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The humourless state.

Article Excerpt
It was a Saturday night when Annie Britton, famed member of the demimonde, 'decorated her person with military accoutrements' and strolled down Bourke Street in Melbourne. To be precise, it was 10.30 at night on 25 January 1876 when Annie stepped on to the pavement from her 'house of ill-fame', dressed in little more than an officer's sword, belt and cocked hat. She also had, according to The Argus, 'an umbrella on her shoulder and a cigar in her mouth'.

It was summer and Bourke Street was a feverish mingle-mangle of revellers, businessmen, prostitutes and drunks, all of whom jostled to catch a glimpse of Annie. Constable Thompson, a diligent officer with a keen sense of propriety, was among them. As he later told the Court, the crowd that had gathered around Annie 'increased as she proceeded and was so great that I could not reach her till she had got down as far as the Wax Works'. 'Annie Britton!' he finally called after her, 'Where did you get your sword?' 'Ask Captain Gillibee!' she retorted. 'And where is Captain Gillibee?' jeered the crowd. Eyes twinkling, sucking impetuously on her cigar, Annie replied: 'He is up at my place'.

Constable Thompson was not amused. He promptly arrested Annie and was surprised to find her completely sober. She appeared to be acting, he later reported, 'in a spirit of bravado'. As The Argus claimed at the time, Annie 'paid dearly for her freak'. While Captain Gillibee suffered the ignominy of a dishonourable discharge, Annie was sentenced to one month's imprisonment with hard labour.

Over a century later, the...

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