Star Hotel riot
The Star Hotel riot, occasioned by the closing down of a popular pub, was one of the largest riots in Australian history. An estimated 4,000 people fought with police on the streets of Newcastle, New South Wales on the night of 19 September 1979.
Background
The Star Hotel for many years was a run down pub with only one bar operating...Until Newcastle Police were asked to assist with the removal of Newcastle's few openly Gay patrons from the Great Northern Hotel in the mid 1960s. It was considered by the owners of The Great Northern Hotel that as Newcastle's most classy hotel at the time it was not an appropriate venue for gays.
The police drove drag queens Stella and Glenda and a few others to the Star. When we walked in there was an old woman with arthritic fingers playing tunes like Roll Out the Barrel and a couple of old cronies singing along. These half dozen ancient people were the only patrons singing along to an equally ancient piano.
Stella asked if the barmaid could open up the front bar which faced Hunter Street and we would all drink in there. The first Saturday night Stella and Glenda dressed in drag got up onto the bar and began to mime to Shirley Bassey numbers. The Palais Dance Hall was directly across from the Hotel in Hunter Street. The crowd from the Palais that were gathered on the Street had not seen anything like this type of show before. Within a couple of minutes there were about 50 or so noses pressed against the pub windows and then the crowd started to trickle in.
The next Friday and Saturday night there was standing room only. The pub went into orbit as Newcastle's place to be. With everybody from every walk of life ...drag... gay...half way...and straight...young old it didn't matter.
Then they opened the bar facing Scott Street that had been abandoned years before where bands like Rick Poynton's Benny and the Jets regularly played to packed houses.
The Star Hotel, in the West End district of Newcastle, Australia, was a pub and live music venue. It was popular with young people, Newcastle's gay community and Merchant Seamen. The Star Hotel featured Drag Shows and live music in all genres. The Star was run down, and had attracted negative attention from the authorities.
It was closed down by the owners, Tooth and Co. with only one week's notice, inspiring a protest campaign, and the Star's final night of trading was Wednesday, 19 September 1979.
Riot
The Star's final night featured live music and free beer. Many attendees of that night remember that at exactly 10pm the police interrupted the live band in the middle of a song and demanded that everyone leave immediately, creating a hostile mood among the patrons. As the patrons began leaving the hotel confrontations began with a small contingent of police, which escalated into throwing of missiles, arrests, injuries and the burning of cars, which continued for more than two hours. The event was covered by local TV stations and made international news.
Popular culture
The Star Hotel closure was the subject of a song by Australian band Cold Chisel.
The band playing on the night was the Heroes, who somewhat prophetically played the song Star and the Slaughter.[1][2] Band members include Phil Screen and Mark Tinson, who previously played in Rabbit with Dave Evans, the original vocalist of AC/DC.
References
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External links
- Star Hotel Riots: 1979—links to audio and video
- The night the Star exploded
