Family background
Alfred George Heness was born at Parramatta, NSW on 8 April 1865, the son of Charles Wollen Heness and Sarah Ann Maggs. He married Amelia Evans in 1885, with whom he had five sons, one of whom died in infancy in 1893. In 1906 they were living in Lander Street, Redfern. Alfred Heness died at the Coast Hospital (Prince Henry Hospital) at Little Bay on 25 February 1934, aged 68 years. He was buried at Rookwood Cemetery.
Occupation & interests
Heness worked as a clerk, cashier and accountant in the railways, for many years at the Darling Harbour Railway Station. He retired from there in 1928, after 48 years working for the railways. His retirement was marked by a ‘smoke concert’ at the Railway Refreshment Rooms, Central Station at which was he was presented with a ‘wallet of notes’.
Community activity
Heness was assistant commanding officer of the Australian Rifles Regiment, 5th Infantry Brigade. He took a ‘keen and active’ interest in rifle shooting and was associated with the National Rifle Association. During the visit of the Duke of York to Australia, in 1927, he, along with another colonel, commanded the guard of honour. At the time of Lord Kitchener’s visit to Sydney, in 1909, he acted as Quarter Master Sergeant.
Heness was an esteemed brother (member) of various lodges, being a Past Grand Master of the Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows, No. 1 District Grand Lodge and trustee and treasurer for 49 years. He was also a director of the Friendly Societies’ Dispensary and Medical Institute and treasurer of the Friendly Societies’ Medical Institutes and Dispensaries’ Association of NSW. Heness was a prominent Methodist and a Sunday School superintendent at St Peters.
Local government service
Heness was elected, unopposed, as an alderman for the Golden Grove Ward, Redfern Council in 1906. In 1907 he was one of a number of Redfern ratepayers calling on the Mayor to convene a public meeting to protest against the proposed closure of a portion of the Coast Hospital. In 1908 he stood again for the Golden Grove Ward, in the municipal elections, this time unsuccessfully.
References
‘Advertising’, Sydney Morning Herald, 7 February 1906, p. 13, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/14724943 ‘Advertising’, Australian Star, 10 August 1907, p. 16, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/229501845
‘Local Government’, Sydney Morning Herald, 24 January 1908, p. 3, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/14954073
‘Bro. Alfred G. Heness, P.G.’, Sunday Times, 9 May 1926, p. 23, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/128119413
‘Railway Officer Honored’, Sunday Times, 27 May 1928, p. 2, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/122815755
‘Late Colonel Henness’, South Coast Times and Wollongong Argus, 9 March 1934, p. 1, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/142632158
Heness, Alfred George, State Archives of NSW, NRS-12922-1-[11/16629]-[374]