Terrorism in Australia: Past, present and future

Extract: Terrorism was largely unknown in Australia up until the late 1900s and certainly there was no legislation that specifically addressed terrorist activities. However, Australia has had a number of cases of political violence and crimes such as treason or piracy from Australia's colonial times that could be seen as forerunners of a raft of terrorism legislation that now preoccupies Australian governments. The Eureka Stockade of 1854 was a classic example of worker protest following years of conflict on the Victorian goldfields. In Queensland, after World War I, high unemployment levels led to returning soldiers acting as strike breakers and violent conflicts broke out between them and striking unionists in Townsville and Gladstone. There have also been many violent clashes during times of economic depression usually associated with the use of non-union labour.