WHARF WORKERS FIGHT.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 17 December 1924, Page 8

WHARF WORKERS FIGHT.

\ AYOOLLOOMOOLOO FRACAS

ATTACH OF BUREAU MEN

AN ANGRY, SEETHING MASS

The indignation and bitter jealousy tliat lias been simmering for weeks among Shipping Bureau and union wharf laborers 'of Sydney came to a~ liead at AYoolloomooloo on the afternoon of Saturday, November 22. There was a> free fight in which hundreds of men took part. Dozens were knocked down and kicked, but they struggled to their feet and were soon back in the fray again. Fully a thousand men, women and children were concerned in the melee before the police quieted the disturbance. At the more sensational of the two encounters, in Forbes street, adjacent to the AYoolloomooloo wharf, about 1000 people, men, women and children, were inextricably mixed in'a seething, bitter mass at one stage. It- was women, according to the police, who were the cause of the trouble at the outset. Cargo was -being transferred from the Ferndale into Port A\ T ellington, and on on these two ships about 150 bureau men were engaged. About 100 of the Bureau men were also employed on the Ovcades. Both gangs of men left the wharves at 5 o’clock for tea; The workers scattered in all directions. Some went into, town; others had their tea in the neighbourhood; others again, comparatively few in number, went into an establishment in Dowling street to have their'meal. It was this last-named party who met first the hitter taunts of women, and then, with dramatic and overwhelming ' suddenness, the. full storm of a battle with their rivals on 'the- wharves, and those, no doubt, who are sympathisers with. - them. All the nursed-up rancour, all the- bitterness of the two factions was let loose- in what is described bv the Sydney Morning Herald as one of the greatest brawls in the memory of the police;. . FURY OF' THE AA'OMEN.

Sbme women recognised the Bureau men as they were sitting, at their meal in Dowling, street, and hurled at theni such expressions as “Blackleg” and “Scab.” The noise quickly brought to the scene wharf laborers who are affected by the strike, and others, aikl within a ’ or tFo ■ there was : a hitter fight. The Bureau men, only about 15 in number; appeared to be fighting an almost hopeless battle, in which'!botli fists and boots were, used,; for they found themselves in the thick of a consolidated force of about 200. The contestants were being reinforced every second by others who rushed to' ilib' scene, -and amid, it all' such ah;“Shahs” and “Blacklegs” rent theail'. It was an pgly moment. : In the thick of the battle were four policemen^ l —lnspector AA r oodrow, who iskiidwn among . the Bureau men as “Cdldnel,” a sergeant and two constables, It was the coolness and the tact of this little - squad that saved the situation in; that quater. As the inspector admitted afterwards, if he had had under him at' the moment hotheaded impetuous men, they might very easily have drawn, their batons, overwhelmed as they were by the seething mass all round them, and there would inevitably have been bloodshed. “Let a man draw his baton or pull, out a revolver in such a,vscene!at.that,B. the inspector remarked, “and there is. u'o knowing what' w; ill happen. ” The police and the reinforcements that strengthened their thin; ranks as the battle shifted to other quarters did not at any stage, it is stated, 'draw - out either their batons or their revolvers AVAR OF FUSTS AND BOOTS. But the lust for wav was in the air, and it was ■ not long before Forbes street, adjacent to the wharf, became the hatfclefront. Here the fight became more intense. The little spark that had, been lighted at Dowling street by the epithets of a few women had set up a ; blaze; The - passions of hatred and ill-will were let loose in a riotous Avar of fists and boots. To clean this brawl up again without resorting to a show of arms was an immeasurably- bigger task for the little squad who had faced the mob at Dowling street, ancT who were .again on the scene at this quarter. Before long, with reinforcements, the police were 1(1 strong. Other members of the force rushed to,the scene from all quarters, until, the police had a strength of 35, including’the inspector, sergeants, and constables. In the" frenzy of the moment someone threw a'brick. Sewn up. in cretonne, it looked unmistakably, like an improvised doorstopper. As far as the police know, the missle did not hurt anvone.

At about 6.30 p.m., about an hour and-a-half from the time that the riot opened, the police, by vigorous yet tactful action, had restored order. *“I did'not hear of anyone being injured,” said Inspector AAroodrow, "“but thev were fighting with fists and boots, and I am pretty certain that ’ some i n the crowd show to-day unmistakable signs of the battle. Not only, did the police refrain from using their batons, but 1 do not know of a single case in which the hooks thaC the waterfront men carry were 'used. The. position might thus have been much worse.” At one stage the nolice, then onlv a. few in mini her, came as a barrier between what looked like two impassable masses. They held the mob apart on either side of the tramlines. POLICE MAKE THREE ARRESTS. Three men were arrested—-a wharf laborer involved in the strike, a Bureau man, a ship’s painter. Two were charged with riotous behaviour, and one was charged with assault. Calm having been restored, the police shepherded the Bureau men up alongside the wharf gates, and they then passed inside into the. zone of ‘safety One batch of Bureau men, who knocked off early in the night, were escorted from the wharves and'into what were regarded as safe quarters, by a squad of police.

The police, however, had to keep close vigil on the wharves, in the vicinity of the riot, until the last hatch of Bureau men left at 11 o’clock. For these a special tram was engaged, and under a strong police guard, and with strict orders to the tramdfiver not to stop for anyone—the police feared flying Pussies—the men were taken awnv safely.