October 2001 Volume 82 Number 10 "serving the protectors"
A Life of Endless Service
By Brett Williams

Obituary

The Australian police union movement lost one of its most revered figures with the death last month of former PASA secretary, Ralph Tremethick.

A war veteran, ex-police officer and long-serving industrial advocate, Mr Tremethick died on September 4 after he suffered a stroke. He was 81.

Police Association president, Peter Alexander, described him as a decent, modest man who possessed great common sense. He said one of his greatest achievements had been the first full industrial award he helped win for police officers in 1970.

“He was always prepared to follow a line that was not one of self-interest but one of doing things for other people,” Mr Alexander said. “I think he was an example of the sorts of people who came back after the war and set about improving the lot of people through democratic process.”

Proud of his working-class background, Mr Tremethick ran for the Police Association presidency in 1961 but tied with a fellow candidate. After the deadlock was broken, he emerged as the winner.

In 1963, he was appointed the association’s first full-time secretary and resigned from the police force to take on the job.

His friend and former association colleague, Peter Warman, said that, as secretary, he “had a hard road to hoe” but operated with great flare in the industrial relations arena. Mr Warman regarded him as a mentor and said his greatest asset had always been his honesty.

“As secretary of the association, he used to travel to all the police stations in South Australia once a year,” he said. “Ralph always said that fellows in the country needed support as much as the blokes in the city did.”

Mr Warman said that, although Mr Tremethick had not been religious, he had studied the Bible so he could offer informed comment on Christianity. He researched many other subjects for the same purpose, Mr Warman added.

During his 16 years as PASA secretary, Mr Tremethick served terms as president and vice-president of the United Trades & Labor Council through the mid-’70s. He also served as honorary president and secretary of the now defunct Police Federation of Australia and New Zealand, to which he was awarded life membership.

Police Association secretary, Andy Dunn, said that, with the PFANZ, Mr Tremethick had “ worked tirelessly toward improved conditions for police across the nation”.

With former PASA committee members, Peter Warman and Eddie Trotter, he established the Police Credit Union in 1970. He served as its director from 1970 to ’72. In the early 1980s, Mr Tremethick oversaw the first major refurbishment of the Police Association building in Carrington St.

In the late 1960s, he conceived and developed the Police Club monthly luncheon concept and saw it first realized in February 1968. He was awarded life membership to the club, as well as the Police Association.

His military service began when he joined the Royal Australian Naval Reserve in 1938. Four days after WWII broke out, in September ’39, he joined the HMAS Hobart and served in the Mediterranean and Pacific.

While on the Hobart, he served in the Battle of the Coral Sea in 1942 and later transferred to the HMAS Warrego. Mr Tremethick rarely spoke of his war service but is known to have fired on kamikazes while he was on the Warrego. He was also mentioned in dispatches.

In 2000, he resigned from the presidency of the Hobart Old Comrades Association after 50 years in office. Mr Tremethick had also been president of the Warrego Old Comrades Association.

“He was in that category of disciplined ex-servicemen: hard but fair,” Mr Alexander said. “Ralph was a great Aussie; one of those people you deal with in life whom you respect.”

Mr Tremethick worked as a tram conductor after the war but joined SAPOL as a special constable in 1946. After some years in traffic policing, he joined the CIB where he worked as a detective through the late 1950s and early ’60s.

During his police career, he qualified as a prosecutor and won recognition as a handwriting expert. He had undergone training with the NSW Police Handwriting Section in 1960.

After his 1979 retirement, Mr Tremethick stayed strongly involved with the Police Association through the Police Club monthly luncheon. In late August, he attended the last one before his death.

Mr Tremethick was farewelled by his family and friends in a private funeral on September 7. He is survived by his wife Hilda, son Hayden, daughters Lorraine and Margaret, and nine grandchildren. - Brett Williams

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