Published: 30 Nov 2020
Dear comrades and friends
It’s my very sad duty to let you know that Tess Geraghty, Pat Geraghty’s wife and life long partner has passed away.
I have passed on my and the MUA , ITF, CFMMEU and Maritime Supers deepest sympathies and condolences to her sons Mathew and Chris and their families.
A remarkable woman ,Tess was a part of every development in our union and related work due to her and the families extraordinary commitment to maritime workers over more than 60 years through the Seaman’s Union of Australia in particular.
Pat was a seaman from Balmain and Tess a nurse when they met , Pat a little older but Tess probably a bit more responsible and they formed a great and durable marriage . She was close to every major decision that Pat and the union made and often she and the family were on the receiving end of many the attacks and great challenges that resulted from and was a consequence to those decisions abc their marriage
Tess never wavered in the face of public and political attack on the union , Pat and by extension the family and was as much a part of that contribution as Pat. During that time and particularly in the earlier period there was very little money, the family lived at St Mary’s before the motorways and Pat was working up to 17 hours a day as a young Assistant Federal Secretary to Eliot V Elliot. She worked shift work at the hospital constantly to make ends meet for the family. A bit of relief came when a retired seafarer sold his house at Darlinghurst to the family to help them a long a bit and Tess ended up in a senior nursing role 5 minutes away at St Vincent’s. The house was an older terrace on the side of the hill with a leaky roof about 100 metres up and many other maintenance issues. Tess often said that if it wasn’t for Maxie Best and other seaman home on leave helping out she would never have made it through
But make it through she did .International guests stayed at their homes along with interstate union officials and comrades abc it was a critical hub to the social and political functionality of the Seamen’s Union of Australia. She also travelled with Pat on international delegations and was as highly regarded and respected in those international networks as Pat
Tess however was not a quietly supportive partner with Pat , quite the opposite. She had strong political and industrial views and was a sharp observer of human nature, a particularly dynamic combination of values that was further enhanced by a quick and dry sense of humour that often went very close to the bone regardless of who it may have been directed at.
While Pat was a staunch communist Tess was an equally staunch catholic and their philosophical exchanges were often rich and textured to the others in the room. It was a relationship built in mutual respect and equal partnership between two great trade unionists and Australians in a long and demanding marriage
Her later life was significant in both great pleasure and sometimes deep pain in her family affairs, and at one time became gravely ill. Pat was instrumental in her return to health and in one of the great ironies of their life then became ill and passed with her constantly at bedside at their loved St Vincent’s , both visited by a long line of senior politicians and trade unionists , seafarers and other maritime workers, corporate leaders friends and comrades. Her role and acknowledgement by many senior politicians and labour and trade union leaders of that was pivotal to the tremendous warmth and importance at Pat’s funeral .
She lived quietly in recent years at the nursing home near Crown St, was very active and aware and visited and loved by many
Again our deepest sympathies and most profound condolences to Mathew who is the senior financial advisor at Maritime Super and Chris, a seafarer and their families and Tess’s extended family and friends. Their eldest son Brian passed away a number of years ago under tragic circumstances and we also reach out to his family in support for their great loss.
A warm and loving woman ,mother , grand mother, wife and friend, as tough as it took to make a life for the family and many others , particularly the sick weak and vulnerable. Vale Tess Geraghty , a long and textured life , well lived and greatly respected. Now at rest
Paddy Crumlin
MUA National Secretary
CFMMEU International President
ITF President
Maritime Super Chair
