Raid on the Government Printer Traditional Geocache
Pprime (P`): That's not an accident
Raid on the Government Printer
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This cache is located on the side of a Heritage listed building complex in the Brisbane CBD not far from state parliament buildings and next door to the Premier's building.
BRING YOUR OWN PEN
The building complex demonstrates the principal characteristics of buildings of its type, and the design and plan is illustrative of the process of a nineteenth/early twentieth century printing office.
Its history stretches back to 1862 and it primarily served to print the official hansard record of the proceedings of the Houses of Parliament.
On November 26th, 1917, the building was the focus of events which illustrate the political tensions that have arisen from time to time in Australia's federal system of government. It was late 1917, Australian troops were still fighting for the British Empire in WWI and conscription was the main political topic of debate.
Queensland's Premier T.J. Ryan was opposed to conscription. The Australian Prime Minister W.M. Hughes supported it. Hughes had imposed draconian military censorship under the Commonwealth War Precautions Act, however Ryan had allowed debate on the matter in state parliament.
The record of proceedings, Hansard, is intended for public dissemination. The record of that debate was to be printed in this building on Monday 26th November 1917. An evening raid by federal authorities led by the local Commonwealth censor Captain Jeremiah Joseph Stable (a lecturer from the University of QLD) seized all printed copies.
Another raid was attempted to confiscate copies at the Worker Building in Elizabeth street nearby (behind the GPO), however was thwarted by armed state police.
In the ensuing showdown, the Prime Minister threatened to "have" Ryan in 48 hours if he dared to repeat his speech outside of parliament.
Undeterred, the Queensland Premier read his speech two days later in Centennial Hall to a large gathering that overflowed into Albert Square (now known as King George square). Additionally, 50,000 copies of a four page Government Gazette Extraordinary were published by Ryan setting out his case against censorship and conscription. He also repeated important parts of his speech to crowds throughout Brisbane to ensure an informed debate about the censorship issue.
An armed federal response failed to materialise.
In December 1917, largely as a result of Queensland's political opposition, Hughes was defeated in a national referendum calling for a compulsory call-up of the Australian armed forces.
It all started here, where you can now get a drink to remember the good old days.
This is a high-muggle area during business hours, but should be easily gettable with the description below in hints, and a bit of sleight-of-hand - please be stealthy so the cache lasts a long time without muggling.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Lbh ner ybbxvat sbe n syng zntarg, ybpngrq haqrearngu n fgenatr yvggyr sync ba gur jnyy, nobhg urnq-uvtu ba gur fbhgu-rnfgrea fvqr bs gur ynarjnl, arkg gb n fvtacbfg jvgubhg n fvta.