Denis ('Dinny') Lovegrove (25 September 1904 – 25 January 1979) was an Australian politician. Born in

Carlton Carlton may refer to: People * Carlton (name), a list of those with the given name or surname * Carlton (singer), English soul singer Carlton McCarthy * Carlton, a pen name used by Joseph Caldwell (1773–1835), American educator, Presbyterian ...

(then a thoroughly working-class suburb of Melbourne), Lovegrove left school early, and held a variety of jobs including those of brass foundry worker, shipping office clerk and plasterer. In 1930 he joined the

Communist Party of Australia The Communist Party of Australia (CPA), known as the Australian Communist Party (ACP) from 1944 to 1951, was an Australian political party founded in 1920. The party existed until roughly 1991, with its membership and influence having been i ...

, but he was expelled in 1933. Subsequently, when he publicly criticised the party, he was administered a severe thrashing in an attack carried out by communist thugs. He then joined the Labor Party and served on its state executive from 1938 to 1955 (holding the office of state president from 1943 to 1944). In addition, he was federal president of the ALP from 1953 to 1954. He was secretary of the Fibrous Plaster and Plaster Workers' Union (FPPWU) from 1935 to 1947, president of the Trades Hall Council in 1938, and a delegate to the

Australian Council of Trade Unions The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), originally the Australasian Council of Trade Unions, is the largest peak body representing workers in Australia. It is a national trade union centre of 46 affiliated unions and eight trades and la ...

. Until 1954, he was associated with the hardline anti-communist

Industrial Groups The Industrial Groups were groups formed by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in the late 1940s, to replace Communist Party influence in the trade unions with groups controlled by B. A. Santamaria's "Movement" which had infiltrated the ALP in 1944 ...

; but in that year he decisively broke with them, and remained loyal to the ALP and its leader John Cain (Premier 1952-55) after the 'groupers' were forced out. He was elected to the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The presiding ...

in 1955 as the member for

, transferring to

Fitzroy Fitzroy or FitzRoy may refer to: People As a given name *Several members of the Somerset family (Dukes of Beaufort) have this as a middle-name: **FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855) ** Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset, 8th Duke of Beau ...

three years later. From 1955 to 1978 he was president of the FPPWU. For part of that period (1958–67) he was simultaneously Deputy Leader of the Opposition, which during those years was led by

Clive Stoneham Clive Philip Stoneham, OBE (12 April 1909 – 3 July 1992) was an Australian politician. He was an ALP member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for over 27 years from November 1942 to April 1970, representing the electorates of Maryborou ...

. He moved to the new seat of Sunshine in 1967, retired from the legislature in 1973, and died at

East Melbourne East Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. East Melbourne recorded a population of 4,896 at the 2021 ...

in 1979.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovegrove, Denis 1904 births 1979 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly 20th-century Australian politicians People from Carlton, Victoria Politicians from Melbourne