The day hungry rioters and police 'lost their heads' over beef
During the Great Depression, Adelaide residents were getting hungrier and more desperate by the day. Then the state government made a wildly unpopular decision.
In 1931, anger was building in queues for relief rations around Adelaide.
Two years into the Great Depression, mass lay-offs from factory closures had sent South Australia's unemployment rate soaring above 30 per cent.
Writing for The Register newspaper, Elizabeth Leigh described "a deadly quiet" on the streets of Port Adelaide, where people's spirits had been beaten down by severe poverty.
But it was about to turn into one of the most chaotic and violent riots in the state's history.
Not only did SA have the worst unemployment rate in the country during the Depression, its government offered less generous relief packages than other states.
Hunger was rife.
Then the state government made a wildly unpopular decision.
'We want beef'
Beef was considered a far superior meat to the bony mutton. (Steam from Meat, Peps Silvestro, Pexels license)
To save money, it removed beef from unemployment ration tickets.
The replacement was mutton — a much bonier meat, which historians say was considered "inferior" to beef.
About 1,000 men gathered in Port Adelaide to march to the city and demand their beef back.
Carrying banners reading "We want beef" and other slogans, they were led by unions and joined by about 1,000 more people along the way.
When they reached Adelaide's centre, the leaders hoped to speak with Labor Premier Lionel Hill.
Instead, police were waiting for them.
A bloody scene
Marchers later recalled a sense of being ambushed as a violent fight broke out.
The Daily News described "a mob infuriated to fever heat", reporting that "iron bars and batons were used with abandon".
"Men dripped with blood streaming from their heads, while the clamour went on, shouting and screaming as they fought on desperately without thought of the consequences," the paper reported on the day.
People suffered broken bones, concussions and lacerations, with 10 police officers taken to hospital and 12 men arrested and charged.
Protesters had hoped to see Premier Lionel Hill at Adelaide's Treasury building. (Supplied: State Library of South Australia, )