By Iain McIntyre. In 1994 members of the neo-nazi organisation National Action planned on holding a demonstration during a multicultural festival. Informed by the police that they would be arrested for their own safety they delayed their protest until the following week. Only able to mobilise 20 or so supporters from across the country the […]
Tag: Brunswick
Phoenix Street, 1933 Free speech fight
By Iain McIntyre. Unemployed activists across Victoria were severely repressed by police and right-wing paramilitaries from the beginning of the Great Depression. The head of police General Thomas Blamey, who was also the leader of the quasi-fascist White Army, used the Political Squad to violently break up street meetings and protests. Forced out of speaking […]
World War 1 : Nurse Blodwyn Elizabeth WILLIAMS
Sister Blodwyn Elizabeth Williams Address : Brunswick Next of Kin : Father, Tudor Williams, Dowling Street, Ballarat (mother Mrs Elizabeth Williams, nee Jones) Blodwyn Wlliams’ background was almost entirely from Ballarat, although her place of residence when she embarked with Reinforcements for the 2 Australian General Hospital on HMAT Orsava, 17 July, 1915 was shown […]
Lock Out the Landlords : Proletarian Hall and Unemployed Organising in Brunswick
By Iain McIntyre. The Communist Party affiliated Proletarian Hall operated in Lydia Street during the 1930s providing a soup kitchen as well as a base for unemployed organizing. A number of unemployed organizations sprang up around the country in the early period of the Depression. With governments floundering in response to mass poverty many were […]
Lock Out the Landlords : Brunswick Town Hall
By Iain McIntyre As most people would be aware the collapse of the New York Stock market in October 1929 led to a devastating global economic downturn. Reliant on overseas exports and heavily indebted to European and American banks, Australia was hit particularly hard. Unsurprisingly not everyone was equally affected by the economic crunch and […]
Lock Out the Landlords : The Barkly Street Commune
By Iain McIntyre. In late 1930 a number of single unemployed men set up what were essentially communal households in Barkly Street. These households formed the backbone of many of the militant demonstrations and anti-eviction actions that took place in the area. As a result they were placed under regular police surveillance. Most of the […]
Lock Out the Landlords : Eviction showdown, July 1930
By Iain McIntyre. Evictions were a major problem for the unemployed during the Depression. Between 1930 and 1933 11,000 warrants were served in the Melbourne Court of Petty Sessions and over 5000 evictions carried out. This only accounts for a fraction of the actual number of people put on the street however as thousands more […]
Lock Out the Landlords : Anti-Eviction Protest, 1932
By Iain McIntyre. Eviction resistance, which had begun in Brunswick with a successful protest in 1930, continued during 1931 and 1932. These actions drew large numbers and one in Larnoo Avenue in Brunswick West saw 1000 people force a Bailiff to sign an agreement stating that “he would not act in such a capacity again […]
Lock Out the Landlords : Rose Street Brunswick
By Iain McIntyre. In one of many such cases the Commercial Banking company obtained a court order in April 1931 to evict an unemployed family in Rose Street, Brunswick. On this occasion a real estate agent and two police were confronted by a crowd of 100. After the family were evicted the crowd grabbed their […]
Brunswick Boer War Memorial and honour roll
Researched and Written by Cheryl Griffin. ‘Our regiment has been completely capsized.’[i] With these words, Lieutenant Fred Stebbins of Brunswick summed up the disaster that befell the 5th Victorian Mounted Rifles (5VMR) at Wilmansrust on the evening of 12 June 1901, a disaster that was to bring home the reality of the war in […]