Originally published April 20, 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 8th Street where several hundred young people had earlier defied and threatened police.
There were scenes similar to Friday night when drag cars used the traffic lights at the intersection as signals for the start of drag races across 8th Street.
Reading of the Riot Act virtually broke up a night of hectic activity for police in which they arrested 82 men and two women on a variety of charges.
Early in the night, large groups of young people — many of them carrying “eskies” — gathered at the intersection to cheer on the drag car drivers.
Police said most of the young people were followers of the National Street Rod Federation but were not members.
Because of Friday night’s trouble, extra police were rushed to Mildura on Saturday.
Planes of the Police Air Wing brought 17 uniformed men from Melbourne, and another five came by road in a police brawl wagon, also from Melbourne.
Police were concerned that someone would get hurt as the drag cars took off from the lights on a road surface that had been soaked with oil.
Bottles thrown from the crowd were smashed on the roadway.
At 10.15pm, when police could not control the crowd in any other way, a police vehicle with a public address system moved into the intersection with more than 30 uniformed police and several plain clothes men.
Mallee police chief, Superintendent Tom Bishop, of Swan Hill, told the crowd there were a lot of good citizens wanting to enjoy their Easter holidays and whose enjoyment was being disrupted by the actions of others. He said there were a lot of onlookers at the intersection who could be mistaken for offenders.
“I have with me a Justice of the Peace who will read the Riot Act,” he said.
“Those of you who have not dispersed 15 minutes after the Riot Act has been read will be liable to arrest.”
Cr Roy Burr, a former Mayor of Mildura, was the JP with Supt. Bishop.
While he was briefed at the Mildura Police Station, Cr Burr wrote the message he would read on the back of a Victoria Police D24 Operators Messages sheet.
Sitting in the passenger side of a police divisional van and surrounded by local officers, a visibly concerned Cr Burr read the hand-written note over the van’s loud speakers.
“Our Sovereign Lady the Queen doth strictly charge and command all manner of persons here assembled immediately to disperse themselves and peacefully depart to their own homes — God save the Queen,” he said.
It was the first time in Victoria since the 1920s that the Riot Act had been read.
