‘Some Furious Outbursts of Riot'

In August 1918, a ‘March for Freedom’ column of military enlistees en route to the Enoggera army barracks encamped at Darra, a small industrial satellite of Brisbane. Early in the afternoon of 8 August, the 110 men, acting on information supplied by a local resident, marched in formation to a nearby workers’ hall and finally extricated a small red flag from beneath a pile of timber within the building. Exultantly, the recruits carried the offending object outside and attempted to set it alight. ‘It will not burn; cut it with the axe’, a soldier called frantically as the piece of red cloth — ‘only a little larger than a pocket handkerchief — was mangled and destroyed. Afterwards, the men unfurled a Union Jack and floated it above the building upon a sapling flagpole. This being done, they ‘all stood to attention and saluted the flag in military style.’ ¹