Special constables, Armbands, Police strike, 1923
Summary
Australia’s only police strike occurred here in Melbourne over the Cup weekend of 1923. On Derby Day rioters caused more than £100,000 worth of damage, mostly in broken glass and looted goods, within the city blocks bordered by Collins, Elizabeth, Bourke and Russell Streets. The response to the crisis saw a legal prerogative first established in Melbourne in 1842 invoked, or read: the Riot Act. The act had been invoked on several previous occasions by the state government, enabling volunteers to be sworn in as special Constables in times of crisis.
An armband was the special constable’s only mark of identification. Six thousand were available for issue during the police strike, each bearing a unique number, and most were distributed from Melbourne Town Hall. Just who made such quantities of armbands at such short notice is a mystery but their irregularities certainly suggest that speed rather than accuracy was of paramount importance. We also do not know why, with 5000-plus specials enrolled, some 300 armbands, numbered between 404 and 950, went unissued. For many years they were in a box under the Town Hall.
Related to the ‘Special’ armbands in the collection is The Argus newspaper, 4 November 1923.
