Bob Pringle
Bob was born in Queensland 54 years ago. He was the quintessential Australian knockabout. He had a variety of jobs in Queensland, including a stint at that back-breaking job, cane-cutting.
He came to NSW and worked mainly as a scaffolder and rigger where he joined the then Builders Labourers Federation (BLF). Bob became president of the NSW branch in the late '60s, leading the struggle around wages and decent working conditions during the late '60s and early '70s. Those were the days when building workers did not have hot water on jobs to wash and changed in humpies containing cement bags. Bob went through the vicious margins strike of 1970 and the 1971 strike for full compo when off sick.
He was instrumental in gaining BLF support for the first green ban in Kelly's Bush, and was highly active in the Victoria Street green ban against the developers' thugs.
In his full and active life, Bob was an outstanding activist against racism. When the tent embassy was erected in Canberra, Bob was the only non-Koori received into the Koori caucus.
And one cannot forget that memorable night when Bob, with a mate Johnny Phillips, set out to saw the goalposts down the night before the Springboks game. He was half way through just as the coppers lifted them. It took four hours to get him out of jail because he was giving the coppers heaps.
His other interests were many and varied, including playing jazz on the drums and writing poetry, and he was often in the Harold Park Hotel, where his wake will be held.
Bob drowned on the central coast last week. His funeral service will be on August 7 at the Eastern Suburbs Crematorium at 2.30pm. Our condolences to his step-daughter Jane and to the myriad of friends who will miss him.
— Joe Owens