Laurence Short AO OBE (1915–2009), trade union leader, joined the Federated Ironworkers' Association in 1937 and the Labor Party five years later. In 1951, he became the National Secretary of the FIA, a position he was to hold for more than 30 years, helping it to become one of Australia's biggest and strongest unions. A key figure in the fight against communist control of unions, Short is credited with keeping the Labor party together in New South Wales while it split in other states in the mid-1950s. He was the national chairman of the Metal Trades Federation from 1975 to 1982 and vice-chairman of the ABC from 1977 to 1983; he also served on the NSW Parole Board, and the boards of the Australian Opera and the Art Gallery of New South Wales. A Fellow of the Sydney University Senate from 1976 to 1986, Short was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1994. Short was married to artist Nancy Borlase and they had one daughter, journalist Susanna Short.
