45

The Melbourne Police Strike

Try and imagine if you can a city without police. Some of you may say that that would be beaut, well at least for a while, because you could go as fast as you liked in your cars after you’d had a few drinks and give that noisy neighbour of yours a clip under the ear without fear of a visit from the cops. But to most of us, the thought is abhorrent. Surely it could never happen. But it has happened. And it happened in Australia. There was a time when the police went on strike. And the results were catastrophic.

The trouble began in November 1923, when uniformed officers in inner-city police stations throughout Melbourne took the unheard of move to take strike action and abandon their posts. The trouble had been brewing for a long time over a bitter battle with police administration over low pay, no meal breaks, long hours and terrible working conditions. It was believed among the rank-and-file police that the powers that be were totally inefficient and they had left police morale at its lowest ebb in our history.

But no matter how they pleaded with their superiors to improve their conditions and meet their other demands, it fell on deaf ears and the attitude from the then Police Commissioner Alexander Nicholson was one of ‘if you’re not happy, get another job’. To add to the insult, Commissioner Nicholson had recently introduced a scheme involving secret police officers, known as Spooks, who monitored the activities of beat police and any officers caught breaking the rules would be subject to fines or more severe penalties.

The 600-strong inner-city police unanimously opposed the scheme but were constantly denied a hearing. Finally, when two Spooks reported two constables for having a cup of tea during working hours and the constables were fined, uproar spread throughout the force. The officers decided it had gone too far and, in what was believed to be an unprecedented move anywhere in the world, went on strike, leaving the heart of Melbourne at the mercy of gangs of hoodlums and thugs who were awaiting their opportunity to loot, bash and rob without the fear of reprisal. It was a sad and black day in Melbourne’s history.

The following evening officers refused to report for duty and, at last realising that he may have gone too far, Commissioner Nicholson was quick in letting them know that the Spooks system would be abandoned forthwith. But it was all too late. In what could only be described as one of the worst political decisions of the century, the Victorian premier, Harry Lawson, intervened and said that only over his dead body would there be a change to the system and the Spooks would stay. And if the officers didn’t like it, they could lump it.

They chose to lump it and hundreds of officers abandoned their posts, leaving the city and its surrounding districts without any law and order. The striking officers were sacked immediately by the premier who moved quickly to bring in ‘scab’ police replacements from the country. Unhappy to be the meat in the sandwich, many of these officers joined their striking brothers and they also were sacked. The now desperate Victorian premier called upon retired police officers to return to duty until the strike was settled and, in a move that only enraged the police force even further, he began recruiting civilian volunteers with no policing experience whatever and swearing them in as ‘special police’.

Surprisingly, on the first night of the strike there was no serious trouble to speak of. People partied in the streets but apart from the occasion drunken brawl there was no harm done. But by the following day, when the criminal element finally realised that Melbourne really was theirs for the taking, the crowds turned violent as gangs roamed the streets looting and bashing whoever they pleased. Melees broke out all across town and there was little that the 30 or so stand-in police could do about it. They just had to let them go and hope that no one was killed.

As the evening progressed illegal two-up games broke out on street corners. Come closing time at the pubs, the streets filled up with drunken hooligans who set upon anyone and everyone in sight – including what few police there were, who fled for their lives after being pelted with whatever missiles the mobs could lay their hands on.

Before long the alcohol-fuelled gangs had taken over the city of Melbourne and, for want of something else to do, began fighting each other. As department stores were smashed and clothing and household goods stolen, the mobs set upon the thieves for the spoils. Drunken packs lit fires in the streets and drank from bottles and threw the empties at any policeman foolish enough to be within range. Others rampaged through department stores after they gained access through the broken display windows and stole whatever they could lay their hands on. But as they made away with their ill-gotten gain they were bashed and in turn robbed by other drunken thugs.

The riot went on into the night and no one was safe. Not even the rioters were safe from each other. In the frenzy, a tourist from rural Australia was robbed and then kicked to death in the street. But just when it seemed that there was no end to the violence, more than 1000 special police who had been grouped during the day to restore Melbourne to law and order were unleashed on the mob, and the fighting began all over again. But this time the inexperienced police had the upper hand in that their numbers far outweighed the rioters who were sober enough to put up a decent fight.

Under instructions to restore Melbourne to the respectable citizens at any cost, the special police weighed into the mob with clubs and batons. After four hours of brutality the city of Melbourne resembled a war zone, with bodies lying all about groaning in pain from the wounds inflicted in the fight. By midnight the fighting was over and Melbourne was again a safe place to be. Police spent the rest of the night taking the main offenders to jails and hospitals.

For the police force it was a hollow victory. All of the strikers, which was about half of the inner-city police force, were sacked. Immediately the government set about recruiting a new police force and in doing so offered all of the changes that the police force had gone on strike for in the first place. History doesn’t tell us whether or not they honoured their obligations once the new recruits were in place, but one thing is for certain and that is that Australia learned from the 1923 Melbourne police strike and nothing of a remotely similar nature has ever happened since.