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Ladies and gentlemen, witness a quintessential piece of Australiana unfold.
A 1991 arrest scene outside a Brisbane Chinatown restaurant, which later gained global fame as one of the pioneering viral video memes, has earned its place among the official Sounds of Australia.
On the afternoon of August 11 that year, journalists were alerted to a significant police operation at the China Sea restaurant in Fortitude Valley.
According to initial reports by Seven, authorities anticipated capturing one of Australia’s most elusive fugitives enjoying a meal there.
Instead, they encountered Jack Karlson.
It’s never quite been clear why Karlson, a bit-part actor who had done time behind bars, was subjected to a police arrest outside the restaurant.
But his outraged response ultimately made him a legend.
“I’m under what?” he asked the officers, before struggling against their attempts to cuff him and force him into a car.
In a ringing baritone, Karlson declared to the crowd, “This… is… democracy manifest”.
He also taunted the arresting officers, remarking to one: “Ah yes – I see you know your judo well”.
And it’s also hard to forget his furious bellow: “Take your hand off my penis!”
But perhaps what sealed Karlson’s immortality came when he asked – perhaps rhetorically, “What is the charge? Eating a meal? A succulent Chinese meal?”
The original footage was uploaded to the then-nascent video sharing site YouTube by Nine presentation co-ordinator and tape operator Russell Furman found, who found the tapes in 2009.
Seen and shared on the same site by US content creator Ray William Johnson in 2013, the video exploded, being viewed millions of times all over the world.
Karlson, who died in 2024, also returned to the limelight, conducting multiple interviews on the subject, and admitting he wasn’t sure what prompted the famous outburst.
Now, the original Seven news broadcast has been named one of nine Sounds of Australia for 2026 by the National Film and Sound Archive.
Others included Scar by Missy Higgins, Rosie Batty’s Australian of the Year acceptance speech, the Reading Writing Hotline jingle, and the sound of a PB/5 pedestrian crossing button.
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