‘Helmeted, baton swinging police charging through a barrage of bottles and beer cans to disperse thousands of drunken rioters, chants of “Kill the Pigs”’ read the 31 December, 1974 headline of the Telegraph. This was just another New Year’s night on the job for the Gold Coast police throughout the 1970s.
In December, 1974 to boost police presence over the night’s festivities, a number of policewomen were assigned to the infamous New Year’s Eve patrol at the Gold Coast. On December 31, 1974 8 female constables along with 55 male colleagues, armed with regulation issue batons and handcuffs, patrolled the streets of Coolangatta, Gold Coast.
Police Woman Batons Up: Constable Jane Tubman, a black belt holder in Judo. Image Courtesy of The Telegraph, 1st January 1975.
Coolangatta was one of the more riotous stretches of the Gold Coast area. As tempers rose with alcohol consumed, cans and bottles were thrown indiscriminately in the crowd and from nearby buildings. Three of the female constables, PC Jane Tubman (P.W. 271), Sharon Booth (P.W. 213) and Monica O’Mara (P.W. 103), joined 40 policemen to form the skirmish line across one of the main streets in an attempt to clear the area. Police wore visor helmets and carried batons, and as the level of aggression remained low, they had little difficulty in directing the rioters. In the aftermath of the celebrations, 62 cases were heard with fines handed down ranging from $50 for obscene and abusive language to $75 for behaving in disorderly manner, or a fortnight in jail.
Public Order Squad, 1974. Anne McFarlane, Sharon Booth, Trudi Sherwood and Monica O’Mara. Image No. 2818 Courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.
As the decade progressed, the riots intensified. In 1977, demonstrations protesting against mining and export of uranium swept over Australia. In response to rise in public disturbances, the Squad was re-organised, new training techniques were introduced along with additional equipment such as ‘crash’ helmets. As the members of the Force endeavouring to control the riot situations were regularly a target of missiles, it was recommended they be equipped with durable transparent plastic shields.
Alternatively, a concerned resident of Capella, Queensland in his letter to the then Premier Jon Bjelke-Petersen recommended a different approach to ‘dealing with unruly demonstrators than to wale in with a batto [sic] with all their obvious disadvantages’ – an electric stock prodder. The correspondent assured that the prodders leave no mark or ill effects, but only ‘a very deep seated fear of receiving another shock’. If this method was adopted, he continued, there will never be any need for Police to carry demonstrators away ‘who sit or lie in public places supposidly [sic] protesting’. In his response acknowledging receipt of the letter, the Commissioner of Police advised that at this stage it was not proposed to adopt the method of control nominated.
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This information has been supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available. The article was written by Museum Volunteer and Crime and Policing Historian Dr Anastasia Dukova.
The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Friday 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
“FROM the VAULT – New Year’s Eve and the Riot Squad” 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