Edgar Ross

Edgar Argent Ross was an Australian journalist, trade unionist and communist organiser. Ross was born in Brisbane to Bob and Ethel Ross, who were based in Broken Hill. Bob Ross, a newspaper editor, was also a foundation member of the Socialist League and the Social Democratic Vanguard, which influenced young Edgar's political development. The family later moved to Melbourne and, briefly, New Zealand, but Edgar attended University High School in Melbourne before becoming a cadet journalist in 1922, joining the Australian Journalists' Association. He was sporting editor for the Geelong-based Industrial Advocate and wrote book reviews for the Socialist, both of which were edited by his father. By 1925 he was a subeditor with the Barrier Daily Truth, the newspaper of the Workers Industrial Union of Australia. Around this time he joined the Australian Labor Party and developed a close, sometimes prickly rapport with Ernest Wetherell, editor of the Truth. In the late 1920s he supported Wetherell and union leader Dick Quintrell against an attempted coup by racial exclusionist Richard Gully.