Family background
Andrew Patrick Cleary was born 9 April 1883 at Warialda, NSW, the son of Andrew Cleary and Honorah O’Connell. He married Elizabeth Rosmina Petersen (1881-1959) at Sydney on 5 January 1905 and they had 5 sons and 3 daughters. They lived at 86 Eveleigh Street, Redfern. Cleary died on 10 October 1952 at Blakehurst, aged 69 years, and was buried in the Roman Catholic Section of Woronora Cemetery.
Occupation & interests
Prior to World War I Andrew Cleary worked at the Eveleigh Railway Workshops. Cleary enlisted in the third battalion of the Australian Imperial Force on 21 February 1916 and embarked from Sydney on 26 August 1916. He proceeded to France in December 1916 and was admitted to hospital in March 1917 after receiving a gunshot wound to the head. He returned to Sydney on 4 January 1918 and in consequence of medical unfitness he was discharged on 7 February 1918.
In 1922 Cleary wrote to Redfern Council seeking support to suppress larrikinism and assaults on police. Cleary observed that ‘a section of the police force showed pluck in picking on respectable people but they were not game to tackle the roughs who were not afraid to return a bit of what they got. If the police were assaulted the fault was generally their own’.
Local government service
Andrew Cleary was elected an alderman on Redfern Council in a by-election following the resignation of Alderman Boulton in 1920. Cleary served on Redfern Council until 1922, representing Golden Grove Ward.
References
‘Municipal Elections’, Sydney Morning Herald, 21 September 1920, p.3, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/16866983
National Archives of Australia: B2455, CLEARY A P, SERN 5984