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Arthur Calwell: Peter Kocan appears in court
Title:
Arthur Calwell: Peter Kocan appears in court
NFSA ID
800677
Year
1966
Courtesy
Nine Network, Cinesound Movietone Productions
On 21 June 1966 Australia was shocked when Labor and Opposition Leader Arthur Calwell was shot at close range after attending an anti-conscription rally at Mosman Town Hall, Sydney. Peter Kocan approached Calwell, who was sitting in his car, and fired the sawn-off rifle. The bullet was deflected by the car’s closed window and lodged in Calwell’s lapel. The 19-year-old Kocan was chased down and held until police arrested him.
Calwell was taken to the Royal North Shore Hospital for treatment. News footage of the time shows him lying in a hospital bed with lacerated chin from glass fragments when the bullet shattered the window. Peter Kocan faced court the next day for a bail hearing.
Production company
Nine Network, Cinesound Movietone Productions
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.