Death by Deliberate Aim: Shootings at Port Melbourne

Abstract

The fatal shooting of stevedore Allan Whittaker at Port Melbourne in November 1928 underlined the dangers of close physical confrontation between incensed workers and armed police when police protected strike-breakers on the wharf. It is argued that police leadership moulds the approach for the controlling of volatile industrial disputes: Sub-Inspector Mossop gave the order to shoot at the fleeing wharfies and Police Chief Commissioner Blamey condoned all police actions at Port Melbourne. The 1928 dispute revealed a police hierarchy distant from working-class people and a Melburnian establishment of government, shipowners and daily newspapers supportive of police actions against perceived union excesses. These powerful conservative forces emphatically and successfully rejected all calls for an inquiry into the police shootings and Whittaker’s death.