Extract from ABC News
Losing beef in unemployment rations was the final straw for some Adelaide residents in 1931. (Supplied: State Library of South Australia, B 60882)
In 1931, anger was building in queues for relief rations around Adelaide.
Two years into the Great Depression, mass lay-offs from factory closures had sent South Australia's unemployment rate soaring above 30 per cent.
Writing for The Register newspaper, Elizabeth Leigh described "a deadly quiet" on the streets of Port Adelaide, where people's spirits had been beaten down by severe poverty.
But it was about to turn into one of the most chaotic and violent riots in the state's history.
Not only did SA have the worst unemployment rate in the country during the Depression, its government offered less generous relief packages than other states.
Hunger was rife.
Then the state government made a wildly unpopular decision.
'We want beef'
Beef was considered a far superior meat to the bony mutton. (Steam from Meat, Peps Silvestro, Pexels license)
To save money, it removed beef from unemployment ration tickets.
The replacement was mutton — a much bonier meat, which historians say was considered "inferior" to beef.
About 1,000 men gathered in Port Adelaide to march to the city and demand their beef back.
Carrying banners reading "We want beef" and other slogans, they were led by unions and joined by about 1,000 more people along the way.
When they reached Adelaide's centre, the leaders hoped to speak with Labor Premier Lionel Hill.
Instead, police were waiting for them.
A bloody scene
Marchers later recalled a sense of being ambushed as a violent fight broke out.
The Daily News described "a mob infuriated to fever heat", reporting that "iron bars and batons were used with abandon".
"Men dripped with blood streaming from their heads, while the clamour went on, shouting and screaming as they fought on desperately without thought of the consequences," the paper reported on the day.
People suffered broken bones, concussions and lacerations, with 10 police officers taken to hospital and 12 men arrested and charged.
Protesters had hoped to see Premier Lionel Hill at Adelaide's Treasury building. (Supplied: State Library of South Australia, B 1966)
Crown prosecutor YV. C. Gilllespie told the Adelaide Police Court the event was "an organised effort to cause eruption and bloodshed".
But others questioned the use of force by police.
MP Frank Keen Nieass, who was struck with a police baton while watching the riot, told The Daily News he believed the police had "lost their heads".
Lessons from the violence
Doug Melvin from the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History said the event showed how desperate ordinary people had become under the brutal living conditions of the era.
"Police weren't expecting them to fight back, and they did fight back," he said.
"What did they have to lose?
People made homeless during the Depression were living in makeshift shelters, like this hessian-lined hut at Torrens Gorge. (Supplied: State Library of South Australia, B 69086)
"I know we have problems today, but no-one can imagine what it would be like living in Port Adelaide, or Hindmarsh, or Adelaide [then].
"Those people were really on the edge."
In the days that followed, there were more protests, including against local butchers who would not supply beef in rations.
Later that year, the premier was expelled from the South Australian Labor Party for supporting a financially conservative recovery plan that included further cuts to unemployment aid.
Eventually, the protesters got their victory — beef was returned to ration tickets.
But hardship persisted, as it took most of the decade for Australia's economy to recover from the impacts of the Depression.
"The lesson for now and the future is: governments, just don't let people get into that sort of poverty because it's very hard to get out of,"Mr Melvin said.
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