The Skeptical Historian

Bad Cops: Blamey, Badge 80 & The Police Strike of 1923


Listen Later

What do you get when you cross low wages with tumbledown barracks, overwork, corporate spies and the Melbourne Cup Carnival? You get the Victoria Police Strike of 1923!

Following the first and only police strike in Australian history, Former Army Chief of Staff Thomas Blamey was appointed as Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police. Unfortunately, his penchant for controversy quickly infected the force and he found himself mired in scandal after scandal. Just six week after he was appointed, he was found wearing naught but his badge in an illegal brothel in Fitzroy. Or was he?

Join Juliana to explore policing in the volatile decade of the 1920s and try and figure out who really flashed Badge 80 (and much else besides) in a Melbourne brothel.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The Skeptical HistorianBy Juliana Byers