NSW Police 21st Division

The NSW Police 21st Division, originally created in the 1930s to deal with razor gangs, is apparent throughout the Redfern area. Mum Shirl recalls, ‘The police were having a field-day, especially in Redfern, where they would just drive in, load paddy wagons full of Blacks, and charge them with being drunk. Quite a lot of the people arrested like this were not only not drunk, but they didn’t even drink, ever.’ (Pitts p. 3/16), (V 54, ‘Gordon Briscoe’s Redfern: the Police were at war with us’)