HISTORY

Itinerant homeless men or “swaggies” as they were known camped at buildings at
Cairns Showgrounds during the Great Depression years of the 1930’s. It was the
scene of an altercation known as the Battle of Parramatta Park.
Image: courtesy of Cairns Historical Society.

Some notes taken from “Cairns Post”
article 15.07.1992, Carlene Ellwood.
July 16, 1932 a day in Cairns’ history that
sometimes is forgotten! The Battle of
Parramatta Park of which not a lot is
known.

If the Cairns Post headlines were anything
to go on, it was a ‘bloody’ battle the
likes of which had not been seen before
nor since. “Cairns Citizens Vindicated”,
“Homes Defended”, “Pitched Battle at
Show Grounds”, “Ruthless Reds
Routed”.

The day before was one of mixed emotions
as, Charles Kingsford Smith was to
land his ‘Southern Cross’ on Four Mile
Beach at Port Douglas, but due to
unfavourable weather conditions, elected
to go to Innisfail instead.

In Cairns at Parramatta Park, colourful
tents were being erected, stalls finished
off, produce and livestock being delivered
for the start of the 41st annual Cairns
Show in two days time.

But there was a problem! Due to the
Great Depression that had hit not only
Australia but also the whole world, there
were over 100 ‘swaggies’ of all nationalities
camped in the Showground stables
and in the stands.

Cairns unemployment had shot up from
about 10,000 in 1929 to more than 32,000
by June 1932, the year of the great Wall St
crash.

Regular dole payments, child endowment
or single parent allowances and other
forms of government welfare, were not
available then.

Theirs was a desperate situation. Many
had left wives and children in the bigger
metropolitan areas to hit the road seeking
work and collecting dole rations.

Some were university graduates who
were among the first to lose jobs.

This was the only way destitute families
could claim food rations and shelter to
survive – by providing their ‘abandonment’
by the breadwinner.

Cairns charities had done what they
could by providing soup kitchens and
warm clothing but when asked to move
on for the duration of the Show, the swaggies
refused.

These men had elected two southern agitators
as their leaders – John McCormack,
a strict teetotaller with outspoken beliefs
particularly on human equality and
staunch unionist Baden Bennett. Rumours
spread that they were ‘communists’, but
this was untrue.

A deputation of the men called on Mayor
W.A. Collins to demand, among other
things, if they had to go, “One hundred 8ft
by 10ft tents be provided with an extra fly
for two tents, such tents to be properly
constructed” and “that water, sanitary conveniences,
fuel and baths be provided,
such camp to be situated near Gatton and
Grove Streets”.

It was patiently explained that these
demands were beyond the council’s
resources, but if they left town for a week,
they could then return to the Showground.

The men resolved to make a stand.
Following on from this, there were many
meetings of townsfolk and businessmen to
decide a tougher course of action.

The police had no power to help eject the
campers, unless a civil action was to be
taken through the Court, but there was no
time.

At 9am on July 16, over 500 locals met
outside the Showground gates.
Mayor Collins addressed the crowd and
said the time had arrived for “the citizens
to lend their co-operation to have the men
ejected from the park in order that the
Show arrangements continue unhampered”.

A pitched battle broke out which ended in
80 casualties, some being hospitalised, the
‘undesirables’ fleeing to the scrub off
Severin Street, the arrest of both
McCormack and Bennett and a great deal
of self-satisfaction on the faces of the good
citizens of Cairns.

The uninjured were allowed to return in
small groups to retrieve their belongings.
Several of the campers were hospitalised
and later charged with a variety of
offences.

The ‘Swaggies’ were outnumbered five to
one and it was stated that they never stood
a chance.

There appears to be a closed door on what
really happened during that altercation, but
whatever the story, it was a shameful day
in the history of Cairns.

For most Cairns would have been the rest
of the line in their attempt to find work and
they settle into makeshift shelters to contemplate
their future.

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