Great Depression and Aftermath Cold War New Left Contemporary Active Historical John Smith "Jock" Garden (13 August 1882 – 31 December 1968) was an Australian clergyman, trade unionist and politician.

In 1914 he was living at Paddington and working intermittently at his trade; he became the president of the Sailmakers' Union[2] and its delegate on the Labor Council of New South Wales, which was to be his power base until 1934.

In 1916 he was fined £10 for improperly accepting a gift from a supplier to the department and was dismissed on 14 March 1917 year after admitting that he had destroyed an important voucher.

Garden's oratorical style, coupled with a strong Scots' burr, ranged from captivating to ranting, adaptable to the pulpit and the Trades Hall.

The Industrial Vigilance Council tried to make the Labor Party the political arm of the One Big Union (OBU), a radical scheme.

Garden was prominent in 1921 at the All-Australian Trade Union Congress in Melbourne, which wanted to impose a positive socialist policy on the Australian Labor Party.

He remained active in the labour movement and was involved in the creation of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) in 1927,[1] being narrowly defeated by Charlie Crofts in the election to become its inaugural secretary.

However, when the Labor Party was re-united under John Curtin's leadership in 1936, Garden was dropped as a candidate as part of the peace settlement, and at the 1937 elections he retired from Parliament.

In this capacity he travelled to Papua New Guinea, then an Australian possession, and was involved in the corrupt sale of timber leases to various business friends.

In 1946 a Royal Commission found that Garden had engaged in corrupt conduct, and he was subsequently convicted of fraud and sentenced to three years imprisonment.

He began his sentence at Long Bay, but was later moved to the prison farm at Tumbarumba and was granted early release for good conduct.