On 29 November 1917, an egg was thrown at the

Australian Prime Minister The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister heads the executive branch of the federal government of Australia and is also accountable to federal parliament under the principl ...

Billy Hughes William Morris Hughes (25 September 1862 – 28 October 1952) was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia, in office from 1915 to 1923. He is best known for leading the country during World War I, but ...

at the

Warwick railway station Warwick railway station serves the town of Warwick in Warwickshire, England. The station is served by Chiltern Railways (who manage the station), and also less frequently by West Midlands Trains. It is located around half a mile north of the ...

, Queensland, during his campaign for the 1917 plebiscite on conscription. The egg was thrown by Patrick Michael Brosnan, possibly assisted by his brother Bartie Brosnan.

Background

Pressured by British leaders for increased Australian participation in the war effort,

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Prime Minister Billy Hughes announced his intention to hold a national referendum on compulsory military conscription in October 1916. After a particularly bitter campaign, a majority of Australians voted against the proposal, the issue splitting the Federal Labor Party. After joining with the conservative Opposition to form a nationalist government in February 1917, Hughes resolved to hold a second conscription referendum the following December. The campaign was just as volatile as the first, and with the

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended fr ...

under

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

T.J. Ryan Thomas Joseph Ryan (1 July 1876 – 1 August 1921) was an Australian politician who served as Premier of Queensland from 1915 to 1919, as leader of the state Labor Party. He resigned to enter federal politics, sitting in the House of Represen ...

strongly anti-conscription, Hughes decided to tour southern Queensland in a bid to whip up support for his cause.

Warwick speech

Information board about the Warwick Egg Throwing Incident, 2015

On 29 November 1917, Hughes attempted to give a speech to the people of Warwick at the local railway station. During the speech an egg was thrown at Hughes, knocking off his hat. Enraged, Hughes lunged into the crowd, reaching into his coat for a revolver, which had been left behind in his railway carriage. Realising his weapon was not available, Hughes ordered the local police officer, Sergeant Kenny, to arrest Brosnan for a breach of Commonwealth law but the policeman said "you have no jurisdiction".

Aftermath

This incident has been associated with the forming of the

Commonwealth Police The Commonwealth Police (COMPOL) was the federal law enforcement agency in Australia between 1917 and 1979. A federal police force was first established in 1917, and operated under different names and in some periods as multiple organisations. In ...

. There had been plans to create such a police force for over a decade but it is felt that this incident acted as a catalyst for it to happen. In November 2007, the 90th anniversary of the Warwick egg-throwing incident was celebrated with a re-enactment at Warwick railway station.

References

{{reflist

Attribution

This Wikipedia article contains text fro
''"Number 120 – Telegram from Prime Minister Hughes to the Commissioner for Police regarding being egged (later referred to as the “Warwick Egg Incident”)"''
published by the

Queensland State Archives The Queensland State Archives is the lead agency for public recordkeeping in Queensland, Australia. It is the custodian of the largest and most significant documentary heritage collection about Queensland. Established in 1959, Queensland State ...

unde
CC-BY 3.0 AU
licence (last updated 5 March 2012, accessed on 18 October 2015
archived
on 18 October 2015).

External links

Statements, reports, telegrams and newspaper extracts concerning the Prime Minister W.M. Hughes and the egg throwing incident at Warwick Railway Station, 29 November 1917 – 6 December 1917
at Qld State Archives History of Australia (1901–1945) Warwick, Queensland 1917 in Australia Protests in Australia Military recruitment in Queensland in World War I 1917 protests