Page 34 - Keeping the Peace

28 Keeping the Peace – A History of Honorary Justices in Victoria
1960s:
a restlessness and dissatisfaction with the old order of things
During the 1960s, the modernisation of Australian society increasingly challenged JPs to expand their knowledge and experience of diversity within the community.
Old ties to England and its customs would no longer be good enough as Australia experienced a period of rapid economic growth, industrial modernisation and cultural heterogeneity.
In February 1964, Melbourne’s The Sun newspaper reported that two Chinese were among 14 new people sworn in as JPs.52 As Victoria became a more multicultural society, JPs were increasingly asked to deal with cases involving people from different cultures. One JP who worked as a magistrate in St Kilda heard a case of a man from Yugoslavia who was accused of indecently assaulting a girl on the beach. The JP was outraged by this behaviour and demanded that the accused be deported as he was not an Australian citizen. This, he argued, was to ensure the safety of the beach and prevent further attacks. He did not get his way and was told to surrender his commission by the Attorney-General, the Honorable A G Rylah, for prejudicing the case. Although the Attorney-General retracted this request, this storm
of controversy brought into sharp relief anxieties about Victoria’s changing society.53
‘New Australians’ were challenging JPs to respond to new cultures. These were not just Melbourne concerns. Mr G Lyle, JP, said in Warracknabeal Court on hearing an unlawful assault case involving two migrants, ‘[I] view this incident with grave concern. All Australians want to help New Australians to be good citizens and the migrants should keep to their part of the contract’.54
Women members of the Royal Victorian Association of HJs organised their own meetings. ‘The Justice of the Peace’, July 1960.
52 53 54
The Sun, 5 February 1964. Frank Power, ‘HJs History’, Vol 2, Melbourne. Horsham Times, 20 November 1953, p. 5.