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 * R adical Melbourne **

//From protests and riots to street art and graffiti, and even defiant public speaking, Melbourne has come a long way, and we're going to show you where and how it has changed.//

=1923 Police Riot=

The 1923 Police Protest started as just that, a protest, and ended in the biggest riot of the century. The police were tense already; they had poor working conditions and a useless Chief Commissioner. The chief commissioner ( Alexander Nicholson) was believed to have very little regional police experience and was only employed because he was 'buddies' with the Chief Secretary of the Victorian Parliament. Making the saying true ‘It’s who you know, not what you know'. The Parliament had revoked police pensions, which as you can expect, caused some stress and added to the overall tension. In those times police conditions were abysmal, with the horses often being treated better than the officers. The general hatred of the police commissioner only worsened when he employed 'special supervisors' (AKA Spies) to investigate the police force. Then to top it off police pay was cut back. You can imagine why they would want to go on strike.

Someone must have had some idea what would happen if most of the police force went on strike. Maybe it was all part of the plan. But no one could have anticipated the chaos that exploded in the streets of Melbourne.

On October the first 1923 it all started. Like most protests it was chosen to be at a time that it would have the greatest impact. For this occasion it was on the eve of the Spring Racing Carnival. 24 officers from the Russel St police station refused to go on duty after citing their concerns about their pay, the spies and the government having no inclination of re-introducing the pension.

The strike was led by Constable William Thomas Brooks, who in the past had organized a petition with a total of over 700 signatures for better conditions inside the force. The strike was most impressive, as it had the support of the majority of the police force.

24 hours after the strike started the Victorian Premier demanded that officers return to work immediately and if they did they would not suffer any consequences. But without the demands of the force being met the strike went on. The premier demanded again 24 hours later that they return to work, but this time he didn't make any promises about not being penalized for their actions.

With an obvious absence of police on the streets people had been taking advantage of the situation. But on the 3rd and 4th of November it all started to get out of hand. Riots and looting began to occur, people were frequently being mugged on the streets. It started at Flinders street station and carried through Swanston street. Most were crimes of opportunity like stealing merchandise out of broken shop windows. Any police officers who not striking were put on duty and harassed to the point that they had to retreat to Town hall, where a mob taunted them to come out. It was so severe that trams were overturned and 3 people were killed. At times police when disagreed, they would attack each other, even using guns.

Newspapers attributed most of the looting to a Gangster called [|Squizzy Taylor] (Link to a Wikipedia page). Although court records show that most of the offenders were teenagers and young adults with no previous criminal records.

To uphold the law volunteer 'special constables' were called in. They were identifiable by special armbands and were usually returned servicemen. They were issued with only their armband, an instruction booklet and a baton.

The premiers unmentioned threat that the strikers would be punished turned out to be very true. 600 policemen were fired following the protest/riot. In the end the government did increase pay and conditions and eventually reintroduced the police pension in the end of 1923.

Sources:
Notes Top
 * http://www.onlymelbourne.com.au/melbourne_details.php?id=6362
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Police
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1923_Victorian_Police_strike
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squizzy_Taylor

=8 Hour Day=

Think back to 1856... what do you picture? Is it children skipping through a street in a sepia tone? Maybe in slow motion? Maybe that did happen, maybe not.What we do know is that normal working hours were 12-16 a day - about three times the time we spend in school every day. Now what do you imagine? Is it still kids skipping through the street or is it hot and grueling working conditions?

On August 18 1855 the Sydney Society of Stonemasons said that stonemasons would only have to work an 8 hour day in 6 months. The stonemasons were overjoyed and couldn't wait so they went on strike. The movement started on 21st April 1856 when stonemasons put down their tools and marched down to Parliament House to protest, getting other builders to join them along the way. Robert Owen was first to publicly demand an 8 hour day in 1810. By 1817 he had come up with the slogan 8 Hours Labor, 8 Hours Recreation, 8 Hours Rest. By 1847 women and children were given 10 hour days. In 1848 French workers won the 12 hour day after the French Revolution.

A song was also written for the protest:

Shores of Botany Bay
A Late 19th Century song by Anonymous

Oh I'm on my way down to the quay Where a big ship now does lie For to take a gang of navvies I was told to engage But I thought I would call in for a while Before I went away For to take a trip in an emigrant ship To the shores of Botany Bay

Chorus

Farewell to your bricks and mortar Farewell to your dirty lime Farewell to your gangway and gang planks And to hell with your overtime For the good ship Ragamuffin Is lying at the quay For to take old Pat with a shovel on his back To the shores of Botany Bay The best years of our life we spend At working on the docks Building mighty wharves and quays Of earth and ballast rocks Our pensions keep our lives secure But I'll not rue the day When I take a trip on an emigrant ship To the shores of Botany Bay For the boss came up this morning And he said "Well Pat hello If you do not mix that mortar fast Be sure you'll have to go" Of course he did insult me I demanded of my pay And I told him straight I was going to emigrate To the shores of Botany Bay And when I reach Australia I'll go and look for gold Sure there's plenty there for the digging Or so I have been told Or I might go back into my trade Eight hundred bricks I'll lay In an eight hour day for eight bob pay On the shores of Botany Bay

NOTE: 'Shores of Botany Bay was collected from Duke Tritton by John Meredith. It describes the way that Australian working conditions were taken note of by workers elsewhere.'

Sources:
http://unionsong.com/reviews/888/ - 16.11.2011 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight-hour_day -(Throughout the wiki)

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=Women's Suffrage=

If you're reading this, Australian, and you're a woman aged over 18, chances are you take the right to vote for granted. This would not have been the case had the year been 1908, when finally, after decades of protesting, Victorian women were officially given the right to vote. A number of women's organizations were instrumental in the women's struggle for vote. The Australian Women's Suffrage Society was formed in 1889 by Henrietta Dugdale and Annie Lowe. The term ‘Suffrage’ means the right to vote.

The first wave of feminism (meaning women who believe in the social, political, and economic equality for both sexes) created a new political identity for women with legal and political dreams. The aims of the society were to obtain the same rights for women as were possessed by male voters. The movement argued for equal justice, equal privileges in marriage and divorce, rights to property and the custody of children in divorce.

In 1891 ladies from the 'Women's Christian Temperance Union', the 'Victorian Temperance Alliance' and many other women's suffrage groups combined their efforts to collect signatures from many women throughout the whole of Victoria requesting the right to vote for women in the country and state. This Women’s Suffrage Petition stated ‘//that government of the People, by the People and for the People should mean all the People, not half//’. It was also said in the petition ‘that all Adult Persons should have a voice in making the Laws which they are required to obey’.

The signatures required to give women the right to vote were collected by these women’s Suffrage in the amazingly short period of ten weeks in 1891.

Signatures were collected not only in the city of Melbourne, but across rural and regional areas, mostly where towns were linked by railway lines. In street after street, in house after house, in living room after living room, women with a wide variety of circumstances signed and stamped themselves into history.

Nearly 30,000 signatures were recorded on sheets of paper. The individual sheets of paper were pasted onto cotton or linen fabric backing which was then glued together and rolled onto a wheel (think a plastic sticky tape holder. The original Women's Suffrage Petition 1891 is approximately a whopping 260 metres long and 200 mm wide. The petition was then finally presented to the Parliament of Victoria in November 1891. It became known as the 'Monster Petition' as at the time it was the largest petition ever made. It took several attendants to carry it into the Legislative Chamber of the Parliament because it was so heavy and bulky.

The 1891 Women's Suffrage Petition has great importance in the study of the history of the women's suffrage movement in Australia. It was a huge landmark for the women's movement. It demonstrated the sense of working together in the various women's organizations and gathering strength in their determination on to gain women's rights. It helped lay a strong foundation for the suffrage movement in Australia.

Anti-Suffragist League.
There were some men and women who opposed giving women the right to vote on the basis that women were to confined in the domestic scene to be of any help in politics, and so, in the summer of 1908 the famous author, Mary Humphry Ward, was approached by Lord George Curzon and William Cremer and asked to become the first president of the Anti-Suffrage League, Mary Ward agreed, and so another Anti-Suffrage movement was created.

Images of women politicians in the media attempted to portray women as too absorbed with the trivial, domestic, emotional, and selfish to make fitting politicians. Anti-suffragists also argued that women were too emotional and lacked broader political vision. They attempted to picture politics as unsuitable for women. Australian women were often depicted in the popular press as weak, and intellectually incapable of political decision making. The Anti-Suffragist never became popular enough to truly become a threat to those supporting the Suffragist movement.

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=Occupy Melbourne=

The infamous Occupy Melbourne protest, which flared from Tuesday the 15th of October to Tuesday the 25th of October, was demonstrated in the City Square of Melbourne. The protesters appealed to economic inequality, social injustice, corruption in the financial sector and corporate greed taking place in Melbourne.

After the one week granted to the protesters to camp in the city square expired, they went back on their word and decided they would not leave, Lord Mayor Robert Doyle urged them to heed his warning and vacate the area, but that wasn't enough, so when the protesters continued to defy his warning, police, dog squad, and public order response teams moved in to break up the crowd at around midday. Police ranks finally swelled to 400 officers when they moved in to strike.

Police officer were seen brutally dragging people along the rough ground and carrying other people by their arms and legs and shoving them into the back of police vans at City Square, while threats of being arrested were returned with chants of ''we can't hear you"

Antagonized scuffles broke out in the middle of the Melbourne CBD, blocking trams and drawing hundreds of protesters and spectators onto the road. Police on horseback were used to try and disperse the crowd. The protesters were slowly herded to the center of Swantson Street, their numbers growing as people gathered to watch, and in some rare cases, joined in.

By 4.00pm, a group of riot police, in full gear, had forcefully moved the protesters along Swanston Street towards Trades Hall in Lygon Street. Those stubborn enough who refused to move or who took on the police were dragged behind the front line, some kicking, screaming, and some even yelling threats.

The Occupy Melbourne organizers vowed to continue protesting.

The protests began in union with the Occupy New York protests in New York, United States.

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=Past Places of Free Speech=

Free speech is the ability to speak freely without fear of censorship or punishment. We all know now that we have the ability to speak freely and won’t be punished for it. Now think back to the 80's and 90's where did people express their opinion and how did they keep it from the government? To answer that question The people back then made Speakers Forums which are small or large amounts of people gathered for a meeting and these occurred every Sunday at these locations...

Yarra Bank/Speaker's Corner.
Location: Speaker's Corner is located on the south-east side of the CBD(central business district) City: Melbourne Bulit in: Speaker's Corner was bulit in 1915 Past Use: Speakers corner was where lots of people can and talked about anything but it was mostly about the goverment. Current Use: Speaker's Corner is now a landmark and a tourist attraction. Random Fact: Yarra Bank (Speakers' Corner) is also historically important for its associations with prominent socialist politician and champion of free speech Dr William Maloney (1854-1940) who campaigned for its reservation. History: While the City Council was discouraging people from preaching in public parks and gardens, they didn’t stop it at Yarra Bank. After the building of the railway expansion in 1915 it had destroyed the space for Yarra Bank meetings. Throughout the 1910s to the 1930s members from the Socialist Party of Victoria, the Trades Hall Council and the Australian Labor Party petitioned unsuccessfully for a more convenient spot for their meetings.

In World War I thousands of people started attending anti-conscription meetings at Flinders Park. Prime Minister John Curtin referred to Yarra Bank Park as his 'university', and after that people started associating the park with the politics of trade unions, socialism and the Labor Party. Yarra Bank personalities included Tom Mann, Frank Anstey, Frank Hyett, Sir George Pearce, Maurice Blackburn, Frank Brennan, Percy Laidler, and George Prendergast. James Scullin, later Prime Minister of Australia, introduced Britain's Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald on Yarra Bank in 1906. J.W. 'Chummy' Fleming, well-known anarchist who had been arrested as early as 1885 for speaking at North Wharf, could still be seen at Yarra Bank in the 1940s.

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Birrarung Marr.
Location: Birrarung Marr is located on the south-east side of the CBD(central business district) City: Melbourne Bulit in: Birrarung Marr was bulit in 2002 Past Use: Birrarung Marr was mostly used for public speaking about things like Socialism, Anarchy, Democracy, Capitalism, One-Man-One-Vote and other topics. Birrarung Marr was one of the places where they had there weekly forum(every Sunday). Current Use: Birrarung Marr is not really used in the same way it was in the past. It is mostly used as a small landmark or to used as festival ground. Random Fact: The name Birrurang Marr comes from 2 different aboriginal languages, one from the Melbourne area and one from the Adelaide area, and together mean "beside the river". History: In 1856, the government revealed their plan to make that a swampy area called Birrarung Marr into a park.

The first railway line that had been built in the area was in 1859 shortly afterwards railways occupied most of the parkland between Melbourne's CBD (central business district) and the Yarra River. At the start of the 20th century, these changes were replaced by reconstruction of the construction of the new and improved Yarra River (all they did was make it wider, straighter and deeper).

In 1992, the Premier of the Victorian Government, Jeff Kennett, initiated a central development program focused on making the CBD bigger and better. The creation of Birrarung Marr resulted from the central development program trying to use the land near Federation Square and the Jolimont railyards.

The actual construction of Birrarung Marr began in 2000. The project was $15.6 million to design and build; a company called City of Melbourne and the State Government of Victoria were the people that funded the project. The park was formally opened to the public on Australia Day, 26 January 2002. Top

Eastern market/Old Pappy's Market.


Location: Eastern Market was located on the intersection of Bourke Street and Exhibition. City: Melbourne. Built in: Eastern market was built in 1847. Past Use: Eastern market was used as a Speakers' forum because every Sunday the people that came to shop there also went to the speakers area. Current Use: N/A Random Fact: The Market was demolished in 1962 and the Southern Cross Hotel was built on the site. History: Eastern Market was opened in 1879, it was built on the intersection of Exhibition & Bourke Streets. Eastern Market was built so that it could be the city's main fresh produce market, but as expected the proud and new Queen Victoria Market, quickly took over its role. Eastern Market was used as a flower market instead it was also used as a rendezvous for the city's workers and promenades. However, as Melbourne evolved and acquired more amusements it was no longer needed but still they keep it alive.

In the 1950s, Eastern Market had decided to get rid of all the - fortune tellers, test-your-strength machines, electric-shock therapists, tattoo artists, taxidermists and bric-a-brac dealers. Top

[[image:mcscbd2011/Yarra_mullum_locator_map.jpg width="335" height="255" caption="Courtesy of wikimedia"]]
Location: Merri Creek is a few kilometers north-east of CBD(central business district). City: Melbourne. Built in: N/A. Past Use: Merri creek was paast use was were usally indigenous people sat and had there meeting. Current Use: Merri creek is used a recreational park. Random Fact: The creek borrows its name from the Wurundjeri-willam phrase //Merri Merri// meaning "very rocky", this was later abbreviated to Merri Creek by early European settlers. History: In May 1835, there was a historic meeting that took place between John Batman and major members of the Wurundjeri-willam clan and some other people. Only major clan members signed the document, that was later called Batman's Treaty, that was the only treaty ever signed between the European people and the aborigines’. These historical meeting always took place on the banks of Merri Creek.

The biggest meeting between the settlers and the Aboriginal people of Victoria that happened at Merri Creek in January 1844. The Wurundjeri-willam invited tribes from all over Victoria. Top

Victorian Trades Hall.
Location: Trades Hall is located on the intersection of Victoria St and Lygon St. It was north from the CBD(central bussiness district). City: Melbourne. Built in: Trade hall was built in 1859. Past Use: Trades hall was where all the workers after work could complain and talk about work freely and not be shushed by police. Current Use: The trades hall is still the main place for unions meetings but besides that they hold many events like the Melbourne Comedy Festival. Random Fact: The workers, all together, had enough money to finance the construction of the building themselves. History: The Victorian Trades Hall was built after the success of the Eight Hour Day project in 1856; it was only built because the union decided that it should be built as a monument of their historical victory and also as a functional forum for the union. The Trades Hall building was completed in 1859. Historians claim that Trade hall was the first ever building, in the world, to be constructed specially for trade union use.

The Victorian Trades Hall Council became the headquarters for Victorian unions like the Workingman's Parliament and because it was the headquarters the building got an extension during the 1880s. Following the successful Tailoresses Strike in 1882, Trades Hall union leaders asked for 14 acres of land in Lygon Street so they could build the Female Operatives Hall. The Operatives Hall was knocked down in 1960, to make room for more additions to the main building.

Trades Hall Council has made many changes to the building since its beginning in the 1870s, yet, it still remains to be the oldest union building, in Australia, to be used for its original purpose after all this time.

Yarra Bend Park/Studley Park(The Lawn).
Location: South East of the CBD(central bussiness district) City: Melbourne. Built in: Studley Park was reconised as a forum 1897. Past Use: Studley Park is where hundreds people would can do listen to the speakers and the musicians. Current Use: Studley Park is now used as a recreational park and boat storage area. Random Fact: The musician were mostly provided by the Tocsin Club and the Victorian Socialists' League. History: The park is an important site for the Wurundjeri Aboriginal people for a lot years prior to the Europeans coming to Melbourne. Yarra Bend Park was officially listed as a reserve in 1877. In 1929 the two parks joined. Studley Park is to the south of Yarra Bend. From 1848 until 1925 the park had been housing the Yarra Bend Lunatic Asylum, the building took up most of the area in the park.

In 1927 the Venereal Disease Clinic named “Fairhaven” got opened on the area of land previously housed the Yarra Bend Asylum. When the clinic closed in 1951 it was used by the adjacent Fairfield Hospital as staff quarters and storerooms. Top

Sources:
Wikipedia. Birrurang Marr. 2/Nov/2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birrarung_Marr,_Melbourne (17/11/11) Wikipedia. Eastern Market. 20/Apr/2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Market,_Melbourne (20/11/11) Wikipedia. Merri Creek. 14/Nov/2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merri_Creek (19/11/11) Wikipedia. Trades Hall. 18/Sep/2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_Trades_Hall (19/11/11) Wikipedia. Yarra Bend Park. 30/Aug/2011. [] (24/11/11) eMelborune. Peoples Forum. 25/Feb/2011.[] (25/11/11) Melbourne. http://www.walkingmelbourne.com/building263_trades-hall.html (17/11/11) Walking Melbourne. http://www.walkingmelbourne.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=401 (17/11/11) Goodbye Melbourne Town. 11/01/08. http://victoria.slv.vic.gov.au/ericthake/melbmemories/goodbyemelb/index.html (22/11/11) Speakers Forum. __Radical Melbourne__. Victoria.pg 83-87. (21/11/11)

=Graffiti=

Banksy
Banksy is a famous, well known English street artist. He has created a lot of good art work in his career, he has made lots of money from his art work. He started his career as an artist around in 1993 at the age of 18. He has made many art pieces, in 2004, he created a $10 dollar note that was completely legal to use, he changed the Queens head on the note to the head of Princess Diane, and changed the text on the note from ' Bank of England ' to ' Banksy of England '. He put some of these rare notes on eBay for $200 (Australian) each. Famous Banksy art works and their costs. Mona Lisa -- £57,600 Bombing Middle England £102,000 Bollon Girl --- £ 37,200 Bomb huger --- £ 31,200 Ballerina with Action Man Parts £ 96,000 Glory-£72,000 Untitled -£33,600 Space Girl & Bird //---// £288,000  Average about £ 89,700 Banksy created another art piece in 2010 in Australia, but it has been distorted by so many people (including the councils) that it is no longer recognizable. Banksy's latest work was created in 2011 it was called "sniper" but it has been destroyed as well. //The last time I hit this spot I painted a crap picture of two men in banana costumes waving hand guns. A few weeks later a writer called Ozone completely dogged it and then wrote 'If it's better next time I'll leave it' in the bottom corner. When we lost Ozone we lost a fearless graffiti writer and as it turns out a pretty perceptive art critic. Ozone – rest in peace// || Top
 * There is a another graffiti artist called "Ozone" he has always been "fighting" with Banksy, but he was hit by a underground train is 2007, while he was making a piece of an angel wearing a bullet-proof vest holding a skull. Banksy wrote a note on his website saying:

Street art and Graffiti
The main difference is that graffiti is illegal and street art is legal. You could say that graffiti is a type of street art, but illegal. Graffiti(Tags) sometimes are about some policy comments. Street art doesn't always has to be letters they can also be some pictures. Graffiti is illegal because the person/artist does not ask for the permission to draw/ paint on the wall. Street art is when the artist actually asks the owner of the wall for the permission to paint. The fine for practicing graffiti could cost up to $27,500 and earn you two years in jail.

Types of graffiti.
There are lot of different types of graffiti/street art, this includes: You can find all these kind of Graffiti in Melbourne CBD. The most common one would be 'tags', you can find them anywhere in the city and it is most common type of graffiti because it is the easiest to create. This type is basically a graffiti-style signature. The best looking ones in my opinion would be Pieces/Wild-style, they are big and colorful, they are usually hard to read and hard to design. Piece take a large surface area they are usually more than 30 square meter.
 * Tags
 * pieces
 * stencil graffiti
 * sticker art
 * street poster art
 * art intervention
 * Wild-style

Stencil graffiti are images or texts that are used to make by paper/ cardboard. The picture/ text is cut out from paper or cardboard and then you put the cardboard on the surface of the wall and use spray paint to go over it.

Sticker art are images or messages that are displayed using stickers in public. These might be a comment on a policy or issue. Street poster art is similar to sticker art, they are draw or printed on very thin paper.

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 * Some Laws about Graffiti in Melbourne:
 * If found guilty of the crime, you may get charged(min=$550 and max=$27,500 if you have a spray can in your bag/car.
 * There is no excuse that you weren't going to graffiti
 * The only excuse for being found with spray cans, is that you required it for your occupation, but you must prove this to police for it to be a valid reason.
 * Even with permission of an owner you cannot graffiti on property visible in public places __if it is found to be offensive__. ||

Policy graffiti
Lots of graffiti around you might be a comment of a policy issue, this could include anti-war, anti-capitalism, anti-fascism, nihilism and existentialism. Sometimes some graffiti could be included as a political graffiti when they are make a social point. It is really hard to find new pieces about political today, most of them was created from 1960s and 1980s. The reason people don't do it much now is because there is not much policy issues today or they do something else that will make people more concentrate. Here are some examples.

Sources:
Wikipedia. Graffiti. 11/11/2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graffiti (16/11/2011) Wikipedia. Street art. 14/11/2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_art (16/11/2011) Wikipedia. Stencil graffiti. 23/10/2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stencil_graffiti (16/11/2011) Wikipedia. Sticker art. 6/10/2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sticker_art (16/11/2011) Wikipedia. Street poster art. 26/6/2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_poster_art (16/11/2011) Wikipedia. Banksy. 14/11/2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksy (16/11/2011) Youth-law. New graffiti laws. 2008. http://www.youthlaw.asn.au/legalinfo/graffiti-factsheet.pdf (16/11/2011) Top

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