Rioting in the City C.1923
On Saturday 3 November 1923, during the Melbourne Cup weekend, rioting erupted in the city in the afternoon and looting occurred at emporiums, menswear stores and jewellers, as well as some smaller businesses. With members of the police force on strike, the government had trouble managing law and order on the large crowds that came into the city.
The rioting began near the corner of Swanston and Bourke streets, where the Leviathan menswear outfitters was one of the first stores to be looted. It is at this intersection a cable tram was set alight. Shopkeepers, fearing the rioting would return over the following days, boarded up their shopfronts to prevent damage and theft.
The business of the musical instruments importer, Edward Lyons, fared a little better than many others located in Bourke Street, near Swanston street. As seen in one of these photographs, the plate glass windows of his shop remained intact, and the shopfront was in the process of being boarded up, with a fellow either employed by him, or the adjacent Orient Hotel, keeping an eye on proceedings.
In the photograph of ‘The Block’, the prestigious shopping strip on the north side of Collins Street between Swanston and Elizabeth streets, shopfronts are seen in the photograph boarded up in the event there is further trouble.
The riots were quelled later in the Saturday evening. The lawlessness had cost at least one man his life, and there were 200 casualties and the property of 78 city businesses damaged. Other damage occurred to businesses in the suburbs of Melbourne including St Kilda and North Melbourne.