workingclasshistory:

On this day, 30 August 1917, striking horse driver Merv Flanagan was killed by a scab in Camperdown, NSW, during the Australian general strike. Reginald James Wearne, the brother of a Conservative politician, was one of an army of mostly middle rural scabs brought in to break the strike. When Flanagan saw Wearne pointing a gun at his fellow strikers, he tackled Wearne, who then shot and killed him. Wearne then shot another striker, Henry Williams, in the leg. Perversely, charges against Wearne were dropped but Williams and Merv’s brother were both imprisoned for picketing. Thousands of people came to his funeral (pictured).
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