Family background
Thomas (Tommy or Tom) Christopher Foster was born at Leura, NSW, on 7 April 1918, son of Alfred G Foster and Mary W, nèe Matthews. In 1941, he married Dorothy Ivy Cartwright at Newtown. He died in Brisbane, Queensland, on 23 May 1993, survived by two daughters and one son.
Occupation & interests
Tommy Foster was living in Newtown when he enlisted in the Australian Army on 7 July 1943. He served with the 21st Machine Gun Battalion before being discharged on 16 August 1946. Foster was an employee of the City of Sydney Council for 18 years from 1938 (excluding his war service); he resigned in 1956 to stand as an alderman for the Newtown Ward of the City Council.
Community activity
He was the namesake for the Tom Foster Community Centre in Newtown (now within the Marrickville Council LGA, as at December 2015).
Local government service
Tommy Foster was Alderman for City Ward, 1 December 1956 to 4 December 1959 and for Northcott Ward, 5 December 1959 to 3 December 1965. He was a member of the Health and Recreations Committee, 1957-65 and its Vice-Chairman in 1960-61 and again in 1963. He was a member of the Works Committee, 1957-65. Foster was elected to the Cumberland County Council, 1959-62 and became its Chairman in 1961.
According to Marrickville Council’s People of Note webpage, ‘Foster had worked for 18 years as an employee of the City of Sydney Council, resigning in 1956 to stand as an alderman for Newtown. He served until the City wards were split up in 1966. Part of Newtown was then incorporated into the Marrickville Municipality in 1968. Foster then stood as an alderman for the Enmore Ward of Marrickville Council. He was elected in 1968 and served until 1974. Tom Foster was Mayor of Marrickville from 1969 to 1971.’
Tom Foster was a member of the Australian Labor Party.
References
Australian War Memorial www.awm.gov.au
City of Sydney Archives: Aldermen’s Files
National Archives of Australia www.naa.gov.au
Marrickville Council, ‘People of Note’, www.marrickville.nsw.gov.au/en/library/history-services/our-local-history/people-of-note