Leonard Thomas Gale

Leonard Thomas Gale was the son of Josephine and Thomas (Tom) Gale, he was a unionist, author and political activist. Gale was known to have been active during the Vietnam war and partook in the Springbok tour protests.

Interestingly, he trained as an apprentice turner in Ōtāhuhu railway workshops and in Melbourne which was where he became active in unions. He worked in England before he returned to New Zealand arriving on the day the 1951 lockout began. The 1951 lockout was caused by the post-war economic situation in NZ as the cost of living saw a significant increase. The Arbitration Court increased the wages of all workers covered by the industrial arbitration system by 15%. However; this did not apply to waterside workers, the shipping companies offered a smaller wage increase of 9%. During the time Gale helped with distributing illegal newsletters which supported the union. 

Thus, one box containing material associated with the 1951 Waterfront strike was presented to the University of Waikato Library.