JUSTIN MURPHY, REPORTER: Late on the night of October 8, 1891, the glittering mace - the symbol, the shining embodiment of the constitutional rights of the citizens of Victoria - was locked away, as always, in the Speaker's chamber. Parliament was over for the day. Victorians could sleep serenely, safe and secure, protected by their democracy. Or so they thought. But come the morning, and constitutional disaster had struck. The mace was gone - stolen, ripped out of its box in the Speaker's chamber. The only clue - a man was seen sprinting from Parliament, carrying a large, long object wrapped in brown paper and tied with string. He jumped onboard a moving cable tram. And such was the weight of the object that he was carrying, that it swung him around and it bashed into a metal stanchion. And it clanged. Clearly, the parcel was metal. Now, the tram carried on down Victoria Parade, it turned right into Hoddle Street and went on towards Abbotsford. He got off somewhere around about Abbotsford. This much we know
for certain.