but divorced in 1936. Katherine was a Labor candidate for the Victorian Legislative Assembly seat of Caulfield in 1935. Clarey later married Florence Midiam Cater in 1948.
In the 1930s and 1940s he held several leadership roles in the union movement and the ALP. He was president of the Victorian branch of the ALP in 1934 and president of the Melbourne Trades Hall Council in 1935. During World War II he served on the Department of Munitions and the Manpower Priorities Board and attended the 1944 International Labour Conference.
Clarey was elected to the Victorian Legislative Council in 1937. He became minister of labour and public health in 1943 and then minister of labour and employment from 1945 to 1947 under Premier John Cain. People criticized him for holding both a government ministry and the ACTU presidency at the same time.
As ACTU president, he worked with his successor, Albert Monk, and opposed Communist influence in the unions. In 1948 he supported the White Australia policy, arguing that non-white immigration would cause racial tension and lower living standards.
In 1949 Clarey moved to federal politics, winning the seat of Bendigo in the House of Representatives by a small margin. He sought the ALP deputy leadership in 1951 but lost to Arthur Calwell by nine votes. He was known for his right-leaning views within the ALP and for maintaining good relations with Prime Minister Robert Menzies.
Clarey supported Israel in parliament and traveled abroad, including a 1954 visit to the United Nations General Assembly in New York and a 1957 trip to China. He died on 17 May 1960 in Oakleigh, Victoria after a period of illness following pneumonia. He was survived by his two sons from his first marriage and was given a state funeral.
His brother, Arthur Clarey, was a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for Melbourne from 1955 to 1972.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 13:20 (CET).