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How the Government Caused
the Police Strike
1922 to 1923
Strike committee William Brooks, James Burke, Frederick Tucker, Alfred Pitts, John Davern, James Heslin,
Edward Pour.
This is the fourth in a series of
monthly articles chronicling
the major events and
achievements in the history
of The Police Association.
Today’s members owe so
much to the actions and
achievements of The Police
Association members
throughout its history.
What we have today should
not be taken for granted.
Today our objectives are the
same – to achieve continual
improvements to police
salary and conditions.
Photos:- Days of Violence by Gavin Brown and
Robert Haldane – copies available on-line –
www.users.bigpond.com/haldane
Constable Fred Midgley, one of the original 29 strikers.
Chief Commissioner Nicholson
With Gellibrand gone, the
Government returned to the
safety of what police historian Bob
Haldane described as “malleable
mediocrity”. Their selection of
Alexander Nicholson as Chief
Commissioner must have been
a comforting one for them. With
40 years of service, his main
qualification seems to have
been his willingness to do the
Government’s bidding. Once in
office he reversed the resourcing
requests of his predecessors. Indeed,
he denied their necessity at all. An
authoritarian leader, he soon lost
the support of his members.
A keen disciplinarian, he
instituted a scheme of “special
supervision” that caused more
harm than good, and was believed
to have later failed to honour
a promise to the Association to
remove those supervisors.
If anything his relationship with
the Police Association was worse
than that of his predecessors. He
later blamed this on Association
leaders, whom he described as
“firebrands”, and the Association,
which he saw as a “wild orgy, a nest
of agitators”.
neither authorise nor condone
a police strike.
Although inconclusive discussions
were held to try and resolve the
problem, there was no suggestion
that Brooks would call the men out
again. But that is what he did.
In doing so he broke a promise
to the Police Association that there
would be no more strike action. He
appears to have been motivated by
a personal hatred for Nicholson,
whom he believed had treated
him unfairly.
Confronted with this second
crisis, both the Government and the
Chief Commissioner mishandled
the situation badly. Dealing directly
with Brooks, and thus legitimising
his self appointed role as strike
leader, they effectively cut the
Association out of subsequent
negotiations. In doing so, they
played into Brooks’ hands and
conditions deteriorated. Soon there
was uncontrolled rioting in the
streets of Melbourne, and three men
were dead.
The police had lost control, and
order was only restored when large
numbers of ordinary citizens, sworn
in as Special Constables, swept the
rioters from the streets.
The Police Strike
Nicholson had been in office for
18 months by the time of the
Melbourne Cup Carnival of 1923.
By then he had antagonised
the work force so much that
Constable William Brooks had
no difficulty calling a stop work
meeting at Russell Street, to
protest against Nicholson’s special
supervisors. Brooks acted on his
own initiative in doing this, as he
knew that the Association would
After the Strike
By Melbourne Cup Day the streets
of Melbourne were again peaceful.
The strike was broken, and six
hundred and thirty six men had
been sacked from the Force.
Although the Government
never admitted responsibility
for the disaster, its actions spoke
louder than words, as it hurriedly
introduced the many improvements
police had requested for years.
Soon there was a pay increase,
February 2009 The Police Association Journal
www.tpav.org.au
25
Special Constables.
a new pension scheme, and plans
were drawn up to modernise police
accommodation.
Ironically, the strikers who forced
these improvements never benefited
from them. It was Government
policy that they were never to
be re-employed in the Force.
However, special arrangements
were made to place them in other
Government departments.
In another breakthrough, the
Police Association’s role in matters
affecting welfare and efficiency,
but not promotions or discipline,
was enshrined in legislation.
However, membership of any other
political or industrial organisation,
such as the Trades Hall, was
punishable with dismissal. The
Government was determined to
keep police under tight control.
The establishment of a free and
independent Association was still
years away.
Some later claimed that the
Association’s inability to improve
police conditions had disenchanted
many men, and been a major
factor in the build up to the strike.
Such criticisms deflect the spotlight
from the real issue. For years
the Government had rebuffed
Association initiatives that would
have made for a contented work force.
Successful negotiation is only possible
when all parties have a sincere
commitment to find a solution. The
State Government had none.
The Government’s culpability
can be seen in its penny pinching
policies and failure to negotiate.
With no other remedy available to
them, it was virtually inevitable that
some police would see themselves as
being pushed to find a more radical
solution to their problems.
www.tpav.org.au
The Labor Opposition were also
of little help. They promised to reemploy all strikers as soon as they
were elected, but once in office they
avoided the issue by deciding to
hold a Royal Commission instead.
Soon after they were voted out in
a snap election, and were replaced
by a conservative Government
that acted quickly to bring the
Commission to a halt, thus
avoiding damaging revelations.
Brooks, the man responsible
for the strike, moved interstate
and was never heard of in police
circles again.
The mob in Bourke Street, Saturday afternoon 3 Nov
1923 took chanrge of trams and streets for a while.
arbitrarily and unfairly dismissed
from the Force.
Although not a striker, he
continued to work for what he
believed was a just outcome; the
strikers reinstatement in the Force.
Despite the fact that he was a
married man with four children,
who had been thrown out of his
job and had no income, Cummins’
anger at the injustice inflicted on
the men motivated him to continue
to fight on their behalf.
By the late 1920s it looked as if his
efforts were to be rewarded, when
the Hogan Labor Government was
Constable Brooks - far right.
The only individual who
remained true to the cause was
Association Vice President Ted
Cummins. On night shift during
the strike week, he spent his days
trying to get the men back on duty.
When he failed to report for duty
later in the week, believing he had
been given permission to go home
to bed by a senior officer, he was
voted in. However, once in office
they failed to honour a pre-election
promise to reinstate the strikers.
The hard won lesson of this period
is that there are no friends in politics.
Proper wages and working conditions
are not granted as a matter of right.
They have to be demanded, if not
fought for. This is a fact that remains
true to the present day.
The Police Association Journal February 2009