Student Research
Bridget Harris 2007 (Modern History/Museum Studies Honours Project)
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Chequered Knights
True Blue and White Lies - Australia's anti-police myth and the moments that made it
Curated by Bridget Harris
This exhibition deconstructs the anti-police myth to reveal the possible historical moments and social values which sustain and shape the perception of police in our community in the twenty-first century. With a focus on mainland eastern Australia, the concept of police is challenged and explored through significant moments of resistance, criminal heroes ensconced in national ideology and popular culture and evolution of Indigenous-police relations. A founding legend of the colonial nation and an unshakable facet of the Australian identity, Chequered Knights investigates Australia's construct of the police, raising just as many questions about 'them' as it does about 'us'.
Resistance
Resistance against the state is directed at the physical face of the state, the police. The police represent the law enforcement faculty of the government, a role which has brought them into conflict with those who opposed the policy, authority and legitimacy of the state.
The Vinegar / Castle Hill Convict Rebellion
" …the most wild, ignorant and savage race…familiar with robberies, murders and every horrid crime…an extraordinary race of beings…depraved beyond all conception…A pacific disposition would subdue the present spirit of rebellion and discontent, industry would succeed idleness, honestly [succeed] theft and sobriety [succeed] drunkenness and licentiousness".
Reverend Samuel 'flogging' Marsden. A Few Observations on the Toleration of the Catholic Religion in NSW. London Missionary Society. (1807).
From 1796, Irish men and women were arrested for opposing English rule, with a maximum sentence of transportation, for life. Records, dates and terms of sentence were not brought with the ships and all Irish were viewed as political rebels and policed with a xenophobic zeal. It was thought that the Irish could or would not assimilate into the colony. The incorporation of English values was presented as cultural progress.
The Castle/Vinegar Hill Rebellion of 1804 was one of a failed series of planned uprisings, by mainly Irish convicts. They planned to gather a force of one thousand convicts from districts around the Hawkesbury and, in a coordinated strike, march on Parramatta. There they would, inspired by the Scottish Martyr, Maurice Margarot, plant a tree of liberty, With control of the colony they planned to 'take' Sydney and sail to Ireland from Sydney harbour. The rebellion was enacted against the NSW Corps, who performed the duty of quelling the resistance and instating the law and punishment of the British Government.
Convict Irons, Metal, Private Collection
These irons symbolize the loss of freedom convicts experienced. The small size is likely a reflection of the owners young age, possibly belonging to a child or early teen or small woman. Handcuffs could be used for purposes of secondary punishment, objects such as these exist as a reminder of the distinction between the captive and free men of the colony. Yet while these irons represent the oppression of our convict past, convicts, particularly in the Macquarie years were appreciated as necessary and essential components of the Australian workforce and society.
The Eureka Stockade
While the goldfields ignited dreams of success, conditions were often extremely difficult and yields low. Facing financial hardship even starvation, many miners in Ballarat were hostile to the 'Gold License' which Governor La Trobe introduced in September 1851. This was another burden on already struggling miners, a dramatic increase, equivalent to a rural worker's wages for a year. To ensure the tax was paid, La Trobe initiated 'digger hunts', with soldiers and police checking licenses, severely increased by Governor Hotham in 1854. Miners felt not only that the amount of the license and administration of the gold fields was inadequate, but had serious issues with their lack of rights, being policed without consultation and the right to vote.
Resistance to the licenses emerged through the formation of political organizations and physically, in skirmishes with police. While police were simply performing they duty, miners were antagonistic to police. Tensions were further aggravated by the underfunded, understaffed and inexperienced nature of the force. To entice recruits, standards of entrance to the police were lowered dramatically.
Sparked by dissatisfaction with the operations of the police, and policies of the Government, a protest meeting was called which demanded the release, of miners, abolition of the Gold Commission, licenses and the vote for all males. Five hundred miners assembled and decided to physical fight the state. Construction of a stockade commenced on the 29th November. On the 2nd December police and troops launched a preemptive strike on the unprepared miners who remained at the stockade, who were overpowered after a brief battle. Martial law was declared, but a trial and Royal Commission heralded reform.
Police Baton, likely of the Victorian Police
Dates from c.1920. Wood. Private Collection. The marks and wear of this baton are demonstrative of an object used in the protection and defense of police and a valuable tool in quelling resistance.
Political football – The Apartheid Demonstrations
"I will never forgive or forget what came next. I was verballed by the police who manufactured the most incredible statements about the whole thing…It's one of theose indelible things imprinted in my mind about oppression, about violence, about excessive power".
Former Queensland Premier and apartheid protestor, Peter Beatie, who claimed that during apartheid demonstrations, he was assaulted by police but charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
The 1971 South African rugby union tour to Australia encountered demonstrations which ranged from silent vigils to chanting, 'Seig Heils' to the throwing of smokebombs, fireworks and protestors themselves onto fields. In Queensland however, protesting was more difficult. Under the Traffic Act, police permits were required to hold meetings or march along the roads, carry or display placards. Permits could be refused without reason. Premier Joh Bjelke-Peterson declared a 'State of Emergency', which suspended civil liberties and gave police unprecedented powers to quell dissent. For Bjelke-Peterson, who a short time previously had survived a leadership challenge, the tour provided him with the opportunity to showcase his law and order regimes, having retained the Police portfolio.
Rugby players who chose not to participate in the 1971 Springbok tour to Australia could be prevented from playing again, accused of letting down the team, achieving nothing, or not being genuine protestors. Anti-apartheid protestors were discredited, called ratbags, ruffians, holligans, hippies and communists, more concerned with causing trouble than having a valid political agenda.
Supporter made Wallabies Scarf, Wool, Private Collection
The who chose to support the rugby tour during the apartheid could be physically marked with items such as this. It was a refusal to acknowledge that the issue of apartheid was separate from the tour, despite the South African team being racially constructed, playing in front of segregated home crowd in a racially divided nation, where the visibility of race and exclusion was obvious.
In 1962 the first Aboriginal Wallaby, Lloyd McDermott was prevented from wearing his own jersey, being barred from playing in South Africa. During the 1971 tour, there were Indigenous people, like Black Panther Gary Foley, who expressed his opposition to the racially exclusive team by using team articles to make a political statement; wearing a Springboks jersey. This brought him into conflict with Australian police.
Although the tour was not stopped, the protests were heralded a success, being highly effective in generating awareness of the South African apartheid and in illustrating how sporting events could be used as a forum for demonstrating support for political and economic reforms. Springboks protests showed Prime Minister Whitlam that there was support in the anti-apartheid movement and that sport was a vehicle for combating racism. Whitlam made Australia one of the first nations to boycott South African sporting teams. The Spingboks did not return to Australia for twenty-two years. However the most important benefit of the Australian anti-apartheid movement was it ignited non-Indigenous support and acknowledgement for Indigenous social and political movements, to address civil rights and socio-economic disadvantage.
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Tracy Sullivan
Education Officer/Manager
Phone: 9850 8870
Fax: 9850 6594
Email: ahmuseum@hmn.mq.edu.au