Infuriated Crowds

Evening Star, Issue 21633, 31 January 1934, Page 7

Infuriated Crowds

Rioting at Kalgoorlie and Boulder City

Racial Antagonism the Cause

Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright,

.PERTH, January 30. A sensational display of mob vengeance against the foreign community at Kalgoorlie and Boulder City last night resulted in the wrecking, looting, or burning of three hotels, a wine saloon, a twostorey boarding house, a brick clubhouse, v and thirteen shops occupied or owned by foreigners. It is estimated that the damage amounts to £50,000. Twenty arrests were made.

ORIGIN OF THE TROUBLE PERTH, January 30. The cause of the outbreak was the death, after a hotel disturbance, of George Edward Jordan (29), married, of Kalgoorlie. Jordan, who was chief of the South Kalgoorlie volunteer fire brigade, received a severe blow outside the Home From Home Hotel in Hannan stfeet, Kalgoorlie, which cost his life. Immediately afterwards the police arrested Claudio Mattaboni, aged 34, a barman, on a charge of manslaughter.

a safe distance themselves displayed willingness to share the loot. A large section of the rioters became drink crazed, and with bottles of liquor filling their pockets went about shouting their intention of “ cleaning up the dagoes.” The police were warned not to attempt to interfere, as they would be dealt with. One constable defied the warning and was struck on the head by a flying bottle and taken to hospital. The total number of available police in Kalgoorlie and Boulder City was only twenty; consequently they were hopelessly outnumbered. The Western Australian Government has now sent 200 extra police to the scene, but these are regarded as insufficient, owing to the long-smouldering racial jealousies resulting from the-economic penetration of foreigners on the goldfields, and reaching its climax in Jordan’s death. A similar riot occurred in 1919, when all foreigners were evicted from Kalgoorlie and Boulder City after the death of a man named Norwood.

/ A VIOLENT OUTBREAK WRECKING AND LOOTING PERTH, January 30. No work was done in the mines today, the Miners’ Union demanding the dismissal of all foreigners, who number, with their dependents and colleagues, 1,500. The trouble commenced after 8 o’clock last night, when about 100 people gathered in front of the Home From Home Hotel. A boy threw a stone through a bar window, the crashing of glass being the signal for a violent outbreak of lawlessness. The front doors were rushed and broken down, the bar raided, and the furniture and fittings ruthlessly wrecked. The crowd increased to 1,000 and the police lost control. The mob swept from street to street, wrecking, raiding, ■and. burning, foreign premises, and cutting the fire hoses. A wood and iron wine saloon one hundred yards away was next raided, every window being broken. The furniture was stacked in the centre of the floor and set alight with torches. The pin. was soon a mass of flame and reduced to ruins. BUILDINGS FIRED. When the police attempted to disperse the infuriated crowd they were compelled to retreat o’wing to flying bottles and other missiles. One man led the rioters with a cornet, which was stolen during the looting. One shop after another was wrecked and looted with the utmost impunity, .fires occurring simultaneously in half a dozen places. Hannan street soon a shambles, splintered glass and looted (goods everywhere littering the streets. Early this morning a mob attacked the newly erected International Club, which was used by the foreign population, and this was soon in ruins. Reflections from the fires illuminated the sky the whole night. MOB VISITS BOULDER CITY. Having finished with Kalgoorlie the mob commandeered trams and motor cars and visited Boulder City, damaging several shops before returning to their homes with the proceeds of the looting.

POSITION STILL CAUSES ANXIETY PERTH, January 30. (Received January 31, at 1 a.m.) Business at Kalgoorlie and Boulder City is at a standstill, and 2,500 mine employees are idle. The situation is still menacing. The population, according to the last census in June, is: Kalgoorlie, 17,332, 9,469 being males. Foreigners totalled 729, chiefly Italians, Greeks, Jugoslavs, Germans, Russians, and Swedes. Boulder City’s population is 5,809.

FOREIGNERS TAKE REFUGE IN BUSH

POLICE OUTNUMBERED PERTH, January 30. Fortunately all the foreigners had quitted their premises upon hearing what was about to happen, and the majority spent the night in the bush. Some are in town to-day surveying the debris and remains of their shops. The rioting was watched by hundreds of people. The actual wreckers were mostly youths, whoso sympathisers cheered them on, while keeping at

RIOTING CONTINUES

FOREIGN SETTLEMENT RUSHED MOBS OUT OF CONTROL. PERTH, January 31. (Received January 31, at 11.35 a.m.) Remarkable scenes of violence continue at Kalgoorlie and Boulder City. The rioting mobs were entirely out of control. The situation took a serious turn late last night, when the foreigners made a firm stand with, rifles and knives to protect their leases at Boulder City against an invasion. Some miners attempted to bomb the foreigners’ camp, afid the latter replied with'rifle fire, wounding three miners. Another miner was stabbed.

The noise of the gelignite explosion informed the miners at a mass meeting that rioting had brokien out again, and the whole populace turned out, and rushed the foreign settlement. It was discovered that the miners had endeavoured to destroy the foreigners’ camps, but the repulsed miners returned to town, which was scoured for weapons. They then returned, and a pitched battle occurred, when the foreigners fired on the advancing miners. The latter returned the fire, and the foreigners retreated, but kept up a running fire. The mob then set on fire ff large area of the foreign quarter.

The latest message states that one Montenegrin was killed, and one Britisher is dying from a knife wound in the stomach. Shacks were ablaze for nearly a mile. The battle was punctuated with loud explosions of dynamite bombs. The police were powerless to interfere.

The Premier (Mr Collier), in a statement, deplored the outbreak of lawlessness. He said he had been advised that it had its genesis in the machinations of a few Communists.

The population of Kalgoorie is 17,332. Foreigners total 729.