Lev Lafayette's journal

Yesterday I attended the funeral and wake of Ted Murphy who died the week previous, all too early due to early onset dementia. Ted had been an astounding leader for the National Tertiary Education Union, who have provided a summary of his achievements in that body. If building institutions are a reflection of achievements, then Ted's enormous contributions to establishing the NTEU and Unisuper, two of the most successful employee-based organisations in the country were extraordinary. But then there's more with him providing incredible assistance in setting up a union (as a "friendly society", on account of legal restrictions) for tertiary education workers in Malaysia.

I was particularly touched by the amazing eulogy provided by the state minister for agriculture, Gayle Tierney, who spoke about his deep working-class family roots, how he won a scholarship to Xavier college, only to be expelled as a result of being photographed at protests in school uniform, but then to go on to win the State history prize and then on to complete multiple degrees at La Trobe University in history, politics, and industrial relations. Gayle spoke on themes that all who knew Ted would recognise; a persuasive polemicist with a wealth of knowledge, a skilled writer, a person of enormous integrity, and a deep commitment to bettering the rights of working people.

It can be expected that family, friends, and work colleagues attend a person's funeral. Due to the nature of Ted's work, the latter two were closely entwined, especially given that he could be a fairly private person. There were several leaders from the NTEU and other unions present, but also quite a number of former and current state and federal politicians, especially (but by no means exclusively) those associated with Victoria's Labor Left-Pledge Unions faction. Naturally enough, not everyone could attend, but notable condolences were sent by the aforementioned Malaysian tertiary education workers' association and by Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation.

It was through the Pledge group that I knew Ted, and it was certainly from being a member of that grouping that I knew quite a few people at the funeral and wake (a video of the former is available). I do not pretend that I knew him particularly well (I had no idea about his interest in choir singing, for example), but we did get along very well. In part it was because we both had a commitment to a very pragmatic version of libertarian socialism ("political anarchism", I have described it), in part because of our mutual interest in the role of adult and tertiary education in society, and in part of mutual recognition of each others' abilities and knowledge in similar fields. Ted was a person whose influence and activism will be inspirational to many; he has left a mark on the land, and made the world a better place.