In 1933, two young members of the Communist Party of Australia (CPA), Reginald “Shorty” Patullo and Noel Counihan, initiated one of the most successful working-class protests to take place in Australia during the Great Depression.

The Battle of Phoenix Street — as it came to be known — began in Brunswick, a then working-class suburb in Melbourne. In defiance of anti-protest laws targeting the Left, Patullo scaled a moving tram and “shouted communistic slogans,” as Counihan locked himself inside a steel cage nearby.

Enraged, Victoria Police officers shot Patullo in the thigh before surrounding Counihan’s cage, demanding he submit himself to arrest. But Counihan wouldn’t budge — instead, he addressed thousands of bewildered onlookers. As he later recalled, “My speech called for maximum support for the free speech campaign and the plight of the unemployed.”