About this record

This is a typed memorandum issued from the office of the Commonwealth Department of Home Affairs and addressed to the minister, Arthur Blakely, discussing recent demands in Darwin by unemployed workers for two days of work per week. At the time, the Northern Territory was administered by the federal government. The memo is typed on a single page with a signature at the bottom. The main body of text is dated '29.1.1931'. On the bottom left of the page is an added typed note dated '3.2.31' which has been initialled. The full signature is that of Percy Edgar Deane, a senior officer with the Department of Home Affairs.

Educational value

• This document outlines two incidents of protest and violence by unemployed workers in Darwin during the Great Depression of the 1930s, a period when unemployment in Australia peaked at almost 32 per cent. The memorandum shows that more than 50 men were involved in a protest on the verandah of the government offices. The demonstration turned violent after the police were called, leading to ten arrests. Blame was laid on a man named Mahoney, who it was alleged had incited the others to violent protest.
• The Great Depression exacerbated Australia's already high unemployment. With no national unemployment benefit or dole at the time, people were forced to rely on charity or on unemployment relief delivered through state-based public work programs. The Darwin protest was brought about by a lack of sufficient funds to provide two days of work per week. This was despite an additional £500,000 being released by the federal government only months beforehand.
• The disturbance is indicative of the mounting anger and dissent in Australia over the government's handling of relief monies. It came at a time of severe social unrest in Australia and a rise in left-wing political organisations, including communist and socialist groups, as well as right-wing nationalist and fascist groups. Less than three weeks before this disturbance an incident had also occurred in Adelaide when unemployed workers rioted over food rations.
• This document indicates the high tensions felt within federal and state governments over social and political dissent during the early 1930s. The emotive term 'riot' is used in this official document and indicates the serious line officials was taking with public disturbances such as these. The request for no leniency to be shown to the men who had been arrested is endorsed in the added note, which states that Cabinet would not consider the release of the prisoners.
• The document is suggestive of public opinion about the unemployed, which was divided between those who saw them as being responsible for their own predicament and those who did not. People who became unemployed when a factory closed down, for example, were seen as more 'deserving' than others. Those unemployed who had not been made redundant were viewed with suspicion and thought by some to be 'slackers' who should be treated harshly.
• By 1931 men who could prove they were without employment could take part in relief work, which was the basis of the protestors' actions in Darwin. The work was organised and controlled by each individual state, with money allocated from the federal government. Although at least £2,500,000 had been allocated, it was far from sufficient in meeting the demands of the unemployed, who reacted to the shortfall with sometimes angry protests.