Sunday Liberation
In late 1889, Fleming was an organiser of the Sunday Liberation Society, and addressed meetings on the need to open the Public Libraries and Museums on Sundays. The Public Library had closed on Sundays due to church pressure. At a meeting near the Working Men's College (now known as Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology), a large crowd gathered. A deputation of five was appointed to visit Parliament House to petition for the Libraries and Museums to open on Sunday. When the deputation left, the crowd followed. The police failed to stop the estimated 6,000 people surging along the street, then up the steps of Parliament, where they finally stopped at the closed doors of Parliament.
Several of the organisers received summonses for 'taking part in an unlawful procession' and were imprisoned for a month. The campaign was successful, but numbers attending the Library on Sunday were insufficient, and the Library soon closed its doors on Sunday.
Fleming's time in prison was not unproductive. While detained he studied the prison regulations and found that the sanitary arrangements were less than required. So, he stopped the Governor on his weekly rounds, 'lectured him for an hour' whereupon the Governor ordered immediate improvements.
Read more about this topic: Chummy Fleming
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