Lyn Syme

Lyn Syme a life-long socialist and Aboriginal activist and a SEARCH Foundation member, died on Thursday 26 September aged 71.

Lyn was born into a communist family in the western suburbs of Sydney and was active in the Eureka Youth League, progressive movements and the Communist Party of Australia (CPA). She was active in the emerging women’s liberation movement from its first days in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

In 1972-73, she was the Young Communist Movement organiser in Sydney. At the end of 1973 she went into the construction industry as one of the first women workers to become building workers, thanks to the policies of the NSW Builders Labourers Federation (BLF). The union arranged for her to become a ticketed hoist driver and got her onto her first job before the boss even knew about it. He wanted her out but she had already met everyone and he knew the men would have gone on strike if he sacked her.

Along with other women who entered the hitherto male building industry at that time, Lyn met resistance from some of the men on the job. Women described men stepping up their swearing as a form of resistance but then being shocked when some of the women responded in kind. In this milieu, Lyn was well served by what authors Meredith Burgmann and Verity Burgmann described in their history of the NSW BLF (Green Bans, Red Union) as “a forceful personality”.

Later in life, Lyn worked in various Aboriginal organisations such as the Boomalli Arts Centre. She and her partner Kevin moved to the Mudgee region west of Sydney, where they played a key role in identifying and protecting Aboriginal heritage sites, especially from the mining industry.

SEARCH expresses its condolences to Lyn’s daughter Emma Syme, her sisters Wendy Syme, Nelly Syme and Noelene Syme.