December 1998 Volume 79 Number 12 "serving the protectors"
Opinion
By Bernadette Zimmermann  PASA Executive Committee Member

“Unlikely radicals” - a term not often associated with police officers. And yet it was recently used to describe participants in the 1923 Victorian police strike.

The term comes from an article in The Australian Magazine (November 7-8, 1998) by Steve Dow which examines the book Days of Violence by Gavin Brown and Robert Haldane covering the Victorian police strike. One passage reads:

...the authors reveal an intriguing story of police as unlikely radicals, of a force that treated its horses better than its men (there were no women in the Victoria police force), and of an autocratic and underqualified Chief Commissioner [Alexander Nicholson].

Steve Dow’s article cites examples of the appalling conditions police in Victoria endured and the sanctions imposed on those who rallied against their oppression.

Dow’s article picks up on the problems that stemmed from a Chief Commissioner who was “deeply disliked by his men”. The following summary of factors, condensed from the article, proved to be a recipe for disaster which ultimately led to anarchy in the streets of Melbourne in 1923.

• Nicholson was considered to have limited regional policing experience.
• His appointment was believed to be largely due to his friendship with the Victorian Parliamentary chief secretary.
• He appointed special supervisors to monitor police misbehaviour (these were regarded as “spies”).
• He arbitrarily abolished the Licensing Branch, returning all of its members to uniform duties.
• He was seen as malleable and compliant to the Government.

The article highlights even more disturbing factors:

• Ordinary citizens were murdered during the strike.
• Dissenting police attacked each other in the streets - sometimes resorting to firearms.
• Ordinary citizens became rioters, looters and in some cases murderers simply due to opportunism.

The result of the strike was both bizarre and predictable. All strikers were sacked. The remaining loyalists received the benefits that strikers fought for and were sacked over. Not surprisingly, some loyalists were rewarded with “plum jobs”.

Steve Dow’s article certainly whets the appetite concerning the people and events surrounding a most tragic time in Australian policing history. Surely vigilance is necessary so that “history” doesn’t repeat itself. Days of Violence is priced at $19.95 and published by Hybrid Publishers.