Page 39 - Keeping the Peace

Keeping the Peace – A History of Honorary Justices in Victoria 33
1981 Reading the Riot Act:
Mildura, 20 April, 1981
‘The Riot Act was read to a crowd of drag race fanatics at Mildura on Saturday night. More than 30 police moved into the intersection of Deakin Avenue and Eighth Street where several hundred people had earlier threatened police ... Reading of the Riot Act virtually broke up a night of hectic activity for police ... . As Justice of the Peace, Cr Roy Burr said, ‘it was the first time the Act had been read in Mildura and would become part of the district’s history’.69
69 Sunraysia Daily, 20 and 21 April 1981.
1979 Reading the Riot Act:
Frankston, 5 May 1979
‘Our Sovereign Lady the Queen doth strictly charge and command all manner of person here assembled immediately to disperse themselves and peaceably depart to their own homes’. These were the words read by JP aged in his 60s after being hoisted by local police officers onto the bonnet of a car at the Frankston police station. He was the first JP in Victoria to enact their power to read the text prescribed under the Unlawful Assemblies and Processions Act 1958. The crowd, estimated to be 1,500, smashed windows at the police station, attempted to overturn police cars and hurled missiles at police.68 Local police considered his words were inaudible.
68 Frankston Standard Leader, 18 June 2014.