The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 530 - 1923 Police Riots - Live w/Wil Anderson

Episode Date: April 26, 2022

Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine the 1923 Melbourne Police Riot. Recorded at Hamer Hall live in Melbourne.  Sources Tour Dates Redbubble Merch   Sponsors: Jordan Harbinger Show Trade Coffee Diet Smoke

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curly 80s hair. It's for sure. Wear of shoes. Dave Anthony reads a story from American history to a guy. Okay asshole named Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the topic is going to be about. Don't care. It's nothing there. No. Oh. Yeah there's a guy here with us. Dave nobody cares about who's on your iPad. I introduced him. We haven't done live shows in so long. I'm supposed to say the name of the show and then introduce you. Do you want to go from the top? Ladies and gentlemen, Will Anderson. Now that's where you come out. Yeah. Very good. This time be really supportive of what we went through. Thought that band top before I got out here was great guys.

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Jordan Harmager.com slash start for some episode recommendations or search for the Jordan Harmager show that's H-A-R-B as in boy I-N as in Nancy G-E-R on Apple Podcast Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. January 8th, 1853. That was really close. That was really close to the made update I just pitched. Was it? Yeah I was like January 4th 1883. That sounds like you're lying now. What year is this one again? 1853? This is a great point in this story that's throwing random numbers. Oh I almost got it. I'll get there. The Victorian police force was founded when parliament passed an act for the regulation of the police

force. I love Australians pretending we're not a nation of cops. Yeah anyway hotline is somebody having a party in their backyard and I I think that's against hybrid regulations anyway. Is that guy wearing a merkin? Originally they yeah had merkins. Nice it's a great look. So this was this the act for the regulation of the police force established the Victoria police force as a single statewide police authority for Victoria. That's the jailhouse. You're not gonna get out of that unless you try a little bit. Or if you just pull the ladder down. Well yeah that ladder is an interesting call for sure. You didn't keep

a ladder on the side of your roof. Absolutely. Honestly I'd be like yeah I'll commit a crime to go in there for that. That's a better than my house. They'd be like oh it's got a kitchen to boss. So the cops were all given a pension in 1882 the public service did away with the pension for other public servants in Victoria but the cops still kept theirs. Nice. Yeah fuck yeah. Yeah. The constables who are low-ranking officers the cospers are just like they're the ones who yeah they said they spend the nightsticks. Wait what? Yep. They do what? They spend the nightsticks. The constables. All right

all right they're that guy. What's going on in there? It's none of them. That's it that's it. Yeah yeah. This guy doesn't know any fucking history. He's in the driver's seat. So the constables were not treated well. They worked seven days a week 47 hour weeks. Well what's going on in it? And they did that and they had bad pay compared to the New South Wales cops. Okay. The government thought they should be paid the same way as quote lower grades of trades and callings. So like you're you guys are also shit. They were like your cops but you're are you any different than the guy who lays cement down. And the answer was no. It's nice. Yeah. So they had to pay

for their own uniforms. And then in 1902 the state removed pensions for new recruits. So if your new guy coming in no pension. The old guys are like fuck off. Right. That's cool. That's when it would be good for them to go on strike but instead they're like that sucks. Yeah. Yeah. So the current cops are grandfathered in and this would create quote a place the police force in exactly the same position as the rest of the public surface service with respect to pensions and retiring allowances. So they're like let's get back to where everybody had nothing. Right. We believe in equality. Nobody has anything. Yeah. Right. Yeah.

Which is nice. Yeah. And on top of all the new cops without a pension were ordered to get a life insurance policy. So nice. Become a cop. You had to have a life insurance policy. So you had to pay for that. But you didn't get pension. Sounds like a bit of a shit gig. Yeah. It does sound like an industry where they've discovered a lot of people aren't making it to pension age. You might need something else to supply money for your family. So the system creates two classes of cops those with pensions and those getting fucked by the government. OK. You could have said without pensions. OK. Unless that is actually something that

happens. What's going on here then. Sergeant Richard. Sergeant Richard Porter testified quote as soon as the non pensioners got into the majority there would be trouble in the police force. They are not subject to the discipline of the pensioners. So by 1920 a lot of cops are starting to call for a strike. And over the next 20 years cops also have a lot of complaints. Single cops had to live in barracks often with 10 men sharing a room. Jesus. It depends how single you are. Like it might be cool. That's quite a move. OK. Describe by trying to be in the night. You're like I want to play a little case to hide the

moustache. You've been the detective. You tell me where I've hidden the moustache. All right. All right. What's going on here. Well. Well. Well. Ready to bust this case wide open. Your pants must be taken down and used in evidence against you. What's going on here then. Find it. Because it was on his butt. Oh shit. Oh shit. OK. I didn't realize that. I was on his balls. The room was described by journalist Michael Adams as quote less habitable than the stables enjoyed by police horses. The cops said the rooms were worse than the prisoners cells which was bad because the cells at Fitzroy were called quote

verminous. That's bad. Right. Yeah. The cops quarters in Carlton had no furniture and filthy walls. The roof leaked. The cops used their coats as blankets and there was no ventilation and they had to run 50 yards across a square from the showers to the barracks. Toilets. Why did they have to run. Go. Go. Go. Go. Can I walk it next time. No. It's because they were naked. I don't know why they would. So I mean. The ropes haven't been invented. Also still worse. Like if you saunter up to the door and then just sprint balls out across the yard. That's still worse. Just own it. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Why can't you use

your coat to get to the showers. You can use your coat to sleep on. Well. Do you have a towel. There's no towels. Towels. I don't think there's towels. That's why you're running your air drying. Most people drive themselves off with their hat. Oh right. Sure. No. They just use their mustaches on each other. Thank you. That ain't my turn to you. It doesn't make sense why they look like that because they had to wring them out. The toilets were adjacent to the kitchen. Soup smells nice. What's that lentil. Oh. It's a lot of salt isn't it. Not judging. Just having a poo. We should. We should put it. We should put

a door in. You know what I mean. We should put a door between the kitchen and the. Wow. I just don't like cooking here. I thought I'd be better but there's always a. I could put my jacket over my head. It's just like a parakeet you're trying to put to bed. I'll think it's night time. That's a lot of salt mate. Yeah. And I don't need any. I don't need any comments from the shit gallery. You know what I mean. Like just take your dump. Quietly. All right. And then let me cook over here. I'm just trying to. Well I'm all done so I'm about to go run it off. Pardon me. So the force is a mess. Sounds great so far. The chief

commissioner in 1921 was major general John Gallibrand. That's right. He wanted to expand and reorganize the force. He's like let's fix this thing. But anything he tried to do was thwarted by the government. And then he made it was the very model of a modern major general. And then he put together this big recommendation report and he took a holiday to Tasmania and while he was there he found out all of his reforms had been rejected so he just never came back from vacation. Nice. So nice. That's a great way to quit. Yeah it really is. He should have been back two weeks ago. It's very strange. So on February 8th

1922 Alexander Nicholson became the new chief commissioner. He's 59. He's a lifelong administrator. He was described as ordinary and inflexible. I like how that's considered ordinary for the time. It's regular to not change. Perfect. What a great Tinder bio. 59. Four miles away. Fuck it. Let's go. Fuck it. Fuck it. I have nine roommates. I think we should probably go to your place. Can you tell me where your share is? I need to run to it. Would you like to lay your jacket down or shall I do mine? For coitus. You'll find the moustache. When I go down on you don't worry I will wear the helmet so there's no biting. For conilingus.

You know they could never mind. So he spent most of his career working in the Ballarat which is a much smaller city 115 kilometers west of Melbourne. Okay. You got that. Yep. Yeah. That's no idea. Nicholson was considered a very very are you still working on the. I just realized I'm going east so I got to kind of read. Got it. Okay. Yeah. You know. Yep. Yep. 115. 115 kilometers. Yeah. Yeah. I'm aware. West. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Got it. Yeah. I got it. Beautiful. Yeah. It's nice. Very nice. A lot of kangaroos and stray dogs. Large rats. Okay. So a lot of people considered Nicholson a very odd hire. Many believed his close relationship with

the Chief Secretary and the Minister of Public Health had got him the job over qualified candidates. Hmm. Strange. Yeah. Never heard of that. His first change was to get rid of all regular meetings with his superintendents. Yeah. Smart. Yeah. Don't know if you don't if you don't hear the problems. Yeah. That's the way to do it. I think there's one thing we've learned. Turn your back on the issues and they go away. So it's not happening. He stated quote I did not see any necessity for it. So he basically cut off all communication with the guys who know when some when there's problems. I'd also make them drop the super and just make

them in attendance. Yes. Yeah. Getting their heads a little bit. It's a little hidey. So now as I said if you want less polio you just got to stop testing for polio. Absolutely. Yeah. Correct. So you do it. This doesn't work anymore. Out of sight out of legs. Feels like it's okay to do that. It's sometimes some time is passed. I mean we're in a small window between when polio was bad and it comes back. Oh no. I leave me in Malambimbi almost already there. So sorry. So when any console had a complaint there's no chain of command now to get to Nicholson. Yeah. So if trouble arises he's not there to discuss it. Put your message in the

bottle and we'll throw it in the ocean. Nicholson also set up a system where four special plainclothes cops would monitor the rest of the cops. But did they plainclothes are they undercover. They're they're spies. Okay. They're not just like we're just wear regular clothes. They're watching the other cops. So they're like we have four new roommates who are here like we're a band. Yeah. Like when you say they're undercover cops are they dressed as cops because like the other cops are just buying their own uniforms as well. Yeah. Or are they dressed as ordinary people and infiltrating the cops. They're dressed

as ordinary people. They're just like how are they befriending these nice mustache. Yeah. We're kitchen separators. Well get on in here boys we need that. So the constables started calling our van broke down and we're looking to live near some guys. We're in John. We're not in. We're cops. That's not how cops. Whoa. What's that like. Is that crazy. No. Wow. We're just a group of guys. We're a band. We play a lot of songs. Kind of weird stuff considering the era. Yeah. I don't I've never heard of a band. Oh yeah. We play music like at the same time. Different instruments and hope that it goes together really well in an

arrangement. Any who's will be. We should probably live here. Oh my God. What a cool idea. I don't think so. Yeah. No. We'll just learn about you. We're in. They've just got like skin over their mustaches. They got no idea. They're wearing like overalls over their police uniforms. I'm fucking hot in here. I'll tell you that much. So the constables started calling them spooks because they haunted the officers at all times. Okay. The spooks were instead of having normal supervisors. So he got rid of the supervisors and then he would only listen to the spooks. So he just like

created a much more intense environment. Yes. Like it's right. A horrible. Right. Yeah. Right. Spies instead of bosses. Since you're all being treated like shit. What if we now spied on you? So Nicholson explained why. Quote. I saw men idling about the streets. Leaning up against lampposts. Oh boy. Gossiping. Ah. Actually smoking in uniform in broad daylight. I saw them drunk at night. I repeatedly went along a very considerable distance and saw no sign of a constable at all. One constable was caught in a warehouse in uniform. He had broken into the warehouse with the watchman. Another constable was found

was stolen property in his possession. But the constables all said that it was quote humiliating espionage. They felt it was dramatic and overreach of power. And the constables also had issues with the men that they had picked to be spooks. Right. The spooks were mostly men of mediocre ability and little experience. Nice. So yeah. Good cops. An excellent middle management. Perfect. Exactly what you want. They included Nicholson's brother-in-law. It's kind of awkward. And an officer twice busted for drinking on duty. So he just said he'd seen cops drinking on duty and he wanted someone to watch them so he got a guy who drinks

on duty. Well he knows what to look for. Yeah. Yeah. Knows where you're hiding the bottle. He knows all the good boys. The guy had defended himself by saying he wasn't drunk but he just had a terrible temper. Well that's it. I mean there's a lot of good covers for being drunk but saying you're angry is a really good one. Probably what your father was. Don't take your glasses off. My dad is dead. I know. I know. I know but. I honestly thought for a moment that was like the toilet thing and it was just opposite in Australia. Real sad. Your dad was dead down under. But every time I come to Australia I get really sad. My

dad died. But when I go back to America I have parties. So. Right. Oh he said he's also said the men besides just saying I'm not a drunk. I have a bad temper. He said the men who had accused him of being drunks were Mormons. Sorry. Masons. Masons. Except same thing. There's a big difference. There's a difference. There is. Yeah. What did you say they were. They're Mormons. I got. They're Masons not Mormons. Yeah. But who cares. That's all the same. Yeah. Why should Masons probably care about it or Mormons depending on which which is weird. You can't just say they're the same. Yeah. Masons found the gold plates in a building and Mormons

found it in the underground. Yeah. If it doesn't one have a secret headshot. The Masons. Yeah. The Mormons have crazy underwear. Yeah. So it's so it's completely different you idiots. If I said what you just said you wouldn't let it go and you're going like come on let's move on. Let's hurry. Let's just go. Let's go. What's going on. What do you guys want. It's what do you want. It gets all stuck on this thing that I said. It's just weird. It's weird that you made that mistake. It is weird. You're right. Please come and say my musical The Book of Masons. It's a completely original concept that I came up totally by

myself. You know we have in America we have a whole state that's just all Masons. Mormons. Dave. The country's all Masons. You fool. The character of another spook was said to be quote very bad. Sure. Good quote. Short. Yeah. Good. The cops started complaining bitterly every single day about the spooks how they got the job and how they operated. So the cat is out of the bag as far as these these undercover cops now they know that these four are just monitoring them. So it's. I can actually say why you chose this story for the Melbourne comedy festival because is this the origin of people complaining about reviews or is

this point break. Thank you. Oh. This is the origin story. The guy are the are the guys who are monitoring them. Are they still pretending that they don't know what they're talking about or is the cat fully out of the bag. Well they're just watching them on the street. So they're just following them like shadows falling around. Yeah. Right. Like a ghost or a spook. Yeah. Sure. Or a Mormon or a Mormon. Mormons are like shadows. That's right. They go away at night. I'll get into Mormon stuff later. That's when they do the weird stuff. You know what they're like. Marrying a bunch of people. Masons. Right. So now this is coming up

at superintendent meetings about how upset the cops were about the spooks because there were no superintendent meetings. And Inspector Thomas Kane who had ordered the spooks to wear plain clothes was in bad health which caused him to have a quick temper. So no one wanted to talk to him. He was just drunk. Yeah. Nicholson thought the spooks were going to be in uniform. But again no meetings. He didn't know. No mostality. But anything. Sure. So frustrations are boiling over. No one seems to care. Cop bosses don't care. The press to the public. It's just like no one's listening to the cops. The Victorian Police

Association is also useless as whatever they were. Not a union but it had been around four years that they've been around. They had done nothing. Memberships going down. They'd gotten a small pay raise for married cops but not for single cops. It's so weird. Why is that because there's probably more married guys. So they just don't give a shit about that. You should get married. You get more money. It's still like a weird. I mean okay. Yeah. But like the the married policeman. He has like responsibilities at home. He has to take some money home for his wife or his like a single policeman. He's got

nine roommates. He's saving on fucking costs. He's probably sharing a coat with another guy. Yeah. He doesn't need all this money. What does he need. A little mustache oil. That's it. Yeah. Fair. It's like the 10 Stooges. Yeah. They're just sleeping and they're like like that started it. Okay. All right. Fair. So Nicholson had started on good terms with the Association but a few months later it had fallen apart and he said it had become a quote wild orgy a nest of agitators. Fuck yeah. Found it. Yeah. Nice. Get in there. I'll watch that one. That's our band name. Wild orgy of agitators. Yeah. We're in. We're in. He

named specific union men. Nicholson did. He just he just pointed some out and said they were behind any trouble that was going on. Cops on the other hand felt the opposite. Many thought the Association was quote a mutual admiration society with leadership that lacked ginger. Like ginger. It's always a problem of redheads. Yeah. That can't be what. That would be amazing. Nobody's ever thrown gingers at the problem. You know we need. More gingers. We need some gingers. Did you say ninjas? No. No. We can't see the sun. Our dad made us do things to help. Freckles. You're right. So only 62% of the force were in the

Association but that's because it wasn't effective at all. Most most of like militant guys are not in the unions. They don't think it's doing enough. So on February 8th Nick Nicholson purged the Melbourne licensing branch and transferred 17 plain clothes cops to uniform duty. Awkward. One was Constable William Brooks. So Brooks is a very respected cop. He has a great record. He's got a lot of commendations including one just two months before. So for two years in the licensing branch he had busted illegal bars and saloons. Just in case we forgot where we were. Yes. That is actually a noise made by one of the

spooks as we call them. He's watching other Australians making sure they're drinking. So now after all those years he's back on the beat right? Okay. He's very angry and some said after the transfer Brooks is a completely different man. Like literally a completely different man? Like did they suspect that it just might have been a different man? Hello I'm Daniel. I mean Billy. You look six inches shorter. You've got a mustache and one eye. And a peg leg. Hello I'm Clark Buchanan. Shit. Well Brooks you sound like a different man. With a different name. He's a child now. I'm seven. Just get in your position. I'll

call the spooks. I don't know if that's the direction we want to go in. I thought he was gonna boo. Yeah but don't beckon the sounds from the crowd. Do we want to go in that direction? It's a call and response? No. It's like the Rocky Horror Picture Show. What is happening right now? Is anyone? The audience acts out. What? Huh? No. Not us? No no no. Nope. Well that guy's got a mustache. I like how he raised his hand. He does. I told you. Yeah I see. Nice. It's interactive. Yeah fuck yeah. Cup. Beautiful sir. Way to go. Cup. Another cup. It would be great if tonight was the reveal that Garrus has been undercover this whole time. I like

him a history major. Yeah. You've been sent here by a group of history professors. I teach history. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Look I'll go out there and pretend I don't know shit for one more year but people think I'm dumb. I gotta fuck around anymore. Really Dave? And when were cars invented? 1899. Women couldn't wear pants? He keeps saying 1900. What do you mean 1800? How long do I have to let this go on? Is this like another example of 1821 job series? Yeah. He wants to start another history podcast. This is fucking embarrassing. He keeps pretending it's a different show. It's clearly just like

another show the same exact reason. I'm in too deep. He thinks if we don't shout the date it's a different show. It might be. Just don't do the date and everyone's at the start. It's different. Well we do do a date. You can call it the dollop unplugged. No. Another cop James Dunn asked why he was transferred so they charged him and find him. That's how it's done. Man that's pretty strange. Don't do that. I'm gonna have to write you up. I'm a cop. That was James Dunn right? Yeah but he resigned. He was furious. Dunn was done. Yeah but they memorialize him in law and order. That's where they got that Dunn-Dunn noise from. That's right. Sorry

took me a while to get there but I... That's fine you got there. That was pretty quick. Brooks did not. Brooks instead got loud. He started a petition to address cops concerns. He did not get the union's approval. It started quote comrades and fellow workers. That's not gonna go over well. Right. I mean is that not just repeating the same thing too right? It is just comrades are fellow workers. But maybe a lot of the cops are probably pretty dumb so he's gotta be like that also means like fellow workers but if you're not... To commemorate their stupidity they probably did the Dunn-Dunn. Yeah good. So sorry. Yeah man I

appreciate you coming back for me. Give me your hand. You know what? Like I threw something out and you came back. Give me your hand. Let's make this into something as opposed to Dave at the fucking airport. One sign of trouble he's like I'm going to Melbourne. I don't know what's going on. Good luck Gareth. I'll get someone else. I was talking to a smoke cloud of Dave for five minutes. I was like wait he's not even here. The fuck? He loony tuned me. At one point you asked me to wave to show you where I was and I did. Yeah you were in the airport. So this is what happened. I was texting him and I was like I'm over by the the what was it

international check-in area that shouldn't exist and and he was like I'm in another line at another check-in so I thought he was in the building and I'm like no come over here and we're texting back and forth for like five minutes and he finally goes wave so I'm in the airport waving. He's not in the building. It was my revenge. That was my revenge for the whole day. Keep waving I see you. I keep losing you in that guy's head. Wave higher. Do a double jump both arm wave. Pull your pants down and scoot like a dog that has worms. I almost am there. I think I see you. So so Brooks letter demands the removal of the

spooks that they get pensions and decent pay. By fall 700 cops had signed. Some asked for the language to be changed like on the petition. Yeah okay like accusing the chief commissioner of Prussianism. Prussianism. We all know. It's when you're here I'll go in on this one. I don't know what it is. Why didn't you explain it to me asshole? Like an authoritarian dickhead kind of. Oh. That's crazy. So the press starts writing. The press starts writing that a strike is coming. And Nicholson said no it's not. But now he agreed to put the spooks in uniforms. He's like all right. So awkward when they're in uniform. How's

it going? Good. Who are you? We weren't a band. I hate to tell you. It's COVID. Cool. Is this how the police band started? That would be fucking incredible. That would be amazing if that's what this was. What are you doing? I'm on a sting. Wait a second. Hold on. Officer Best? Move over there a little. Don't stand so close to me. I mean going up to the street workers like Roxanne. You don't have to put out that red line. I know. I feel bad for her. But do the Prussians love their children's? So he puts the spooks back in uniform. Oh right. The spooks then complain. They're

upset. Then Nicholson promised to get rid of the spooks and they were all gone on June 5th. It'd be great if you just put them in plain clothes again. That's essentially what he did but he made them regular cops again. Oh so they're okay. In July the police asked for more pay in pensions and the government refused and is concerned about a strike. So the president of the Association met with Premier Lawson. So the president of the Association assured the Premier that there was no rumor to a strike who's not one coming. Sure. Even though it's a wildcat strike that has nothing to do with the Association. So the

Victoria Treasurer was super proud of not giving the cops anything. He thought pensions were overly generous schemes. Oh man. You can tell he thinks that. He was a rich hardware merchant before entering Parliament. He was all about the state showing a surplus and believed public money should not be spent for any reason. A great politician. Yeah. That's amazing. Well that guy should be treasured. Yeah. Why wouldn't he be? He didn't care about the strike talk. He was like whatever. It doesn't matter. So naturally he would become the Premier in five years. Brooks was transferred to Geelong licensing branch. He lived at Pram. Pram. Pram. What

do you say? Pram? He lived in a pram. Pram? Is it pram? Was he a baby? Yep. I want to jump in but I can't. So it's about an hour away by car. So. How long by pram? Seven hours. Wow. That's a lot longer. That's like an exhausting. So Brooks refuses to go and then he is charged and suspended. Okay. He's charged. Okay. So they hold a hearing and Brooks had the option of making it public or not. So he says he wants it public. And he says I wasn't good enough for the licensing branch in Melbourne but I was sent to another licensing branch in another place. So that doesn't make sense. And Nicholson responded that he had outlived his usefulness in the city but he's fine in the shitty the other

place. Yeah. Where you don't have to be as good. I say that you're being very careful about not suggesting that Geelong is a shittier place in Melbourne but go all in. That's fine. That is I think the crowd will be on your side with that one. So I don't need to tap dance around that one in the way that you were doing in my opinion. Well they lost last night. So I didn't know. They hurt the other team's giant. I was watching the game and I was like fuck that's their giant. You mean the cop. No the Hawthorne has a giant on their team. Hawthorne has a legal giant. I think every team has one giant. One giant. You're allowed one giant. Sometimes you have like a second giant. You can get another giant

but this this team only had one giant and then they broke them. They broke. So their giant was broken. And this is a sporting event. Yep. Okay. And you watch this. I watched it in the hotel. I would have loved to. I was on a plane. Right. I texted Charlie and I said I'm watching. I'm watching the AFL in Melbourne and he said no you're not. So what kind of friendships I have. So the charge gets dismissed after all that and Brooks goes back to his uniform job in Melbourne. So he wins the thing because he stays in licensing in Melbourne and not in July because they can't justify it. That doesn't right. So Brooks tells a friend he was going to quote cause a lot more trouble. His friend was like this

is a mustache out of here son of a bitch. Then Nicholson brought the Spooks back. That's very awkward at that point to be like all right. I'm confused now at how many times the Spooks have been on or off. The same group of Spooks. Yes. Oh my God. They're not Spooks anymore. They're out in Spooks. Let it fucking go Spooks. We're a band now for real. That whole cover story inspired us to become a band. It probably isn't even the entire original lineup. Like it's like two or three of the original Spooks and then a couple of young people session Spooks. Are you fucking kidding me with Sammy Hagar. Yeah. Yeah. We just know all their songs and need a break. So days later Brooks is wrapping up a night shift

and his replacement is 15 minutes late. So Brooks sees him walking over and so he gets on a tram and leaves because he's like oh he's walking towards me. I can see him and a Spook sees it and reports it. Right. Leaving early even though you're late. He's fine. He's fine. Five shillings. So at this point the community doesn't like how much is that. At this point the community does not like the Spooks. So random people are now telling cops what the Spooks are up to. So sorry. The Spooks on the Spooks. Yeah. There's Spooks have created Spooks. The cops went around and told everyone what the Spooks looked like. So now everyone is watching the Spooks. And the Spooks are probably a little spooked by

that. But the Spooks are still watching the cops. But the people watching the Spooks are reporting to the cops. That's right. Right. So they're the cops Spooks watching the Spooks who are there for the cops. Right. Right. On October 21st 1923 the Argus newspaper reported two Spooks reported two cops because quote they had drunk a cup of tea near Queens Bridge with a wharf shed watchman ten minutes before the shift ended. Was it October 31st did you say? Yeah. Well that is the traditional night of Spooks. And that wharfman was probably just in a costume. I'm actually a Spook but I'm off to a party. Who's Spook? I'm a Spook. Yeah. Right. Yeah. I know. Yeah. It's not like. And I'm a wharfman. Okay. What noise do you

make? What noise do you make? Whoa. Nearly. What was the second one nearly? What is that? Get the rope. Get the rope. Nearly and get the rope. That's. I'm a wharfman. Okay. I just thought they don't seem like normal wharf noises. Yeah. It's like I'm seeing like. What are you seeing on the last one? The. I'm getting wet. So close to the water. Yeah. That's. So when you get wet you go. I didn't see it coming. Just a costume dude. So that day Brooks said to a friend quote I am full of the bloody job right up to here. His neck. Right up to his team strength. Yeah. Because blood can't go past here. I cannot stick wearing uniform again. So it wants to be a Spook. Yeah. Or a wharfman. Or a dancer. Sure. He called the

meeting with 20 29 other night duty cops before their shift at Russell Street. So they vote and then refuse to go on duty. Okay. And Nicholson and Superintendent Kane came and used threats and arguments to try to get them to go on threats and arguments. Yes. Nice. It's to go hand in hand. They push back on the threats. There might be an argument. Nicholson threat was in that order. The other order is the better order to go in which is have the argument if that doesn't work go to threats. Yeah. I like the idea they've come in with threats and that hasn't worked. They're pushing back for some reason. It's infuriating. So he threatened to put Brooks in a cell which didn't help the situation. And then Nicholson called for

a hundred recruits to come from I guess they're like knew they're like police Academy guys. Right. They're going to take over the beat. Well of course he wanted them. There was like a real tall guy. There was a guy with a funny sounding voice. Yeah. They had a giant. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A lady with a funny voice. A lot of funny voice people. The sound effects guy. Well I can tell they locked him up. I heard the cell close. All right. Well the car started so I should probably get out of here. It was like in a helicopter. He went far too. I heard him just went over the hills for sure. So the hundred recruits show up but they immediately side with the strikers. OK. So that's good. Yeah. We're also on strike.

Wait but no that's not the plan. Well OK. Nicholson gave in and then he agreed to remove the spooks for the night. For the night. Nice. Quite a concession. And he set up a meeting between Brooks and the cabinet the next day. You mean the place where they kept like the utensils and pots and stuff. That's correct. Yeah. Near the toilet. Near the toilet. Yeah. I'm on duty. So at twelve forty five and the cops go back to work. So they're on strike for about a couple hours. What a strike. The next morning the Sun News pictorial reported that for two and a half hours the entire police force was just a few plainclothes officers. So the next morning the spooks are all reassigned. So that's it. The spooks are gone. Really.

So they won right. I don't know. Like based on the patents I found these spooks will be back. Yeah. They're going to die and come back as ghosts. Yeah. Well they did win but they didn't because Nicholson and the other the cabinet they didn't want to tell the strikers they'd won. So they kept it secret. So they conceded but didn't want to tell them they conceded. So nobody wins. Interesting tactic. And that was the strikers only demand before returning to work. So. So they go to meet the next day where Brooks goes to meet with the Premier. Yeah. And the Premier tells Brooks that they have to return to work unconditionally and that they would bring out retired cops and ones from the country if the strike flared

up again. Country cops. Wow. Here we go. Yeah. Or as we call them in Australia blue healers yeah. Exactly. Girl. Yeah. The Premier actually. I get it. What we know about Australia is there's a lot of crime in our country. Weekly episodic crime for like 20 years. Yeah. The Premier actually met with Brooks twice on that day but both times did not tell him the Spokes were gone. What is the tactic. And just they want they want them to go back to work without thinking they won anything. So there's just just ego. I don't. Yeah. I guess they just don't want to think that they were able to be like that. The Premier publicly said he backed Nick. Can you just say the name of the leader of the state again one

more time please. Which state. What is that P word that you can. Premier. Premier. What just happened. I don't like. I don't like inside jokes while I'm on stage. Now you know how I feel. All I'm saying is if you said what you've been saying we'd all be like are we going to the movies. Oh we're making fun of you. How do. How do. What. What different way do you guys. It's the bloody Premier night. We're all laughing at you. I'm I'm sticking with the Premier. The rest of the show meet me just trying to say it right. It's a good bit. It's just too long. It's too long. It's just going to take too long for me to try to figure it out. I think he just told you. Oh no but I'll keep fucking it up. OK. Yeah.

Yeah. No I like the way you say it. I wasn't I wasn't even anti it. I just like it. Yeah when it's fall it's the season premiere. Yeah. That's right we're all on the same page. Absolutely. The Premier publicly said. Better. So close. Yeah. He backed Nicholson and Brooks and the men then voted to strike the next night. Smart. So now he's like good. Perfect. Just how we drew it up. Then Nicholson comes and tells them all to go back to work and it'll all be forgotten. If they don't they're fired. But never tells them the good news. Does not tell them. He's sticking to his gun. The thing that will end the strike immediately. He's not it's not interesting tactic. So he tries to call roll but the cops move into a dark

area of the courtyard. They're spooks. This is a loud smotum. Yeah. Yeah. We'll just hold in the shadows. They've vanished. Hello. They all just completely disappeared. Here I am. Hello again. What. I heard something. Hello. How did that happen. That's the officer who makes those noises. Premier. Premier. What an idiot. I guess they're all gone forever. So they actually went into the dark and then they just started hooting and jeering and yelling obscenities. They turned into owls and swearing parrots. Curious. Just like yelling obscenities directed at them or just general Nicholson. Yeah. Yeah. Like all right. After he said their name because that would be helpful. Probably. Fuck you. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Noted.

I'll take it. So Nicholson thinks it's just a small group of upset cops. So he fires. He fires 50 cops right there. Oh but I can't see your fire. So more cops at other stations start learning about what's going on and they start walking out of their stations at the Russell station a crowd of about 400 cops now gather outside. OK. Now fired now fired Brooks is gets in a car and is driving from station to station trying to talk cops into walking out. Yeah. OK. So hundreds are joining him. It's a big car. Yeah. Is he a clown now. Yeah. This is about the origin of clowns. Finally a story I'm enjoying. The police force was reduced to a few plainclothes officers loyal constables and long term police with big pensions

who are forced back into active duty or else they take their pensions away. Wow. Yeah. So night. Good vibe. Super cool. Yeah. One of the pensioners like a couple of years ago telling me you were getting too old for this shit. Yeah. But I'm back. Apparently I'm back. I was. Still am. It's been 10 years. Now I'm really too old for this shit. I don't know where I am. Why is it so dark. It's so dark in here. Who am I. A lot of us have turned into owls. Yeah. We're on strike. No you idiot. Oh. So confused. I'm 90 in the eight early nineteen hundreds. So old. One of the pensioners was directing traffic at Swanson and Bork Streets when Burke. Is it. Just just so we know where we are. I just read it the way

it's spelled. And you said it like you were the Swedish shift from the Muppets on the corner of Swanson and Bork. Bork. Bork Street. How would you say it. Bork. Bork mate. Gotta ignore that fucking O in there. You gotta ignore the O. It's Burke. Burke mate. Yeah. Jesus fucking Christ. Mate gotta be honest with you. It's the O and the E aren't doing much work. It's nothing. They're on strike. They're just standing in this darkness in the corner. Don't feel bad as you're first out saying it. It was the premiere. No I. I always forget which letters they ignore on the streets here. So it's hard. Street. Oh I thought you meant like in the streets. We're not doing vowels. Whoa the streets are crazy. So where was it

again. One of the pensioners was directing traffic at Swanson and Bork Streets. When he was surrounded by hundreds of angry people. So cops and then other people that have gathered I like the other people are like we're just gonna go downtown and shout. He retreated into a nearby shop shop and backup arrived and it all turned violent. So the cops in that group flee to the town hall police depot and the mob follows him. One cop opened the door and tried to talk to the mob but he was pelted with eggs. I mean that is still a traditional Australian way of expressing your displeasure at leadership. Yes. Good to see that a hundred years were still like egging people. It'd be great if it was egg guy or whatever. It's

him. You know it was actually great grandfather. It was actually egg boys great great grandfather which is a great joke except that in the time since you've been here he's been cancelled. What did egg boy do? Egg boy is a milkshake duck. He's into QAnon and stuff now. Well we had a hell of a run. Bad egg boy now. The egg guy went into QAnon. That's another dollop for another day. It's so disappointing. Why can't we have heroes? Egg boy. It was tough. It was tough as a nation for us to lose egg boys. Damn it. Can't believe in anyone anymore. So the police sprayed the mob with a high powered fire hose. Full of eggs. Full of eggs. And then they charged out with their batons. View arrests were made mostly just

beatings going on. Nice. Good cop work. But by 1 a.m. the city is quiet and police have full control of the streets but they are very worried about the next day. So everybody boards up shops. It's just I cannot get past the fact that they don't have any plywood and they're just using like two by fours. So okay. And are those cops? No. Those are just people who are like why is everything shut? Do you guys remember stores being here? What year is this? I just want to be first back in when it reopens. No hold on. It's still a bakery. Just got to take this wood down. There's still pastries. So it's do you say Derby or Derby? Why don't you just say it and we'll laugh at you. Derby. Derby. How is it? Derby. Huh?

We're done. You were right. Day in Melbourne. People poured into the city for the big horse race. The crowds are bigger than normal because of the riots. A lot of people came to see the chaos. So the horse race is like the opening act. Right. Right. People are like hey I'm going to the horse races and they're like I don't really want to go and they're like there's going to be riots too. Well can do. Let's go. Yeah. They all want to see the riots. Okay. So that morning 700 cops met at Temperance Hall and they have a big meeting. The association leaders are there but they boo them. Anybody who tried to speak from the association got booed and Brooks is in complete and total control of the meeting.

They would start chanting what do you say Brooks when a vote came up and it depended on whether or not Brooks shook his head yes or no if it would get passed. A lot of pressure. So the government put together a special committee of super rich guys. Nice. That's a great way to handle this. This is very much like Christian Smallson and the son. Yeah. Yeah they seriously they found all the wealthiest guys in town. They're like you guys will be a committee and everyone's pissed. We need to get a bunch of rich people involved. That'll help. So the committee called for a special constabulary force. All right. All right. What's going on here then. Who we're known as the specials. We're a band.

Their job would be to support any loyalist cops. So there's a support group. Support group. Over 300 were sent from local banks the military and Navy men. They lined up on the streets outside town hall to get interviewed and get the job. So it's essentially a militia. Right. And then they also brought country cops in. Uh oh. The premier primary would now only meet association leaders. The group of the temperates all sent a bunch of non temperance guys to meet. But the premier refuses to see them. So he'll only meet with the association leaders. So they go in to talk to the premier and they talk about the spooks. But again spooks weren't even fired. What is the what is their problem. I don't fucking know. It's

a really weird thing to just like it's like pride on a level that it's it's a problem. Yeah. But like to recap the spooks have been fired for a while. And the thing that will resolve this entire issue is the firing of the spooks. Tell them. And they just won't tell them that they fired the spooks. There's been an egg fight. Egg boy got canceled. He believes in QAnon. A lot has happened since then. Everything's boarded up. They're like see this through. We will not concede. We conceded like two days ago. So the government is still not telling him and Nicholson. They're talking about spooks in this whole meeting. And Nicholson acts surprised. What. When he's told by cops that spooks hid behind trees

and bushes to spy on them. The spooks hid. Wow. That's crazy. They were just supposed to be your pals. Huh. Well we're keeping them. So the premiere. Getting further away. Said the cops were fired and they never be hired back and only loyalist cops would be paid. So he tells the press what's happening was quote mutiny. And trading has joined the strike meetings now and the government called them quote cats paws of the revolutionaries. Nice. Yep. For sure. Sure. Like is that an insult. Well. Because cats paws are like I was gonna say delicious. They're absolutely delicious. Cats paws are delicious. Little pink beans. Yum yum yum yum yum. Yeah. That's quite a reveal there. We'll dip into that after.

So at the police depot the cops were angrily scolded and given a half hour to decide whether or not to walk which caused most of them to walk. Well yeah. And then the association published a resolution calling for all the cops to go back to work. But they're all like fuck off. So the crowd swelled. And then there's other people that are there now for the horse races for the races. Right. OK. So many of the specials and and the country cops showing up don't know what's going on. So they're just they see a crowd. Well they're surprised they come rolling in like I'm a country cop and then this whole fucking crowd of thousands of people starts pulling them. Oh. Oh. And they seem very shocked to be called scabs.

OK. But then then the number of scab cops dropped because the strikers would talk to them and then they just joined. So. So cut your cops are coming in getting yelled at called scabs. They're like I'm not a scab. Fuck this. And then they just joined with the strikers. So they're just making a larger protest movement for something that they're no longer doing. And for some reason they'd never be more united around something that is completely unnecessary. Like what a tremendous waste. Yeah. What's the plan. It's not even to bring the spooks back. The plan is to just quietly. OK. Sure thing. So the crowd is playing a big part in the recruiting cops who joined the strike are

met by cheers and those who didn't are booed and cursed. By 3 30 p.m. only three constables remain on the corner of Swanson and Burke. All right. All right. All right. Well. For those of you listening Dave Waved. No sir. No sir. How dare you. A dozen constables were then sent. But the crowd was now over two thousand. So they sent 12 constables to two thousand strikers. Right. At five. Many of them ex cops. At five p.m. a hooligan punched a constable repeatedly. Yeah. And then those cops moved in the whatever the 12 with batons and the situation quickly deteriorated. What do they expect. Like 12 12 of them are like we've got to stop this. There's two thousand people who hate you surrounding you. Yeah.

So you're just like beat him. So the mob chases the cops off by 6 p.m. the mob is totally taken over. Yeah. They then pulled a tram from the tracks. All right. Now now the fun started. We've got rid of the cops and we're going to fucking roll a trap. It's now a world strongest man event. I'm sick of this going in a straight line. Moving the tram. Don't tell them that we conceded. They've moved the tram. Old. Old. What's your deal. I don't know when to stop stuff. The age quote it and a few minutes later the driver had been struck by some 10 or 12 men. The driver was still on it. It was like guys guys guys that's not a stop. I can't turn. He was pulled from a stand thrown to the roadway and trampled

upon. Oh rushing at the attackers. A civilian. There's a lot of crazy shit that's happened. His heart broke for that. The tram driver is just like I mean he's just doing his job like he's not an enemy of the people. Well he was tram. He could have been like ringing his bell. Like it could have been anything. Very likely. By the way tram pool did not get enough. Thank you. Respect. I think we need to go back to his tram. We can do it again. He was pulled from a tram and tram pool. Thank you. We'll cut that part out and we'll just piece together mine and then write it. Okay. We'll do it in post. Rushing at the attackers a civilian met the same fate had his false teeth smashed and

his nose and face cut with blows from the maddened crowd. Expecting trouble the city had ordered all bars closed at 6 p.m. This is at like 5 30. Thank God. Then right when the violence started hundreds of drunks came out of pubs. This is like the first ever flash ball. In England they used to close pubs at 11 p.m. and the fighting that would have like they had to keep bars open for the safety of towns eventually because everyone would be furious at 11 p.m. and exit a bar and you just see people like throwing pint glasses at each other. This is a good call. This is it's a good energy on the streets. Well many of them came out armed with bottles and glasses. They probably didn't even know

what the fuck was going on. They're just like holy shit. Yeah. Kill him. I don't know who him is. We got a tram. Oh what big city living now. So almost immediately projectiles are flying beer. Bricks metal people are hit blood is everywhere. Nice mobs form when the windows of Leviathan a big department store were smashed with an axe but tons were handed out and patrols were formed. So this is all the specials. OK. The looting began men fought hand to hand in the street. A group of sailors fought to protect property. Some battlers found refuge on the stage in the middle of a theater royal performance. We're a band. They just went on stage in the middle of a show and this is a safe place to hide from. Sorry about

it. Can you imagine like if we were doing this show right now and then just some people came on and went shit is crazy out there. People just rolled a tram out the front of the art sentiment. We're looting a department store if you all want to. Hello. How's the show. How cool. Who else is up. Calling for more volunteers. The mayor said none would suffer financially. So he's saying if you if you whatever common help. At no point is someone like should we just tell them. Like they pull the tram there. There's got to be a point where this lie has got out of control. Yeah. For the people who know about it. They just like none. I can't get worse than this. Oh shit. It got worse. Hey. You just want

to pitch again. Maybe we should tell them. No. Hold. Hold. This is right. So when he says never know no one will suffer financially. This led to a ton of guys expensing the city city. A lot of people expense blankets. So they after they came to act as specials then they would buy shit and be like. So it's a write off. I bought this blanket and a toaster for the riot. So I need money for that. Obviously. Don't have receipts for a lot of stuff. Also I bought a tram and it was damaged during that. So you need money for that. I think what else. My false teeth were ripped out of my head and smashed. Those aren't cheap. So yeah. So that's it. And they took my dignity which I don't think you can really put a price

tag on. But I have. That's zero. I have put a price on it. If you'd like to. We actually don't think you had any. Fifty thousand dollars. No. So we'll have to talk to everyone you knew before the blanket to. We'll pay for your blankie. And my tram. That's not your tram. I lost nine eggs in the whole thing. Why were you carrying around eggs in a riot? There's this guy named Q who. He's actually a good guy. But he has some wild stuff. But a lot of it has been proven. You know how JFK Jr. died in a plane crash and I'm air quoting. Yeah. Well my man take a seat. He's alive. I'm sitting. And now looks like a ventriloquist. So judges are now roaming the streets. Are roaming. Swearing in special. No. Like judges

are just down there going up to specials and going. You're a cop now. Yes. Just really. They're just random O thing. They're randomly finding guys on the street and like do you want to be a cop. All right. There you go. Put your hand on that. All right. Do you swear that you will fucking try to stop this shit because it's so crazy. Holy fuck. All right. You put about him. I know he's drunk sir. But it's completely illegal. They're not allowed to do that. But that's what they were doing. I mean it's. You think we should tell him yet. So people are looting the grabbing whatever they can. So the streets are now littered with broken glass empty cigarette cartons empty jewelry case displays at 7 p.m.

around 40 pensioner police and country constables were sent to Swanson and Burke with instructions stay together and when you hit hit hard. I'm 80. I broke my arm hitting hard. I know Leon just trust me. This is going to work great. I love that it is. It is the police pensioners in the country cops. Just it's like unlikely. Yeah. Normally my crimes are about chaos. We don't know anything. We forgot everything we do. Get them in boys. What's happening. My arms separated when we did that. All of ours did. Oh dear. So they use searchlights on Navy ships in the port to illuminate streets. The government just continues to recruit men to join the police. And those efforts took a bizarre and desperate turn. Further. Finally

these stories got a little bizarre and desperate. These are dogs that are cops. All right. There we go. They requested that managers of theaters ask men in the audience to volunteer as specials tonight but it's the night of the premiere of all the nights to request such a thing. Do you have any idea what a premiere is? It seems like you don't. Nearly 200 men responded at Hoyt's pictures alone. So that means they're at the movies. Yeah. Yeah. And they've just gone. How does anyone want to be? Excuse me. I know you're all enjoying the movie which might be about cops. It might not be. Anyway. We're looking for cops. Great. You sir. You're now a police officer. There's a judge roaming the streets. He'll swear you in. Yes. You

too sir. Can I beat the shit out of people? Absolutely. That's what we're looking for. The senior citizens are your teammates and so are any cops and overalls. Yes sir. Can that be a spook? No. There's no. I mean we still have spooks. Fucking close. We still have them. Never got rid of them. That's what this is all about and we still have them. The fuck is going on again. But that means that while the whole fucking city is being torn apart there's just people in enjoying a movie. Yeah. I enjoy that choice as well. They've just gone. It's crazy out there. I'm going to go and see a movie. Yeah. Oh I don't want to join the police force. We'll never get the tram home. So cops stop trying to

arrest protesters. It's too dangerous and the mob is forcibly freeing people who are arrested. Yeah. You're under arrest for freeing. Oh boy. Instead the cops just started beating everyone. Oh yeah. That's smart. Yeah. The specials started driving around in cars for quick attacks. The beatings really got going when the specials were put under the command of World War One Hero General Sir John Monash. By 930 with him taking control. Monash. Yeah. What is it? Monash. Just how you said it. Monash. Let's hear what dumb way you say this guy's name. Not at your clothes. Monash. By 930 the police are in control. The streets are quieted down. The hospitals are overwhelmed. Hundreds of people with head injuries and

broken noses and broken bones. Did they bang on pots for him? That's all they need. On Sunday cabinet holds an emergency meeting. We might need to get rid of the spooks. We did that two weeks ago. Now 600 strikers march to demand they be reinstated and the cabinet refuses. 2360 specials have been sworn in. Well it's too many. You guys were really going for it which we appreciate but my God. Newspapers are praising them while at the same time calling them quote brethren of the baton in the same paper. Okay. On Saturday three people had died 400 injured and 55 arrested. And one tram ruined. Ruin. The armed forces were brought in on Sunday armed with rifles and bayonets. Soldiers and sailors guarded government buildings

including the banks and the treasury. Gawkers came also. People who wanted to see the fun. Over 100,000 people came to see the riot damage. 100,000 visitors. That's a major tourist attraction. It's the biggest thing in Melbourne. If you get 100,000 people there you tip over a tram or two. The final big battle happened that afternoon. Why more? Hundreds stormed Russell Street near police headquarters leading to a three hour war between the mob and police. The older batons that they were using ran out. Ran out? It's empty. It's blanks. It's just rubber now. They're giggling when we hear them. Reloading. I'm 90. I assume they broke. Right? They had to have broken. They did say they are old batons. They must have

broken. The specials switched to broom handles and short hoses. Those will last forever. Broom handle. Perfect. Now those broke. A group of ex Australian light horsemen rode into the city. This had a profound effect on the mob because the horsemen were war heroes from World War I and the street fighting instantly stopped. We love the bloody light horsemen in Australia. Bloody got to the bloody Sydney Olympics opening ceremony, didn't they? The bloody light horsemen. We bloody love them. They come into town on their bloody horses and we're like, that's why it's got a bay little dollar. Everybody stop. So by late Sunday, the city's under control. Over the next week, there were still sporadic small skirmishes

around town. I like to think that one of the old guys with the baton that was out was like, please stop. And then they rode in and everyone stopped. He's like, thank you. All you needed were words from me. A learned elder. Oh shit. Okay. Sorry. Poopsie poopsie. The Argus and other papers blamed the writing on criminals, including those who had no records but had quote, criminal minds. Right. Future criminals. Futures. But the truth was the vast majority of those arrested had absolutely no criminal record. So the paper, the papers also blamed communists for the whole thing. Oh yeah. Always perfect. Yeah. Good. Went in doubt. Absolutely. They're right there. Fucking commies. The government refused to hire back the fired police. On

November 12th, the specials were disbanded, but offered to be part of a paid force. So they were a band. That's right. A lot of businesses had sent staff to be on the force, but they almost all threatened to quit immediately due to bad pay and quote, excessive militarism. Jesus Christ. The guys. I mean, yeah, it's honestly absurd. Yeah. Like they're like, ah, this is shit pay. That's why. No, no. We're on strike. Oh my God. I gotta get down to the cinema and get some records. We got a hire. There's a bunch of guys that aren't working right now. Do you need us again? No, no. We're ready. We've all lost a limb or two. And our batons are out of ammo. And we're not sure what's going on anymore. But we've

got a ghost tram. So that's pretty cool. The new guys also did not like being marched in the rain. Meanwhile, these scabs are the guys keeping the fired cops from getting their jobs back altogether. 850 of these new semi cops are hired. They were still hired under the unlawful assemblies act. They're cheaper than cops because they needed less training. Yeah, right. Yep. For sure. That's cool. That's where the term on special comes from. That's right. And now they could put recruits in this force before they became cops. So before they had recruits working the way to be cops and now they're just, you guys are just kind of cops. Right. These new guys, it's like they're creating a really shitty police force. Okay.

Right. Nice. But a lot of the cops didn't want to work with scabs. So fire them and don't tell them. No. No. Oh, I was like, what the fuck? Look, we've got our tactic. Do what they want. Never tell them lots of people die. It's pretty good. So some scabs had been previously rejected from the department for crimes. And others were just being bad people drinking on the job became a serious issue. So all the guys that had previously been rejected are now cops. Uh huh. The police had to explain to these new cops to only take out their batons when it was an emergency and to stop whirling them over their heads when driving through crowds on patrol. It may not seem like it might,

but they actually wear it outside. Don't worry, these aren't loaded. I mean, what great cowboy by have you two? What about this is intimidating? Oh my Lord. Goodbye. In the assembly, a legislator in the assembly, a legislator called the new force quote deteriorated badly motivated by self aggrandizement and miserable weeds unfit to perform the duties of police. Perfect for cops. The specials were harassed and attacked on the street when they were recognized. Some couldn't get jobs and got death threats. Their houses were vandalized. Workers threatened to strike if specials were hired in their cities. Some specials finally started telling their stories to the papers and the government

strongly backed them and helped them get jobs. All right. The Commonwealth government prohibited the export of any riot newsreel footage. Nice. They saw it as a black eye for Victoria. Soon the police strike was largely forgotten by the public. It's not there. Well, like COVID. In 1808, over one third of the cops went on strike. Not one got their job back, but the strike led to significant changes for future cops grievances were taken more seriously and acted upon swiftly. On May 1, 1924, the pension system was reinstated. Constables were given better wages and increased annual leave and the spook system was gone. Yeah, but it had been gone. Yeah, gone the whole time. So they finally were like, it's been gone for

a while to down. What do you think of that? But they ended up losing on everything else. So they could have just said, yeah, the spooks are fired and then everything would have been resolved. But instead, they had to give a pension. It's quite a tactic. Yeah, to give them everything. It feels like Nicholson was maybe a spook for the rioters. Whoa. No one knows what became of Brooks, but the Royal Commission on the riots painted him as a bad man and a bad cop. But that's pretty dubious narrative. They basically created a disgruntled leader and paid for it. But that's how your police force got pensions. Is that the story? Is that what we just learned? Yeah. Well, that was easy. How the Victorian police force

got pensions is what we learned. Yeah, pretty straightforward. Fucking hell. Pretty straightforward stuff. Seems easy. Yeah, people with money are cool. Yeah. You know what? You know what I've learned out of this? We just got enough volunteers from this room. Yeah. That would be amazing. We're one tram away. Yeah. I mean, like imagine if like, because I mean, how many people in this room will we need to like tip over like a modern day tram? We've got the numbers. Yeah. For sure. But like, even if like, like, would it be like 200? Would 200 people tip over a tram? No, less than that. I mean, I feel like when we get like a nice amount of booze in you guys, you sort of hulk out. So I feel like 200 tipsy Australians

is plenty. We could lift it over our head and take it like some to another state. I'm not going to make you do it if you clap your hands, but clap your hands if you would help tip over a tram. Oh, yeah. Okay. We got heaps. That's fine. We can tip over every time we see who's not clapping and we're taking note. We've got old guys to replace you if we need to. That's right. It does remind me of Amazon with Christian Smalls, though. Like Christian Smalls, the guy who was blowing the whistle about their COVID protocols, they fired him, made him sound like an agitator, and called them dumb in emails that were released. And now he could not be a bigger thorn in their fucking side, who's now starting unions, not

only just in one Amazon factory, it's like on the news constantly being like, yeah, we're just getting started. And Jeff Bezos is like, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. It all starts with one guy getting mad. Yeah. That's really what happens. And then that guy starts and then in this version, it would be that Jeff Bezos has given Amazon employees everything that Christian Smalls wants, and he just won't tell him. Yeah, I mean, it gets done. Hold, hold, hold. Yeah. Yeah. Well, normal shit. So that's how the police were started, the band. Yep. Oh, no. Like, buddy, are you listening? You just summarized it 30 seconds ago. Right? I'm playing my part again. Don't forget. Fuck. Well, thank you, everybody for

coming out. It's a pleasure to be back. Give it up for Will Anderson. Dan Anthony. Phenomenal to you back. So thank you very much. Appreciate it. Farewell. Sources for this episode of the book Days of Violence, the 1923 police strike in Melbourne by Gavin Brown and Robert Haldane. Also the age newspaper and the New Zealand Herald newspaper.