Australia - The 1929 Women's March At Port Adelaide Poem by Paul Warren

After the Great War workers rights were hard

In the Port Adelaide wharves they were marred 

Where there were strikes across Australia which spread home 

With non-union labour on the wharf unloading ships alone 



There had been a violent march stopped by Commissioner Leane's police

When mounted officers charged the marchers on Robinson's Bridge in fighting and grief

Next day on Friday 18th January 1929 the women of Port Adelaide made 

A March down Commercial Road towards the wharves as the police lines didn't fade 



They say the women also had children in the crowd 

When the mounted police charged and the women screamed out loud

The riot was not pretty with people hurt everywhere in sight 

And the women held their ground against the police in the fight



My mother used to tell the story of her aunties marching with copper sticks then

And those that were hurt in what they thought was their rights to defend 
These events were leading to the Great Depression in a bad time 

But in the end the Port Adelaide wharves remained as Union backed this time.



© Paul Warren Poetry