workingclasshistory:

On this day, 7 July 1839, lifelong revolutionary worker organiser Monty Miller was born in what is now Tasmania. Aged 15 he took part in the Eureka miners’ rebellion and was involved in the fighting against British troops, during which he was wounded by both a bayonet and a bullet.
Miller later worked in construction, became an anarchist and women’s rights advocate, and during a major depression he helped set up relief depots for starving people. He took part in various strikes, and was victimised for it, and when it came to Australia he joined the revolutionary union the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). He kept working in construction until a serious accident at the age of 77, at which point he applied for his pension.
In 1916 he was one of those to be arrested and jailed after the government cracked down on the IWW for its opposition to World War I, which successfully blocked conscription to the Australian army, and he was also stripped of his pension. He was then rearrested in 1917, aged nearly 80, and sentenced to 6 months hard labour for his continued membership of the IWW, now an unlawful association.
Despite all his hardship, Miller maintained his activism up until his death in 1920.
Learn more about Monty and the Australian IWW in our podcast episode 19: https://workingclasshistory.com/2019/01/28/e19-the-iww-in-australia/ https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1755467911305018/?type=3