Red Cliffs Court House
"Building work on the court house had not yet started when the famous Battle of Red Cliffs erupted in March 1939. Hundreds of itinerant workers had converged on the town for the picking season; all were hard up and some penniless and reduced to begging for food. Conditions were wretched and many slept without blankets among the vines, tormented by mosquitoes. Because of bad weather, the harvest wasn't ready and no work was available.
Tempers flared on the evening of 11 March when five hundred rioters ran amok. Police failed to subdue them with fire hoses and batons and it needed reinforcements from Mildura to fire warning shots before the crowd dispersed. On the following Wednesday eighteen defendants faced the Red Cliffs bench on 86 charges. There were so many spectators the venue was moved from the Methodist Hall to the Diggerland Theatre (the name reflects the town's origins as a soldier settlement) and the court sat without a break until 6 pm.
Inevitably, police blamed the riot on a small group of 'communist agitators'. The worst of them, they said, was Louise Edwards who had incited the men to violence with her strident cries. During the hearing she heckled police witnesses. Dubbed the 'Queen of the Red Cliffs Riot', Edwards could not or would not pay her twelve pound fine, and served eight weeks' gaol instead.
The pickers' grievances were mostly legitimate and conditions improved after the riot. A labour bureau was arranged, and block-holders were made to provide shelter and camping places for their workers. The next year, pickers passing through Ouyen on their way to Mildura were even allowed to draw ten shillings sustenance - provided they did 51 hours' work for the local council, then left town promptly!
Due to wartime austerity, Red Cliffs Court House opened without fanfare on 18 July 1940, despite the lack of furniture and a jungle of weeds at the entrance. A shallow, tiled roof covers the courtroom while parapets conceal the flat, iron roofs of the ancillary rooms. In rendered brick, the building presents a stark, blockhouse appearance, emphasised by the horizontal bands and the bars to the windows. After an abortive closure in 1973, the courts ceased officially in 1989. Red Cliffs Historical Society now occupies the building."
Historic Court Houses of Victoria, by Michael Challinger
Red Cliffs Court House
"Building work on the court house had not yet started when the famous Battle of Red Cliffs erupted in March 1939. Hundreds of itinerant workers had converged on the town for the picking season; all were hard up and some penniless and reduced to begging for food. Conditions were wretched and many slept without blankets among the vines, tormented by mosquitoes. Because of bad weather, the harvest wasn't ready and no work was available.
Tempers flared on the evening of 11 March when five hundred rioters ran amok. Police failed to subdue them with fire hoses and batons and it needed reinforcements from Mildura to fire warning shots before the crowd dispersed. On the following Wednesday eighteen defendants faced the Red Cliffs bench on 86 charges. There were so many spectators the venue was moved from the Methodist Hall to the Diggerland Theatre (the name reflects the town's origins as a soldier settlement) and the court sat without a break until 6 pm.
Inevitably, police blamed the riot on a small group of 'communist agitators'. The worst of them, they said, was Louise Edwards who had incited the men to violence with her strident cries. During the hearing she heckled police witnesses. Dubbed the 'Queen of the Red Cliffs Riot', Edwards could not or would not pay her twelve pound fine, and served eight weeks' gaol instead.
The pickers' grievances were mostly legitimate and conditions improved after the riot. A labour bureau was arranged, and block-holders were made to provide shelter and camping places for their workers. The next year, pickers passing through Ouyen on their way to Mildura were even allowed to draw ten shillings sustenance - provided they did 51 hours' work for the local council, then left town promptly!
Due to wartime austerity, Red Cliffs Court House opened without fanfare on 18 July 1940, despite the lack of furniture and a jungle of weeds at the entrance. A shallow, tiled roof covers the courtroom while parapets conceal the flat, iron roofs of the ancillary rooms. In rendered brick, the building presents a stark, blockhouse appearance, emphasised by the horizontal bands and the bars to the windows. After an abortive closure in 1973, the courts ceased officially in 1989. Red Cliffs Historical Society now occupies the building."
Historic Court Houses of Victoria, by Michael Challinger