1 00:00:13,430 --> 00:00:14,839 Push gangs in Australia. 2 00:00:15,890 --> 00:00:28,430 So, it should come as no surprise that gangs have existed in Australia since the colonial era when the first colonists comprising mostly male convicts were dragged off the ships of the First Fleet in chains. 3 00:00:29,390 --> 00:00:43,129 Since then, gangs in Australia have evolved through time with cultural change and extensive immigration leading to gangs with a wide range of different ethnic origins, behaviour, and activities, often criminal. 4 00:00:43,910 --> 00:01:03,080 The earliest gangs in Australian colonial history were chain gangs, large groups of convicts chained together with ankle irons or chains, weighing as much as five kilograms or more, forced to carry out backbreaking hard labour for the colony. Although, these gangs were clearly not through voluntary association. 5 00:01:03,950 --> 00:01:17,059 If you see farms with extensive rock walls acting as fences for paddocks, they may just have been constructed more than 150 years ago by the sweat and blood of convicts in such chain gangs. 6 00:01:18,020 --> 00:01:45,109 By the 1860s the convict era was coming to a close and the last British-born convicts were getting dropped off in Australia's colonies and finding themselves mixing with several generations of native-born European Australians. These native-born Aussies were already developing their own sense of identity and referred to themselves as 'currency lads' and 'lasses' in contrast with the British born 'Sterling lads' and 'lasses'. 7 00:01:45,560 --> 00:02:21,860 In the final decades of the 19th century these rambunctious and restless Aussie youths, mostly men, though, occasionally women, started becoming known as 'larrikins' or 'larrikinesses', and began to gather in 'pushes' or 'push gangs'. The word 'push' had entered Australian English via 'Flash language', a vast vocabulary of slang developed by criminals in the streets of London and imported to Australia on the first convicts ships. 'Flash language' was used by criminals to talk about specific topics, which they wished their victims or the police would remain ignorant of. 8 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:30,439 'Push' originally meant 'crowd of people', but which was adapted to later just mean 'a group of the larrikins or troublesome youths'. 9 00:02:31,250 --> 00:02:36,919 In his book The Australian language Sidney J. Baker describes the attributes of a larrikin. 10 00:02:37,880 --> 00:03:14,600 He had a number of recognisable features, however, generally he was young between the ages of 15 and 25, he was a city dweller, he dressed with extravagant precision, he extracted comfort from being a member of a gang, he was alleged to have too much money and too lack of parental control, he looked upon refinement in social conduct as a form of weakness, he spoke a weird jargon which it seemed only his own kind could understand, he was given to spasms of violence. In short, he was exceedingly like modern Australian louts. 11 00:03:15,590 --> 00:03:31,610 Naturally, the larrikin showed contempt for authority and fought the police wherever arrests were attempted, and as such, many areas in Melbourne in Sydney were regarded as unsafe for the general populace and downright dangerous if you happen to be wearing a police uniform. 12 00:03:32,630 --> 00:04:03,461 Like many gangs today, the push gangs of the late 19th century were based on localised identities, so gangs formed based on which suburb or even street corner they came from. In Melbourne, you might find the Crunchy Push from North Melbourne, the Salt Lake Bruisers from Montague, or the Heart and Arrow Push from Footscray. And in Sydney, you might come across the likes of the Rocks Push from the Rocks area of Sydney, The Forty Thieves from Surry Hills, and the Gibbs Street Mob. 13 00:04:04,220 --> 00:04:24,769 However, the door wasn't open for just anyone to join any push even if they lived locally. In some pushes would-be members had to apply in writing and pay ten shillings entrance fee. After six months' probation, they were allowed to sign the 'push' or 'crime book', and thereafter, they paid six pence a week to remain members. 14 00:04:25,460 --> 00:04:33,559 The leader of the push was its 'king' or 'captain', and one such push king was a bloke named Larry Foley. We'll get to him in a bit. 15 00:04:34,190 --> 00:04:46,430 Over the years as these localised identities solidified they became more violent, more identified with industrial locales, and more easily drawn into an adult life of crime in the minds of the police. 16 00:04:47,540 --> 00:05:22,059 Larrikins of the 1880s had their own unique style of dress often including: a broad rim black hat, a short black coat with as many pockets and braids as possible, and bell-bottom trousers, tight at the top and flared at the base. Each larrikin wore high-heeled boots with pointy toes beneath the trouser flares. The boots were shod with brass tips for maximum sound effect while walking the pavement, and larrikin who worked in local boot factories might even decide to pimp their own footwear out sewing small mirrors or photos of their girlfriends into them. 17 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:32,770 The larrikin's colour of choice was black. The only other colour in their attire being a bright scarf and occasionally some coloured tassels dangling from the back of their jackets. 18 00:05:33,250 --> 00:05:58,750 Larrikinesses also had their own unique fashion styles. One of the popular larrikiness looks included: a straw hat with large plumes of ostrich feathers, a plush velvet jacket, and long-laced boots to the knee with short skirts to show off the length of the boots. They also often carried short parasols a popular accessory which doubled as a club during a melee. 19 00:05:59,620 --> 00:06:11,825 In his book 'An Outback Marriage' famous Australian poet and writer Banjo Patterson describes a group of tourists who go to visit the Rocks Push and paints the following picture of the appearance of the gang members:. 20 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:37,779 Wiry hard faced little fellows for the most part with scarcely a sizeable man amongst them. They were all clothed in push evening dress, black bell-bottomed pants, no waist coat, very short black paget coat, white shirt with no collar, and a gaudy neckerchief around the bare throat. Their boots were marvels, very high in the heel, and picked out with all sorts of colours down the sides. 21 00:06:38,470 --> 00:06:54,930 Larrikins even had their own style of music too described by some as an energetic upbeat polka and by others as similar to an Irish jig. The lyrics of their songs remained a mystery to many outsiders who said they were made up of unintelligible slang. 22 00:06:55,860 --> 00:07:10,860 Fears of larrikinism stemmed from the British-born Australians who were uncertain about the morality of colonial youth, native-born currency lads and lasses who brimmed with excessive self-assurance for lower class unskilled workers. 23 00:07:11,370 --> 00:07:47,529 As the colonies boomed during the 1870s and 1880s in Melbourne, for example, members of the lower class who worked as labourers in Collingwood or as leather workers in West Melbourne were able to earn relatively higher wages, thus escaping the constant surveillance that went with an apprenticeship or domestic service. This led to a swelling of nonchalance and bravado among so-called larrikins. These well-paid and subsequently well-dressed workers found themselves free to roam the streets and run amok rather than desperate brutal thugs trapped in long term poverty. 24 00:07:49,460 --> 00:08:02,521 Despite the increase in the lower class's prosperity, some pushes developed a frightening propensity for violence. Constables roaming the streets on their own were hesitant to chase members of push gangs into impoverished lanes in their territory. 25 00:08:03,460 --> 00:08:22,621 In Collingwood, Melbourne, pushes from various corners of the suburb would gather every Friday and Saturday night and run amok, throwing flour and ochre at the Salvation Army, or chucking rocks at statues in hopes of breaking off the noses, they pestered local shopkeepers, they got into fights with each other and on occasion with the cops. 26 00:08:23,130 --> 00:08:33,518 Despite these going-ons in Melbourne, if the larrikin had a birth place, it was certainly Sydney Rocks at Dawes Point in New South Wales. Again, from his book The Australian language Sidney J. Barker wrote that:. 27 00:08:38,170 --> 00:08:56,854 This was a place where slang and vulgarity were mixed in lavish quantities. Where harlots and riff raff, ex convicts and the scum of all the oceans collected. Here in the Rocks was born the Australian hoodlum as tough and vicious and as well-versed in unconventional ways of speech as any person in the world. 28 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:04,970 And this leads to the rise of Larry Foley who boxed his way to the top and became king of the Rocks Push. 29 00:09:05,950 --> 00:09:16,865 From the 1870s to the 1890s, the Rock's Push was a notorious larrikin gang that dominated the Rocks area of Sydney. In their heyday, they were simply known as The Push. 30 00:09:17,630 --> 00:09:49,200 One of many different push gangs in Sydney, The Push was made up of mostly bored larrikin and larrikinesses who worked as unskilled labourers by day and supplemented their income with petty criminal activities by night. They were incredibly violent, not only whilst engaged in warfare with other larrikin gangs from surrounding suburbs, but also towards sailors, police, and civilians, pretty much anyone who crossed their paths. And they carried out petty crimes such as theft, assault, and battery willy nilly. 31 00:09:50,030 --> 00:10:08,763 More often than not their victims would be poor unfortunate drunk men, and upon being seduced by a beautiful female member of the push, was led down a dark alley. The unsuspecting victim would look up to see the woman had vanished and a group of young strikingly dressed men with bad intentions had appeared in her place. 32 00:10:09,270 --> 00:10:28,960 In order to become the leader of The Push, referred to as their 'captain' or 'king', you had to fight your way to the top through victory in the bare-knuckle boxing ring. Enter Lawrence 'Larry' Foley, a champion pugilist, or 'pug', for short who used his fists of steel to climb to the top of Sydney's most feared push gang. 33 00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:50,130 Larry was born on the 12th of December in 1849 near Bathurst. He was baptized on the 2nd of May in 1852 at Penrith and as a lad seemed destined for a career in the clergy. At the age of 14, he moved to Wollongong and became a servant to Father D. O'Connell, the first Australian born diocesan priest. 34 00:10:51,210 --> 00:11:11,398 However, Larry decided entering the priesthood wasn't on the cards for him. And at 18 years of age he moved to Sydney where he became a building labourer. As with many young lads who suddenly found themselves in a big city, Larry quickly surrounded himself with other young men and eventually fell into the ranks of one of the many larrikin gangs that roamed and fought each other in the inner suburbs of Sydney. 35 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:36,080 Many of the push gangs at the time were distinguished along religious grounds pitting Catholics against Protestants. Sydney was also where Larry took an interest in bare-knuckle boxing and honed his skills under teaching from retired former bare-knuckle boxer champion John 'Black' Perry a Canadian negro who had come to Sydney in the 1840s. 36 00:11:37,730 --> 00:11:59,059 He used his newfound skills to great effect and within a short period of time Larry was the captain of the 'Green' push a group of Irish Catholic larrikins. His first notable boxing victory was on the 18th of March in 1871 against a man named Sandy Ross the leader of the 'Orange' push, a Protestant group and enemy of the Greens. 37 00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:21,689 According to one account, the fight lasted 71 rounds and over two hours before the cops finally intervened. To declare the winner, the men later met up again at Port Hacking where Larry knocked Ross out after a gruelling 28-minute fight. With Larry's victory, the Greens assumed leadership of the rocks push gangs and became The Push. 38 00:12:22,630 --> 00:12:42,399 Larry split his time between running the push and fighting. At the time, boxing matches were illegal in Australia in large part because of the gambling rather than it being a violent sport in and of itself. However, Larry earned a small fortune through fights alongside the admiration of the public who came in droves to view the illicit sport. 39 00:12:43,240 --> 00:13:09,010 Larry managed to win or draw every single one of his bouts, and the pinnacle of his boxing career came in 1879 in a bout against Abe Hicken. Originally, slated to be held in Melbourne, the bout was moved to Echuca in order to avoid police attention. A special train brought 700 spectators from Melbourne to Echuca where they were then ferried across the Murray River into New South Wales to attend the fight. 40 00:13:09,580 --> 00:13:23,769 After 16 punishing rounds, Hickens corner threw in the towel, actually a sponge at the time, and Foley took home 1000 pounds in winnings, a small fortune that would amass to about $100,000 or more in today's money. 41 00:13:24,760 --> 00:13:39,759 This event would also leave its mark on Australian English when the expression 'as happy as Larry' was coined, meaning 'extremely happy'. The papers reported that the punters who backed him, and subsequently won money too, were as happy as he was with the win. 42 00:13:40,630 --> 00:13:49,180 Larry retired from the ring the same year and later bought the White House Hotel on George Street in which he set up a boxing gym and staged bouts. 43 00:13:49,690 --> 00:14:07,039 In 1883, he momentarily came out of retirement to fight the English born 'Professor' William Miller. This time after 40 rounds Larry was on the verge of literally being pounded into the canvas. His fans weren't going to have it, though, and they rushed the ring stopping the fight. 44 00:14:07,510 --> 00:14:15,820 Although occasionally threatening to stage a rematch of the bout between himself and Ross, the fight never took place and the ultimate outcome will never be known. 45 00:14:16,690 --> 00:14:32,349 In later years, Larry's gang activities took second place as he embraced the career of a publican and boxing trainer. And as the 19th century came to a close, The Rocks' push gangs had all but been broken up as the police cracked down on unruly larrikin behaviour. 46 00:14:33,280 --> 00:14:51,429 Ultimately, Larry left the trappings of the push larrikin lifestyle behind him and slid into a much more comfortable and respectable life as a businessman. He became the official demolition contractor for the NSW Government and was even considered for a job as the sergeant-of-arms in Parliament. 47 00:14:52,090 --> 00:15:10,330 Whilst visiting a Turkish bath in 1917 he suffered a heart attack and died a few days later, and he was survived by a son and two daughters from his first marriage, and by three sons and two other daughters from his second wife, and left behind a wealthy estate of over 11,500 pounds. 48 00:15:11,140 --> 00:15:29,529 The story of larrikinism, push gangs, and Larry Foley gives us a detailed look into the lives of early Australians. The nation's population was swelling at the time both from the creation of newer generations of currency lads and lasses, as well as through immigration, many of whom were British-born Sterling migrants. 49 00:15:30,370 --> 00:16:06,580 It was a time where young men and women born in the countryside started moving back to large cities in search of unskilled work as labourers and factory workers. As strangers in a new place, these young larrikins and larrikinesses became friends and naturally formed groups that evolved into push gangs. Their identity and relationships were likely reinforced by class conflict and discrimination from both new and old Australians who still considered themselves British at heart with a disdain for anyone who had even a hint of convict blood in their veins. 50 00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:33,070 In these times, violence could be used as much as a tool for control and fear as well as a means to ascend through the ranks of society as encapsulated in the story and life of Larry Foley. He started life out as a schoolmaster's son from the country and he climbed through the societal ranks of larrikin, push king and bare-knuckle boxing champion, and ended his days as a wealthy and respected Sydney businessman. 51 00:16:33,790 --> 00:16:48,630 So, next time you hear someone say that they're 'as happy as Larry' or call a young Aussie bloke a bit of 'a larrikin', remember Larry Foley and the young Aussie larrikin and larrikinesses from the late 1800s and early 1900s where these terms were born. 52 00:16:49,760 --> 00:17:08,434 So, I hope you enjoyed this episode, guys. I would love feedback from you. Obviously, I'm trying something a little different. I'm trying to work on my writing skills and really introduce you to a lot more about Australian culture and history as well, so that I can obviously give you much more detail much more information, and, you know, it's kind of fun doing the reading in the research myself as well. 53 00:17:08,810 --> 00:17:30,229 But yeah, please let me know if you enjoy these. I'm trying to include some of the more advanced English in there. Obviously, this isn't always how native speakers would speak to one another, because this is, you know, written English, but hopefully it's a good source for you to find a lot of different vocabulary and words and slang, as well as educate yourself on Australian history and culture. 54 00:17:30,260 --> 00:17:38,529 Anyway I'm Pete. This is Aussie English. It's been a pleasure talking to you. I hope you enjoy the episode. I look forward to your feedback and I'll chat to you soon. See ya!