The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-12-10
Mutiny in the Aus
tralian Navy
BY X. B. (London).

THE fact that there was widespread revolt
in the Australian Navy at almost the same
time as the revolt at Invergordon has been care
fully kept from the British workers until today
Even in Australia the matter was hushed up for
a whole week, when a Sydney journal, "Smith's
Weekly" let the cat out of the bag. The Bri-
fish press must have known of the matter long
ago but not one single word has appeared in the
British press so far about the matter.
The mutiny took place at the Westernpoint
base of the Australian Navy and in the shore
depots at the same place.
AS with the Invergordon revolt the irnme-
date cause was the announcement by the Naval
Board of wage cuts which hit the lower paid
men with the most severity. contributory
cause was the poor quality of food, about which
there had been complaints for some time, The
Australian mutiny was very similar to the Eng
Ish one, the sailors in both cases refusing duty,
holding meetings on board, and ignoring their
officers.
The mutiny broke. out aboard the "Penguin"
where the men had been ordered to work until
5 p. m. The men called meeting and refused
to work under the new pay rates. The Com
mander pleaded with the men but was COM
PEELED to retreat in face of their solidarity. On
the "Canberra" the men also struck work and
threw their scrubbing brushes overheard when
ordered to scrub the decks Similar action was
taken on other ships
The sailors hoisted the Red Flag over the
shore depot, with the White Ensign underneath
it, flying upside down.
The cuts involved amounted in some cases to
Is per cent of the mems pay.
According to Smiths Weekly" complaints
about the food had been rife for some weeks.
One of the complaints of the ratings being that
the best food was reserved for the Petty Officers
whom the officers thus hoped to keep on their
side in the event of trouble. When they COM
planned they were punished for making frivolous
complaints. 1t is reported that on one occasion
recently the men refused to eat dinner stew
and called on the officer to sample it, This the
officer did, and pronounced 1t excellent despite
the fact that before he did so the men had
thrown tea-leaves, cigarette ash, ETC., into it.
When he gave his verdict they laughed in his
face Just prior to the Mutiny breaking out the
captain of one of the ships called the men to-
gether for meeting and lectured them on the
events at Invergordon. He instructed them when
they went ashore to deny the newspaper reports
that had appeared, adding that similar instruc-
tons had been given to the captains of all the
ships in the Australian Navy.
"Smiths Weekly states that the sailors we're
all reading Communist literature, which had
been brought on board from the shore, adding
there is 'enough revolutionary literature aboard
to equip Public Library"
The "Canberra" is an English built Cruiser of
10000 tons which played big part in the ac-
tons against the Chinese Revolution in 1927.
The Australian Navy has long had reputation
for militancy and a number of mutinies broke
out in it during the war, mainly directed against
the harsh disciplinary code, especially the flog
ging of boy ratings. This practice they even
tually got withdrawn. Today no corporal punish
ment is permitted in the Australian Navy al
though 1t is still common practice in the Eng
hsh Navy
The fact that two such widely scattered sec
tons OF the British Imperial forces should have
taken such action as did the Australians at
Westernpoint and the British Navy at Invergor-
doa is an indication of the deep rooted working
class resentment against the cuts.