The Walker Street area of Dunedin was dubbed ‘the devil’s half acre’ and ‘outcast Dunedin’. But it was also home to many thriving Lebanese families who ignored the vice that surrounded them. They suffered some discrimination and were often referred to as Syrians, Assyrians or gypsies. The 1916 incident in Walker Street was an exceptional case that the magistrate called ‘a blackguardly attack upon a peaceful body of citizens’. The melée began when Antony Joseph remonstrated with some men for using obscene language in front of respectable ladies.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Reference: Otago Daily Times, 4 January 1916
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