The Shearers' Strike in Australia.

Feilding Star, Volume XVI, Issue 75, 22 September 1894, Page 4

The Shearers' Strike in Australia.

DETAILS OF SOME OF THE OUTRAGES. LOSS OF LIFE AND DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY. The Age of the 28th inst, contains the following particulars of the shearing war : — Wentworth, 27th August. — Keports from Poonearie state that the steamer Rodney, Captain Dickson, which was conveying 50 free labourer* up the Darling for the PolarnStation, was burnt and eunk above Moorara station. The captain reports that she wa9 boarded by a band of masked men, who took possession, and after forcing the captain and men to leave, set her on fire. The steamer was burnt to the water's edge and sank, but the accompanying barge and its contents were saved. Captain Dickson shows considerable signs of ill-usage. Several other steamer*, with tree labourers on board, are on the way up the river. Extreme measures are being taken by Unionists to prevent the despatch of free labourers to the different stations, and great excitement prevails. "Wilcannia, August 27.— A shooting afitay is reported from the Grassmere shed, Natallia station. A medical officer and five policeman, who are at present out investigating, state that Unionists rushed the shed and attempted to carry off the noa-Union-ists. They were fired on by the police. One Unionist was shot dead and two were wounded. One free labourer is reported to have been killed. A later telegram says the police declined to abandon their charge, whereon the Unionists made a rush for the men's hut, smashed in the door, and assaulted Sergeant M.'Do m nough, knocking him down and in flicting two scalp wounds. Several shots were fired within, resulting in two Unionists being severely wounded. They were carried off by their comrades. Three constables followed and took the wounded men and escort in charge. In the meantime a large number of Unionists from the camp left to meet the police partj, with the intention of rescuing the prisoners. They stoned and ' otherwise violently assaulted the police, but at imminent risk of further bloodshed, the wounHed men were safel v brought in and lodged in the goal hospital. Their names are Win, M'Lean and John Murphy. Both men are in a very serious condition. M'Lean received a bullet wound above the left nipple, and the bullet was extracted from his back under the shoulderblade, and close to the spine. Murphy was wounded in the same place, and also had a wound in his back where it is supposed the bullet passed out. Two of the prisoners brought in had bullet wounds. One was grazed on the cheek, and the other shot in the hand. At a number of stations work is at a standstill.