The son of carpenter and blacksmith Herman Heitmann and Katherine née Roberts, he was educated locally.

In 1895 he moved to Western Australia but by the following year he had returned to Victoria, where took courses at the Bendigo School of Mines and Industries.

He became increasingly involved in the Labor movement, becoming president of the Day Dawn Engine Drivers' Association, and organising secretary of the Australian Workers' Union.

In January 1917, he and Rufus Underwood attended a conference in Melbourne which aimed to merge Billy Hughes' National Labor Party with Joseph Cook's liberals.

One of his nephews,[citation needed] Jack Heitman, was later a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council from 1963 until his death in 1977.