January 2022 marks the 110th anniversary of the 1912 Brisbane General Strike.
The strike began when members of the Australian Tramway Employees Association were dismissed when they wore union badges to work on January 18, 1912. They then marched to the Brisbane Trades Hall where a meeting was held. That night a mass protest meeting of 10,000 people was held in Market Square (now King George Square).
The Brisbane tramways were owned by the General Electric Company and managed by Joseph Stillman Badger, an American, who refused to negotiate with the Queensland peak union body, then known as the Australian Labour Federation. After this rebuff a meeting of delegates from 43 Brisbane based Trade Unions formed the Combined Unions Committee and appointed a General Strike Committee. The trade unionists of Brisbane went out on a general strike on January 30, 1912.
Within a few days the Strike Committee became an alternative government. No work could be undertaken in Brisbane without a special permit from the Strike Committee. This Committee organised 500 vigilance officers to keep order among strikers and set up its own Ambulance Brigade. Government departments and private employers needed the Strike Committee’s permission to carry out any work. The Strike Committee issued strike coupons that were honoured by various firms. Red ribbons were generally worn as a mark of solidarity, not only by people but also on pet dogs and horses pulling carts.
Mass rallies and a panicked government saw police numbers bolstered by as many mounted police as can be brought in from within 320 kilometres of the city as well as by the swearing in of 3000 Special Constables.
An application by the Strike Committee for a permit for a march on February, 2 1912 was refused by Police Commissioner Patrick Cahill. Despite the refusal of a permit, a crowd estimated at 15,000 turned up in Market Square and the day came to be called Black Friday for the savagery of the police baton charges on crowds of unionists and supporters. When the Employers Federation agreed on the March 6, 1912 that there would be no victimisation of strikers, the General Strike officially came to an end.
This information was written by Curator Lisa Jones from the best Police Museum resources available at the time of writing.
The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane.
Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au
“Brisbane General Strike, 1912” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode
