'It was unbelievable': New light shed on violent six weeks that split Australia in Stan Original documentary

A new documentary has shed fresh light on one of the most infamous - and divisive - six weeks in Australian sporting history.

The Stan Original Revealed - Joh: Last King of Queensland premiers today (June 22), providing a revelatory but cautionary portrait of one of Australia's most controversial politicians, former Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen.

The documentary dives into the tumult of the 1971 Springboks tour of Australia, which split the nation as anti-apartheid protestors clashed violently with police.

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Bjelke-Petersen - played by Richard Roxburgh in the Stan feature - declared a state of emergency in Queensland during the tour.

"Which meant it gave police carte blanche to do whatever they wanted to you. So we were very, very nervous," historian Raymond Evans said.

"It was frightening."

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Bjelke-Petersen told the Queensland Police Union that officers would "not be penalised for any action they take to suppress" the demonstrators.

"They'd taken off their badge numbers, which is never a good sign," historian Paul Bleakley said.

"And people got hurt. People almost died... it was something that was unprecedented. It hadn't happened before."

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The Test series went ahead with South Africa winning 3-0.

But seven Wallabies players - Jim Boyce, Tony Abrahams, Paul Darveniza, Terry Forman, Barry McDonald, James Roxburgh and Bruce Taafe – refused to play.

"That tour split communities and families," Wallabies centre Geoff Shaw told rugby.com.au's Jim Tucker in 2021.

"I got a few letters dropped on the doorstep in Kiama saying 'you'll be shot' if you play," Shaw recalled.

"It split my own family. My older sister took the view I had a right to choose to play and my younger sister said it was wrong and I shouldn't.

"My mum was really lovely. She was a high school teacher. Her logic was simple... I had the right to play just as others had the right to throw stones at me."

The Wallabies who boycotted were harshly treated at the time but were later hailed as the 'Magnificent Seven.'

Their deeds were honoured when South African President Nelson Mandela bestowed upon them the Medal of Freedom.

Bjelke-Petersen led Queensland with an iron fist until a seminal work of investigative journalism prompted a Royal Commission and unravelled a vast web of corruption.

He resigned as Premier in 1987 and died in 2005.

"I grew up in Queensland, under the shadow of Joh and vividly remember the spell he cast, as well as the passionate dissent he inspired," director Kriv Stenders said.

"In making this film I came to realise that although Joh is a man of the past, his ghost still very much haunts and resounds in our present."

WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT THE 1971 SPRINGBOKS TOUR...

Terry O'Gorman, lawyer: "The police in effect took it into their own hands, chased protesters in the dark. A number of protesters ended up with broken bones. To see the police, just disobey (Queensland Police Commissioner Ray) Whitrod's command was an eye opener.

"It wasn't a state of emergency, that was declared to deal with a cyclone or a bush fire. It was a state of emergency, called on by a Premier, who cynically used politics to shore up his own then, somewhat tenuous grip, on his recently obtained Premiership."

Lindy Morrison, musician/The Go-Betweens: "The police were just, you know bashing people on the head and we were, we were trapped. And it was massively brutal."

Quentin Dempster, journalist: "Heads were cracked by police batons. It was unbelievable. Made world headlines... it became a major political sideshow. He (Bjelke-Petersen) took them on. He took them on."

John Harrison, historian: "Joh did everything possible to facilitate that tour. He brought in hundreds of country cops."

Paul Bleakley, historian: "Police from all over Queensland were basically rallied. They were housed at a military camp and really getting each other worked up. And Joh Bjelke-Petersen, openly said he was giving police a green light to do what they needed to do to keep security on the streets, and there won't be any repercussions."

The New documentary Revealed – Joh: Last King of Queensland premieres June 22, only on Stan