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Hal with Naldo Rei from FRETILIN in 2008

Harold John (Hal) Alexander passed away on December 19 in Sydney. He was born on April 9, 1924. Hal was for many years an electrician, mostly in heavy industry. Joined the then-illegal Communist Party in 1941, at the age of 17 and stayed till its dissolution in 1991. Paid organiser from 1954-1967 in Sydney, then Adelaide. Many arrests, three jail terms, two on hunger strike. Worked and lived with Arrente people on and off since 1985. 

Some of his political writing and work is available in Rough Reds: Australian stories of rank and file organising and more comes from his published collection The Neglected Works of Oscar Zeet, which featured a laughing Karl Marx on its cover.