A Unique Identification Method

25 October 2015
11am – 12.30pm

 Police Headquarters
200 Roma Street
Brisbane  QLD  4000

FREE ENTRY

Matching fingerprints from a crime scene to an offender or using fingerprints to identify disaster victims is a small part of Sergeant Tony Martinez’s role at the Queensland Fingerprint Bureau.  Sergeant Martinez is stationed at the Queensland Police Service Fingerprint Bureau and is the guest speaker for the Police Museum Sunday Lecture on October 25.

Sergeant Martinez has attended serious crime scenes, conducted countless laboratory examinations for fingerprint evidence, and has been actively involved in identifying offenders by analysing and identifying collected fingerprint evidence. Sergeant Tony Martinez is a qualified Fingerprint Expert, a qualification that is awarded by the Australian Forensic Field Sciences Accreditation Board and is recognised worldwide.

During his presentation, Sergeant Martinez will outline that fingerprint identification has been around for more than 100 years and is a cornerstone to the forensic discipline. The use of fingerprint identification helps identify offenders and place them at crime scenes, identifies disaster victims, and is a valuable biometric tool in busy airports all over the world.

Sergeant Martinez will also discuss the recent advances in fingerprint identification technology and image transmission, which provides Queensland police officers with valuable information to help solve crimes.  These advances, along with comparisons to past techniques will be discussed and examples will be given.

The one-and-a-half hour presentation will begin at 11am on Sunday, October 25 and will provide educational and up-to-date content suitable for all audiences.

The Museum opens its doors to the public on the last Sunday of each month from 10am to 3pm from February to November in addition to the standard Monday to Thursday 9am to 4pm opening hours. Monthly Sunday openings feature guest speakers from across the historical and crime-solving spectrums.

PLEASE NOTE:  Out lectures are proving to be very popular, so please arrive on time.  The door to the conference room will be accessible from 10.45.  When all seats are taken we cannot allow anyone else into the room.

The Police Museum will open Sunday October 25 10am to 3pm, and is located on the ground floor of Police Headquarters, 200 Roma Street, Brisbane.  Please pass this information onto family, friends and other networks.  We look forward to seeing you soon. 

The Detective Office began on 1 December 1864, 11 months after the inauguration of the Queensland Police Force on January 1. Samuel Joseph Lloyd was placed as the officer in charge of the new branch. Lloyd immigrated to Australia from Ireland and joined the Victoria Police Force in 1855, where he served as a Detective for nearly a decade prior to joining the Queensland Police. Lloyd was OIC of the Detective Branch on and off for the next 32 years, until he retired in February 1896. The number of Detectives in the Office was nominal and drawn basically from the best police officers in Brisbane. There were 2 classes – Detective Constable 1/c and Detective Constable 2/c. Employed only on a part-time basis, the Detectives spent the other part of their time carrying out ordinary police duties. They received no extra pay despite the complicated character of their work and the long hours they often worked in criminal detection.

Report from the Detective Office, 1895.

Shortly before Lloyd’s retirement, on 1 July 1895, at the request of Police Commissioner William Parry-Okeden, the Detective Office was separated from the workings of the ordinary police and became known as the Criminal Investigation Branch. Sub-Inspector 1/c James Nethercote took charge of the new Branch along with 1 x Detective Senior Sergeant; 4 x 1/c Detective Sergeants; 1 x 2/c Detective Senior Constables; 1 x Acting 3/c Detective Sergeant and two 3/c Detective Constables. A year after the re-organisation, Parry-Okeden was pleased to report that between 1896 and 1897, convictions in the Supreme and District Courts more than doubled, which he attributed to the increased efficiency of the CI Branch, 8 to 17 and 12 to 28 respectively. (Annual Report, 1897).

List of Members of the Force who were called “Detectives” on the 1st July 1895, are since that date known as belonging to the “Criminal Investigation Branch”

CIB Building

St John’s Cathedral was the first home of the Branch. The church property was sold to the Queensland Government in 1901. The Cathedral was demolished in 1903 leaving the Synod Hall located on the corner of George and Elizabeth streets. The Synod Hall became the home of the CIB in 1904 and contained the offices of the Detectives of the CIB, the Fingerprint, Modus Operandi and Photography Sections.
http://mypolice.qld.gov.au/museum/2014/09/02/vault-forensic-science-police-force/

In 1934, the space was remodelled to fit the combined Detective and plain clothes staff. The old entrance on Elizabeth Street was closed and moved to George Street, where a set of rooms and offices just inside the entrance gave the interior a smart and business-like appearance. It remained as the CIB headquarters until 1962 when the CIB moved into the new police building on North Quay. It was demolished in that same year and the brick was reused by St John’s Cathedral.

Old CIB building (church) corner Elizabeth and George Streets, Brisbane, where Queen Victoria park is now located. Lands Department Building is shown in rear of photograph.
Image No. PM0204b courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

CIB Sections

Between 1864 and 1964, Brisbane’s population grew from 12,551 to 169,390 in 1916, and finally to 740,306. (QLD Treasury) Meanwhile, the CI Branch saw its work load also increase significantly. In 1917, the fingerprint section processed 1,868 prints and identified 155, in 1928, the number rose to 3,042 and 1,327. The number of arrests executed increased from 404 in 1919 to 674 in 1929, and 1,238 in 1935. (AR 1929, 1935) The effective Branch strength increased from 13 to 35 Detectives and 48 plain clothes Constables. The newly introduced Modus Operandi system was singled out as a key contributor in the growing efficiency of bringing possible suspects forward. This System comprised the recording and classifying of crime, the methods used by criminals and their physical peculiarities, such as visible scars, missing limbs, deformities, etc. (AR 1935) The offences that otherwise might ‘not have been elucidated were traced to the perpetrators solely from information supplied to the investigators by officers employed in the section.’ (Telegraph, 23 Oct 1936) Numerous articles of property which were either stolen or lost were subsequently recovered and returned to the owners as a result of this system.

In 1965, or thirty odd years later, the upward trend continued. The Branch expanded to include 227 Detectives and 120 plain clothes Constables. Between July, 1964 and July, 1965, the MO Section recorded the particulars of 109,334 persons, and the photographic section made 21,000 prints of prisoners or offenders photographed during the year. One of the more gruesome cases successfully investigated by the Branch was the Coorparoo Junction Murders http://mypolice.qld.gov.au/museum/2014/12/09/vault-coorparoo-junction-murders/.  Following extensive field and investigative work the perpetrator was arrested only two days after the crime.

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This information has been provided by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available.  The article was written by Museum Volunteer and Crime and Policing Historian Dr Anastasia Dukova.

The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au

“FROM the VAULT – Brisbane’s “Scotland Yard”, 1864-1964.”  by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode

…well, not really.  But they are trained and ready for anything, and often they are former racehorses re-purposed for policing duties in the Stock Squad or the Mounted Police Unit.

Versatile Constable Lawrence Noel Witham commenced his policing career in rural locations including Longreach, Muttabutta and Forsayth.  The young Laurie Witham is seen here shoeing his troop horse Bomber whilst a Constable, and continued to enjoy horse-riding as he progressed through the ranks to become Assistant Commissioner.

Constable Laurie Witham shoeing a troop horse at Forsayth in 1963.
Image No. PM0889 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

Not an ex-racehorse, of course, little Laguna Flash was a mascot at the Queensland Police Academy for an impressive 18 years, between January 1975 and October 1993.  The black Shetland pony was born in Moggill and purchased for $200 by the Mounted Police Unit.  Laguna Flash attended to official police functions wearing either summer or winter ceremonial dress, complete with a gold medallion.

Academy mascot Laguna Flash, wearing his purple coat and medallion, standing on the Sacred Acre at the Oxley Police Academy, c1985.
Image No. PM3347b courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

And from the Vedette, April 1980 – “During a short but moving retirement ceremony after a police career spanning 34 years, Sergeant Andy Coyne was presented with an oil painting of himself and Townruler, the horse he had ridden for nine years whilst working in the Mounted Police Unit.  Townruler was a former racehorse, and had been presented to the Department by his owner Mrs Jean Judge of Pittsworth after he had tendon trouble.  The Commissioner said he had been told that Townruler was devoted to Andy, as Andy was to him, he didn’t think Townruler could be happy separated from Andy and suggested Andy take his friend into retirement with him and onto his property at Grandchester.”

Sergeant 2/c Andy Coyne, astride former racehorse turned Mounted Unit troop horse Townruler, at the time of their joint retirement in 1980.
Image No. PM0090 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

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This information has been supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available at the time of writing.  The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au

“FROM the VAULT- They’re off and racing…” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode

In the Report of the Commissioner of Police for 1942 reference is made to the newly installed wireless station;

            “During the year the erection of the wireless station, referred to in my last annual report, was completed.  Prior to the completion of this Station, the police cars were equipped with one-way wireless only, and they operated through the Wireless Station erected by the Brisbane City Council.

Radio equipment – this was the first interstate HF CW service, located at the Petrie Terrace Depot in 1942.
Image No. PM0584 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

            Since the completion of the Police Wireless Station, the system of two-way Wireless was instituted, and fourteen (14) Police Patrol cars have been equipped with two-way wireless and placed in service.  This system is now brought into line with the States of New South Wales and Victoria from the point of view of the utilisation of the wireless system in practical Police work.

Police radio control desk in Brisbane, 1943.
Image No. PM0300 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

            This system has proved eminently satisfactory in the South, and is proving just as satisfactory in this State.  We are now in daily wireless communication with the Police Departments in the States of New South Wales and Victoria, thus intensifying the co-operation which has existed between the Police Departments of the three States.

The CIB Brisbane radio desk, c1950.
Image No. PM3522 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

            It can be stated that with the inauguration of the two-way wireless system in this State, facilities for crime detection may be regarded as having been intensified, factors being the early report of discovery of crime, facilities for transmission of particulars to investigators, and for the latter to proceed to the scene.”

Portable emergency HF and VHF radio base retained in a 1949 or 1950 Chevrolet, image c1951.
Image No. PM0579 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

And texting is not so new after all.  In January 1965 the introduction of the P.M.G. Telex teleprinter was approved for sending text based messages to interstate police departments, and between 5pm and 9am this communication service effectively transmitted text messages, with operators switching to the use of radio telegraphy facilities between 9am and 5pm.

Female police officer at work on a Telex machine, c1975.
Image No. PM1813 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

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This information has been supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available at the time of writing.  The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au

“FROM the VAULT- Technology; yes, you can call it that” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode

On February 6, 1952* the Commissioner of Police circulated a memorandum to all District, CIB and Depot Inspectors;

            “This memorandum deals with royal itinerary for Queensland, in skeleton form – policing of royal tour, with more particular reference to the uniform police section – rail transport arrangements – accommodation for police personnel – messing, sanitary, cleansing facilities, etc. – issue of bulk requisitions for rail travel in particular circumstances, and so on.”

The itinerary of the Queensland royal tour by their Royal Highnesses, Princess Elizabeth Duchess of Edinburgh, and the Duke of Edinburgh included stops in Brisbane; Toowoomba; Rockhampton; Gladstone; Mackay; Barrier Reef; Townsville.

Memorandum from the Commissioner of Police to all Inspectors of Police, dated 6th February 1952.
Image taken from the file of the Queensland Police Museum.

The transition from Brisbane to Toowoomba on Friday, April 25, 1952, involved 323 police personnel and 9 motor cycles.  The Commissioner for Railways negotiated with the Queensland Police for second class rail transportation including the supply of meals at the Toowoomba Railway Refreshment Rooms.  A first class sleeping car was made available for 14 Charleville police officers, and all motorcycles were transported back to Brisbane by rail.

Negotiations ensued about the numbers of police requiring travel from state-wide Districts, their allocation of tickets, sleeping accommodation including the provision of bedding, dining options, sanitary conveniences and the transportation of motorcycles.

Queensland Police Motorcycle Escort for Royal Visit, 1952. Photograph taken at the Police Depot, Petrie Terrace, Brisbane.
Image No. PM3473 donated by Diane Newkirk and is provided courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

Further police movements between Brisbane and Gladstone, by special train, included the transportation of motorcyclists and their machines.  The train consisted of five, 30 berth, second class sleeping cars to accommodate 144 officers and stopped at stations in Gympie, Baddow and Bundaberg.  The Gladstone Refreshment Room could seat 160 persons, with breakfast served at 8:00am, lunch at 1:00pm and dinner at 6:00pm.  The police personnel were allowed to sleep in the rail cars on the night of Sunday, April 27, 1952, at a cost of 10/- per person.

Continued travel by Detectives, uniformed police personnel and motorcyclists by rail to Rockhampton, Mackay and then Townsville occurred smoothly and enabled round the clock policing to ensure the security of our Royal guests and their entourage.

Queen Elizabeth II is entering City Hall from King George Square during the royal visit in April, 1952, which occurred shortly after Coronation.
Image No. PM1844 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

*Also the date of death of Princess Elizabeth’s father, King George VI.  Elizabeth was proclaimed Queen shortly after.

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This information has been supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available at the time of writing.  The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au

“FROM the VAULT – The Royal Visit, 1952” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode

Forensic Response to the murder of Lisa Keem

A Forensic Scientist, photographing evidence in a staged homicide.

29 November 2015
11am – 12.30pm

 Police Headquarters
200 Roma Street
Brisbane  QLD  4000

FREE ENTRY AND ONLY SUITABLE
FOR PEOPLE AGED 15 YEARS OR OLDER 

Sergeant Donna Stewart of the Scientific Section Major Crime Unit will be providing a case study outlining the forensic response to the murder of Lisa Keem who went missing from Hervey Bay, Queensland, in June 2008.  Her body was located almost 800 kilometres away, dumped in bushland near Kempsey, New South Wales.

This one-and-a-half hour presentation will begin at 11am on Sunday, November 29 and will provide educational and up-to-date content only suitable for people aged 15 years or older.

The Museum opens its doors to the public on the last Sunday of each month from 10am to 3pm from February to November in addition to the standard Monday to Thursday 9am to 4pm opening hours. Monthly Sunday openings feature guest speakers from across the historical and crime-solving spectrums.

PLEASE NOTE:  Out lectures are proving to be very popular, so please arrive on time.  The door to the conference room will be accessible from 10.45.  When all seats are taken we cannot allow anyone else into the room.

The Police Museum will open on Sunday, November 29 from 10am to 3pm, and is located on the ground floor of Police Headquarters, 200 Roma Street, Brisbane.  Please pass this information onto family, friends and other networks.  We look forward to seeing you soon. 

“On January 1, 1864 the Queensland Police Force was inaugurated and Lieutenant David Thompson Seymour of the 12^th (East Suffolk) Regiment of Foot was made Acting Commissioner.  He inherited 151 foot and mounted officers and 136 native police (European officers and Indigenous troopers) from New South Wales to police a population of approximately 112000 people.”
Queensland Police Commissioner, Ian Stewart.

“Queensland has an area of 1,727,000 square kilometres, is the second largest state in Australia and boasts varied geographical features with an environment that includes a little too much drought and flooding rain.  Over the last 150 years police officers have been drawn from a population of unique Queenslanders bred to cope with the everyday and with adversity.”
Police Museum Curator, Lisa Jones.

Above are two of four introductions to the pictorial ‘Policing Queensland 1864 – 2014: 150 years’.  This commemorative book was published in recognition and celebration of the sesquicentennial of policing in Queensland, in 2014.  The book would make a beautiful Christmas present and is now available at the special price of $35 for limited edition, individually numbered, hard covers and $20 for the soft cover version.

The following images are a small taste of many fascinating photos taken during the history of policing in this state, and have been utilised in the book.  We have left them untouched for your interest, however most have seen some editing for publication standards.  Books can be purchased in person from the Police Museum, or ordered by email.  Please see below for address and email contact details.

Queensland Native Police contingent sent to Victoria to help hunt the Kelly Gang, 1879. Standing at the Benalla Police Paddock (Victoria).
Image No. PM0130 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

Constable Owen Heness (left) from the Scientific Section microscopically examines a garment looking for forensic evidence and Detective Inspector Les Bardwell chemically etches an erased number on a motor vehicle engine block, 1963.
Image No. PM0237 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

Group of female Police Officers wearing the first style of uniform issued to female officers in June 1965. This drab olive uniform was worn with a cream blouse and dark brown shoes and gloves. L-R: Sandra Paterson (at mirror); Evelyn Hill; Roslyn Kelleher and Noala Holman.
Image No. PM1812b courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

Brisbane Water Police Station, Whyte Island. The new premises occupied on July 15, 1998. Facilities include a slipway, nine berth marina, maintenance facility and emergency helipad.
Image No. PM0824 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

Doomadgee police officers Constable Stacey Marshall (holding bucket), Senior Sergeant Richard Trotter, Constable Brendan Mowlem, Constable Joel Bryant (holding sponge) and Sergeant Catherine Purcell (right) tackle a tedious chore with true country spirit and wash their vehicle on the flooded Nicholson River causeway just like the locals do, 2010.
Image No. PM3756 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

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This information has been supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available at the time of writing.  The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au

“FROM the VAULT- Policing Queensland 1864 – 2014, 150 Years” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode

The Friends of the Queensland Police Museum Inc. (FQPM), established in 2007, is a committed group of people devoted to the advancement of the Queensland Police Museum and comprises people interested in the history of the Queensland Police.

The FQPM aims to develop partnerships with the Police Museum, Queensland Police Service and others to support museum activities and fund FQPM projects that acquire and conserve items for the collections and other projects that enhance the appreciation of Queensland Police Heritage.  Projects include the restoration, refurbishment, enhancement and preservation of sites / objects of Queensland Police historical or heritage significance and that honour those members who have served with the Queensland Police since 1864.

New members are welcome; please visit www.friendsqpmuseum.com.au.  Activities are funded by subscriptions, sponsorship and donations.  Donations of items of police historical significance are welcome.  For advice please contact:- The Secretary, Friends of the Queensland Police Museum, c/- Queensland Police Museum, GPO Box 1440, Brisbane QLD 4001.

Below are images of some of the many objects donated to the Queensland Police Museum by members of the FQPM.

A precious donation by former Police Commissioner and inaugural FQPM patron, Bob Atkinson, was this 1935 Hercules bicycle. Typical of the bicycles ridden in the era, the Queensland Police used bicycles between 1896 and the mid-1950s. This article has been meticulously restored by current QPS Project Officer Mario Pezzimenti and is on display in the Police Museum.

Also on display, an Expo 88 commemorative sword with scabbard, purchased by the FQPM

A Queensland Police Signet Ring, purchased by the FQPM in 2013.

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This information has been supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available.  The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au

“Friends of the Queensland Police Museum” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode

On 14 August 1927, the Criminal Investigation Branch building was rocked by a violent explosion in a property room. ‘The roar of the discharge was heard for miles around, being audible in the suburbs.’ (BC, 15 Aug 1927, p. 13) Numerous crime records and exhibits in cases before the Police and Supreme Courts were destroyed, and nearly all windows and doors were shattered. Considerable damage from timber, iron and plaster hurled through the air was done to the buildings in the area.

Mysterious Explosion, Daily Mail, 15 Aug 1927

Detective Michael Burns was sleeping in the building at the time of the bombing. Burns was knocked unconscious by falling debris and was lucky to survive. He was rescued by fire fighters and later admitted into Mater Misericordia Public Hospital ‘suffering from the effects of shock and concussion’. Detective Burns was superannuated a year later due to the injuries sustained.

The Scene of the Explosion, Daily Mail, 15 Aug 1927

A report filed to the Under Secretary a few days after the explosion suggested that the outrage had been committed by a person with a motive for destroying certain exhibits stored in the property room. The only exhibits in the room at the time relating to a serious pending charge was a quantity of shirting material, property of Buss & Turner & Bayards of Grey Street, South Brisbane. The property was evidence in a prosecution of a charge preferred against a man named Albert Orchard.

On 26 July 1972, James Fitzgerald and Albert Orchard broke into the Premier Shirt Company Warehouse, Grey Street, South Brisbane and stole 47 rolls of Tobralco (fine, light cotton) and six roles of zephyr shirting. Orchard was caught at the scene and the property was recovered. He was later released to await trial. James Fitzgerald escaped, however, and a warrant for his arrest was issued by the CIB.

Warrants Issued

A few days before the explosion, Daniel Williams, powder monkey, employed by the Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board, reported to the police that he left the door of the powder magazine in Merivale Street, South Brisbane, securely locked on the afternoon of 9 August. On the morning of 11 August, he found the powder magazine lock broken, the door open, and three packets of gelignite and two boxes, each containing 100 detonators stolen. Orchard was linked to the theft. He was apprehended on 1 October 1927 and committed for trial on the charge of stealing property to the value of £180 and attempting to destroy property by explosives. Orchard was sentenced to imprisonment for 7 years. The Crown entered nolle prosequi on the explosive charge.

On 28 November Fitzgerald was found guilty and sentenced to 8 years hard labour.

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This information has been provided by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available.  The article was written by Museum Volunteer and Crime and Policing Historian Dr Anastasia Dukova.

The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au

“FROM the VAULT – Mysterious Explosion at the Brisbane CIB, 1927”  by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode

David Thompson Seymour (1831-1916), soldier and police commissioner, was born on 5 November 1831 at Ballymore Castle, County Galway, Ireland, son of Thomas Seymour, gentleman, and his wife Matilda Margaret, née Lawrence. Educated at Ennis College, he entered the army as an ensign on 1 February 1856, was promoted to lieutenant in the 12th Regiment on 23 February 1858, and served at Limerick and Deal before he arrived in Sydney on 7 July 1859 in command of a draft.

Coloured portrait of Police Commissioner David Thompson Seymour, c1890.
Image No. PM2273 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

On 13 January 1861 he arrived in Brisbane in command of the first detachment in Queensland after separation. He was appointed aide-de-camp and private secretary to the Governor on 11 May 1861. On 1 January 1864 he retired from the army to become acting Commissioner of Police (CoP) under the Police Act of 1863 and was confirmed in office in July. The force consisted of 150 white officers and 137 Native Mounted Police to protect a population of 61,497. Beginning with the establishment of a detective force in 1864, he soon expanded and improved the service. A select committee of 1869 supported his complaints against the appointment of police magistrates as officers and his recommendations, based on observations during extensive travel, for improved pay and conditions.  He showed his faith in the native police in 1880 by sending black trackers to Victoria to participate in rounding up the Kelly gang.

Upon retirement David T. Seymour enjoyed travelling, including to Egypt. He is pictured here riding a donkey and visiting the Sphinx, c1896.
Image No. PM2287 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

Seymour was never afraid to use force. In the Brisbane riot of September 1866 he ordered his men to fix bayonets and load with live ammunition to disperse a large crowd in Queen Street. Giving evidence to an 1887 board of inquiry on management of gaols, he was enthusiastic for flogging. In the 1894 pastoral strike the police were given sole power to ‘preserve order and secure liberty to all alike’ to avoid the expensive and controversial involvement of the military as in the 1891 strike, and he took command in Longreach, Winton, and other centres. After his request for greater legal power to compensate for limited manpower the government introduced the controversial peace preservation bill, which permitted detention without trial for periods up to two months.

The General Order from Commissioner of Police David Thompson Seymour at retirement in 1895.
Image courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

On 30 June 1895 Seymour retired on a pension of £700: he had increased police strength to 907 men which still included 104 Native Mounted Police, He had given some attention to social questions: his suggested new route via the Red Sea and Torres Strait for immigrant ships reduced the time of the voyage by half, and in 1878 he advocated a reformatory for girls under fourteen years of age. But his chief private interests were horse-racing and athletics. A foundation member and a committee-man of the Queensland Turf Club for over thirty years, he was also a committee-man of the Queensland Club. He died on 31 January 1916 in London and is buried in the Hither Green Cemetery, Lewisham.

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This article was written by Neil Stewart and published in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 6, 1976.  The information is supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available at the time of writing.  The Police Museum is open from 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au

After 45 years, five months and five days, Queensland Police Employee Number 1169194 has left the building.  Prior to her exit, Lorrayne Stone provided a thought provoking piece on her civilian career.  The Police Museum retains the histories of police officers and civilian employees, and we wish to acknowledge the long, often arduous career of Lorrayne, and we thank her for taking the time to record these memories.

I started with the Queensland Police Force on May 25, 1970.  On that day the first police officer I saw was wearing a khaki coloured uniform.  I was allocated to the Fingerprint Bureau in Police Headquarters.  The building was known as the Old CIB building and was located on the site of the current Police HQ carpark.  There were five female staff members with a Senior Sergeant in Charge, a number of Sergeants, Senior Constables and Constables.  There was one electric typewriter, mainly used to type requests for interstate and international fingerprint matches, criminal histories and other ‘very important’ documents, as well as a number of manual typewriters.

The Police Department acquired this building from the Egg Marketing Board in 1962. The building was used as the Police Headquarters until 1978, when it was made into the offices of the CIB.
Image No PM0203 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

There was a small locker room and apart from a few lockers, this room also contained a desk where fingerprints were sometimes taken from criminals and Visa applicants, and where staff could enjoy their tea break and lunch if they chose.  Photocopies were made with the only photocopier in the building, located in the Commissioner’s Office.  All photocopies had to be recorded and signed for.  Office records were held in the form of small index cards and all documents including fingerprints, criminal histories and associated paperwork were kept in individual manila folders filed in cabinets.

I lived at Manly West and getting to and from work was by bus, and after a couple of months I braved the train.  In those days the last train station in the city was South Brisbane and the last bus stop was at North Quay – both a half hour walk from Police HQ.  On transferring to Wynnum Station, in 1972, I was allocated a desk which was situated in a hallway just inside the front counter, and two lockers; one for my personal gear and one to secure the new manual typewriter bought solely for my use and which was to be locked away at the end of each day.  Apart from operating the PABX system (three telephone lines with a number of extensions) I was responsible for typing reports for the Inspector, Senior Sergeant, Criminal Investigation Branch, and later the Juvenile Aid Bureau, Police Prosecutor, and uniformed officers.   These reports were all typed in original with up to seven carbon copies.  Overtime for civilians was unheard of.

I was the babysitter for children waiting to be claimed by ‘lost’ parents, parents attending court, parents being questioned on criminal matters.  There were male toilet facilities, but as there had been no other females working at the station prior to my transfer there I had the pleasure of using the public female toilet in the courtyard, situated between the Magistrates Court and the Police Station.

Interior photograph of the Ansaphone section, Information Bureau, Makerston Street Headquarters, 1986. Before CRISP there was the Ansaphone system transcription from answering machine tapes.
Image PM2880 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

In 1978 I was seconded to the Wynnum District Office.  Initially, this office was located within the Wynnum Police Station, and then moved into a house previously lived in by the Senior Sergeant and his family which was converted into office accommodation (it’s amazing how the addition of desks in an empty two bedroom house can achieve that ‘office’ look and feel).  The house was located behind the police station, cell block and Court House.  In 1993 I joined the world of the ‘rotational shift worker’ and transferred to CRISP (Crime Reporting Information System for Police), which later became PAC (Police Assistance Centre), and finally Policelink.  Policelink is the only workplace within the Queensland Police Service where I first sat at a brand new desk on which was a brand new computer, in a brand new building.  My only other memories of ‘brand new’ were the manual typewriter at Wynnum Station, an electronic typewriter some years later in the District Office which progressed to a Star Writer, and a headset when I started at CRISP.

Computerisation was one of the biggest changes within the Police Service, however between 1970 and 2015 I witnessed the appointment of a new Commissioner of Police six times; I commenced with Ray Whitrod at the helm in 1970, then Terry Lewis took over in 1976, Ron Redmond in 1987, Noel Newnham in 1989, Jim O’Sullivan in 1992, Bob Atkinson in 2000 and finally the current Commissioner Ian Stewart in 2012.

Throughout my career I have had the honour and privilege of working with some truly amazing men and women – too many to list – none that I will intentionally forget.  I have shared laughter, pain and tears with, and for, many workmates.  I sincerely thank those who have supported me and will cherish those memories.

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This information has been provided by Lorrayne Stone, former Policelink employee, and collated by Georgia Grier, Museum Assistant, for use by the Queensland Police Museum.  The Police Museum is open from 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au

“FROM the VAULT- A Walk Down Memory Lane” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode

Sergeant Vincent James Collins never used to chase the hoons as they raced their cars and motorbikes through the streets of Landsborough.  He didn’t need to.  He knew where they lived and would simply sit and wait for them to come home.  Or, knowing their families, he would knock on their front door and pop in for a quiet chat, well aware that when the young trouble makers finally showed their faces, there would be hell to pay from their parents.  Maintaining the law and order in a small town, he realised, wasn’t just the responsibility of the police.  He had allies throughout the close-knit community.  An old-style country cop, he cut his teeth on the job in wartime Rockhampton, arriving in his first posting in 1942, the same time as the first wave of American servicemen landed in central Queensland.  After four lively years there, he was transferred to Theodore, where he would meet his future wife, Patricia Lovett.

The pace of life there was somewhat slower, he found.  For starters, the only transport provided by the Police Force was a horse – this in a day when he was also responsible for the mining town of Moura, some 60km away.  He may have moved at an unhurried pace yet always seemed to be one step ahead of whatever mischief was afoot on his beat.  And even in an era when a sideways glance from the local police sergeant could stop a bar full of brawlers in their tracks, he had something special about him, an air of authority that could defuse trouble almost before it started.

No doubt some of that he learned at the old Police Depot where he did his training in the early 1940’s, having come straight off his parents’ dairy farm at Djuan, outside Toowoomba.  The stern fatherly approach he took to his work can probably be traced back to the fact that he had considerable practice at it at his home.  Devout Catholics, he and Pat, his wife of 54 years, raised no fewer than 14 children, with a neat split of seven boys and seven girls.  It was the family joke that Sgt Collins received so few transfers during his 35 years in the force – just two after his wedding in 1950, to Bulimba (1950 – 1964) and Landsborough (1964 until his retirement in 1977) – because there weren’t that many places with a police house big enough to accommodate the ever-expanding family.

Sergeants Course No. 21, from 20.09.1971 to 08.10.1971 at Chelmer.
Back Row: A C Clark, Mathew Jospeh Cranitch, J S Montgomery, V M Robinson, J K Henderson, D Shaw, J Maccheroni, T H Warwick, P L O’Shea.
Centre Row: N V Jensen, D J Rowan, J B Czislowski, D P Cain, R R Weise, D R Goan, V J Collins, E J Burns, R G Youels, V Beutel, E J Aspinall.
Front Row: L P Rowan, R H Gillespie, Insp F Clifford, Insp R M Matheson, M J Cromarty, O D Barrett, J D Mahoney.
Image No. PM2496 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

Bulimba might be a trendy, expensive near-city suburb these days but in the 1950’s it was very much a working-class area, the Bulimba pub the local watering hole for wharfies and meatworkers.  They were a volatile mix and many was the time Sgt Collins had to step in and robustly restore the peace.  Still, sometimes things got out of hand.  It seems unreal today, with genteel coffee shops spilling out on to its sidewalks, but so violent was Oxford Street that the Brisbane Telegraph once even tagged it ‘Hell Street’ in a banner page one headline.

Landsborough offered a quieter life, although it too made heavy demands on Sgt Collins and the two police officers assigned to him.  Until his retirement, the main Sunshine Coast highway ran though the town and all too frequently the local sergeant was called out to deal with grim and grisly fatal road crashes.  One crash however, he was happy to attend.  An ice-cream van had run out of control coming down the Maleny Range and toppled over.  Fortunately, the driver wasn’t injured but it was a hot day and the van’s cargo wasn’t going to last long in the heat.  By happy coincidence, Sgt Collins knew of a local family with 14 children.  It said a lot for his standing in Landsborough and the respect in which he was held there that Sgt Collins chose to retire in the same small community in which he had enforced the law.

In July 2004 Vincent Collins died in a Caloundra nursing home, aged 87.  At his funeral, police formed a guard of honour and then, blue lights flashing, accompanied the funeral procession to Caloundra cemetery.

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This article was written in 2004 by Wayne Smith, journalist for The Australian, who was married to the second of Mr Collins’ seven daughters.  The Police Museum is open from 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au

“FROM the VAULT- From Brisbane to Bulimba then bush” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode

Perusal of early newspapers, dating back to the 1870’s indicate that a Police Cricket Club existed at Brisbane City Police.  The players travelled far and wide to participate in organised cricket matches of a calibre sufficient to warrant the attention of the local press;

The Queenslander, February 19, 1876: Police Club v Second Alberts in a match played at Queen’s Park,

The Brisbane Courier, February 10, 1902: Police Playing Cricket – the club connected with the City Police Force journeyed to Rocklea to play a match with the Rocklea Cricket Club,

The Brisbane Courier, February 5, 1903: Police Picnic at Dunwich – A cricket team representing the Brisbane City Police journeyed to Dunwich to play a match against an eleven chosen from the official staff at Dunwich and Myora.

Group photograph of the Queensland Police Cricket Club team of 1925-26.
Back row: C Townsend, V Noonan, J Rochford, BC O’Sullivan, SP Sheehan, W Borghardt.
Front row: MJ Aspinall, G Townsend, GL Lewis, William John Gooch, CD Sullivan, C Hagner.
Image No. PM1839 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

Official records reveal that a Queensland Police Cricket Club didn’t appear until much later.  In a letter dated November 12, 1920, from Plain Clothes Constable George Keeffe, representing several members of the police in the Brisbane District requested permission from Police Commissioner Frederic Urquhart to form a Queensland Police Cricket Club.  Permission was granted and the club played its first match against a team from the Light Street Tramway Depot.  The police team won by 5 wickets and 90 runs.

On October 22, 1921, a meeting of the QPCC unanimously elected newly appointed Commissioner of Police Patrick Short, Patron of the club.  The appointment was graciously accepted.  In July 1928 application was made for the laying of a practise cricket pitch at the Petrie Terrace Police Depot.  An inspection of the proposal revealed ample space on the oval in the depot grounds, and it would not in any way interfere with the use of the oval for police purposes, such as ceremonial functions, parading or police remounts.  Approval was granted.

Request by the Secretary of the Police Department Cricket Club to the Commissioner for a pitch to be laid at the Petrie Depot, 1928.
Image courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

Mr Ivan Clark, Secretary of the QPCC wrote to Police Commissioner Cecil Carroll on September 22, 1945, advising that due to the exigencies of war the club had not operated since 1941, and with the end of hostilities the club had been revived and registered for competitive play in the forthcoming season.  A request for the Commissioner to become Patron was accepted and he returned with a donation of £0-10-6 for the club’s funds.

In 1975 the Queensland Police Cricket Association was established and has been running an outdoor competition on turf wickets for police teams in Brisbane since that time.

Team photo of Queensland Police Cricket Team on railway platform in 1961, some standing on a luggage trolley!
Image No. PM2990a courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

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This article was written by Ian Hamilton, former Police Museum Assistant, and compiled by Georgia Grier.  The information has been supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available at the time of writing.  The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au

“FROM the VAULT- Queensland Police Cricket Club” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode

On 1 July 1895 William Edward Parry-Okeden was appointed Commissioner of Police, a post unsought but loyally accepted. Many reforms ensued: reorganization of Queensland’s police into seven districts; appointment of a chief inspector; the institution of a criminal investigation branch; more comfortable uniforms; the use of bicycles; better horses; finger-printing; a police museum; and facilities for ‘police benefit and recreation’. Parry-Okeden and his family’s social gifts contributed to morale.

Coloured portrait of Commissioner William Edward Parry-Okeden, c1895.
Image No. PM2274 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

In 1896 Commissioner Parry-Okeden spent two months on Cape York investigating complaints about the Native Police after Archibald Meston had recommended their abolition. Parry-Okeden’s knowledge of Aboriginal languages was an asset in a strenuous tour which resulted in a reasoned defence of the force and moderate but wide-ranging recommendations. His Report on the North Queensland Aborigines and the Native Police (1897) became the basis of the Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897, which set up the first government-controlled Aboriginal reserves. As Commissioner, Parry-Okeden became Protector of Aborigines.

Failure [by the Queensland Police Force] to detect murderers at Goodna and at Gatton led in 1899 to a Royal Commission into the Criminal Investigation Branch. Parry-Okeden, who insisted on being judged with his men, was criticized by two of the five Commissioners for treating the police like soldiers, for certain appointments, and for lacking police experience. His detailed and dignified reply acknowledged the good done by the investigation. One-tenth of an undermanned and overworked force was used to track down the murderers Patrick and James Kenniff in 1902; despite sympathy for the Kenniffs akin to that for Ned Kelly, the police department was showered with congratulations.

Commissioner’s Conference 1903. William E. Parry-Okeden, Queensland’s Commissioner of Police from 1895-1905, is fourth from the right (seated).
Image No. PM1590 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

More congenial were social, ceremonial, and patriotic duties: the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria, the dispatch of Queensland bushmen to the South African War, the inauguration of the Commonwealth and the presence in Brisbane of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York were occasions that displayed the Commissioner’s fine presence. In June 1903 he was appointed a Companion of the Imperial Service Order. He retired from the public service on 1 April 1905.

The Parry-Okedens lived successively at Kangaroo Point, Toowong and Kedron, though much of William’s retirement was spent at Redcliffe. Survived by three sons and four daughters whose lives were similarly long, adventurous and public-spirited, Parry-Okeden died in Brisbane on 30 August 1926 and was buried beside his wife in Bulimba cemetery.

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This information extracted from the ‘Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 11, 1988 by Michael D. de B. Collins Persse.  The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au

Jean Morris, aged about 19 years, was found dead in her bed in a small two-roomed galvanised iron house, in Queen St, Ayr, which she alone occupied. The body was attired in a silk nightdress. (QPG 15 October, 1932)

The post mortem examination revealed she sustained 43 stab wounds about half an inch wide and four inches deep. No screams or sounds were heard by the neighbours.

The body was discovered by the Electric Light Company employee at 10 o’clock in the morning. The inquest showed Jean Morris died about eight hours earlier. The evidence indicated a dagger or a stiletto was used to inflict the narrow and deep wounds. A dagger fitting the description was discovered in the deceased’s room, but there was no indication it was recently used.

Beautiful Dark-Eyed Jean Morris. Truth newspaper, 16 October 1932.

Jean Morris, as she was known in the North, was a slim, attractive girl not long out of her teens. She originally came from Sydney and was known to the police as a prostitute and an associate of criminals. (O’Driscoll, Mick. Notorious Crimes and Criminals) Miss Morris arrived at Ayr via Home Hill, Cloncurry, Innisfail, and Cairns on 29 September 1932. She was last seen alive on the night of 3 October. Two Italian men, Joe Maganetti, and Michael Gudas were the girl’s known associates. The room search turned up two bank books, one in the deceased’s name and another in Gudas’ showing a credit balance of £139.

Based on the ferocity of the assault and choice of the weapon, the local police concluded the murderer to be a foreigner. Moreover, the description of Jean’s latest nocturnal visitor fitted many southern Europeans who had associated with Jean Morris. The more the local police probed, the more convinced they became that the murder was no ordinary slaying, but that it was the calculated vengeance of a terrorist organisation.

Hotel Delta, Queen Street, Ayr.

Statistical data for the Townsville Police district showed that serious crime has increased in 1932. Gambling, such as fan tan troy card game, was rife in the 1920s and early 1930s. Between July 1932 and July 1933, 746 prosecutions were launched under gaming and anti-gambling laws in Queensland, 241 of them were launched in Townsville District alone. Townsville population in 1933 neared 26,000. Compared with the rest of Queensland, Townsville crime rates were on par with Cairns and Rockhampton, or about one third of total number of cases recorded in the Brisbane Police District. If gambling and Offences against Good Order (drunkenness) were ubiquitous in the area, murder was not; there were three cases brought before the courts in 1931-32, two in 1932-33, and one between July 1933 and July 1934.

The Black Hand involvement was suspected, in many quarters it was held that branches of the dread “Comorro” and the “Mafia” functioned in the area. (O’Driscoll) The organisation was later linked to a series of murders in Ingham, 1935-38. Italian national Vincenzo Dagostino, it was alleged, started his mafia gang and vowed to be an Al Capone of Australia:

Jean Morris made the mistake of rejecting advances … by Dagostino. His reaction was to order her murder by one of his underlings who stole into the cottage and stabbed her to death on 4 October, 1932 … Dagostino merely announced to the gang that Jean Morris was a danger because she knew too much about Mafia activities.
                                                                      (Northern Territory News, 25 Aug 1976, p. 21)

Stiletto Jean Met A Fearful Death, Truth newspaper, 30 July 1950.

As the police closed in on their suspect, the man returned to Italy, where he was promptly arrested. He hanged himself in an Italian prison.

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This information has been provided by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available.  The article was written by Museum Volunteer and Crime and Policing Historian Dr Anastasia Dukova.

The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au

“FROM the VAULT – Murder of ‘Stiletto Jean’ Morris”  by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode

The Queensland Police Bowls Club was established in 1955.  Membership was open to all serving and retired police and civilians of the Queensland Police Force, with paid membership at a bowling club affiliated with the Royal Queensland Bowls Association.  Regular visits were made to bowls clubs in nearby country towns as well as in the Brisbane metropolitan area.

Police Bowling Club, 1960. Commissioner of Police Francis Bischof (fourth from the left).
Image No. PM2099 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

Queensland members performed creditably in the National Championships held in Perth in 1979.  New Zealand police bowlers, touring Australia for the event that year, visited Queensland in July for competition matches and proved too strong for the home side.  Queensland members have also played matches against teams from the Railway Department, Prisons Department, The Greenkeepers Association, Tattersalls Club, and the Commercial Travellers Social Bowls Club.

In 1980 the Queensland Police Annual Report detailed the year’s game statistics: 32 Sunday games, four midweek games and eight night games.  The members visited 26 Brisbane metropolitan clubs and six country centres.

Queensland was the host state for the 23^rd Australian Police Bowls Carnival in 1981.  The QPBC organised accommodation, transport, playing dates, venues and rules for individual competitions, recorded results, provided meals for players, managed the collection and recording of fees, the publicity, and all social functions.  The event was hampered slightly by an airline strike, however interstate teams still managed to attend and the carnival was hailed an outstanding success.  Then Police Commissioner Terry Lewis, showing all the style of a champion, laid down a bowl to open the 23^rd Australian Police Bowls Championships, and became the first Commissioner in the history of the championships to touch the jack with his official opening bowl.

30th (Thirtieth) Australian Police Bowls Carnival, Melbourne, Victoria, 09.04.1988 to 16.04.1988.
Front Row, Left to Right: G. Dauth, A.B. Duncan, J. Purcell, E. Dale, D.F. McDonald, W.E. Fraser, L, McKenzie, B. Dawes.
Second Row, Left to Right: R. Horne, P. Petersen, A. Aikens, P. Bruton, R. Dauth, V. O’Brien.
Back Row, Left to Right: Unknown, J.D.T. Brady, J. Hosking. J. Long, G. Imeson, R. Bennett.
Image No. PM3853 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

Members of the QPBC made a major contribution to police and community relations through their playing programme.  The reputation of police officers was bolstered by their mixing with other bowlers in a friendly and competitive atmosphere.

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This information has been supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available at the time of writing.  The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au

“FROM the VAULT- Queensland Police Bowls Club” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode

Criminal Behavioural Profiling

28 February 2016
11am – 12.30pm

 Police Headquarters
200 Roma Street
Brisbane  QLD  4000

FREE ENTRY AND ONLY SUITABLE
FOR PEOPLE AGED 15 YEARS OR OLDER 

Criminal Investigative Analysis or Criminal Profiling was established by the FBI in the late 1970s and further developed in the 1980s through studies that compared offence behaviours with the perpetrator’s physical, social, educational, family and psychological background. The Queensland Police Behavioural Specialist Unit currently provides behavioural analytical support to police investigations where required.

Sergeant Jeremy Keith of the State Intelligence Behavioural Specialist Unit, will present ‘Criminal Behaviour Profiling’.  Sergeant Keith will outline and illustrate the many roles of the BSU such as behavioural case review, false allegation analysis and personality profiles.

This one and a half hour presentation will start at 11am on Sunday, February 28 and will be both informative and educational.  The lecture is NOT suitable for anyone under the age of 16.

The Museum opens its doors to the public on the last Sunday of each month from 10am to 3pm from February to November in addition to the standard Monday to Thursday 9am to 4pm opening hours. Monthly Sunday openings feature guest speakers from across the historical and crime-solving spectrums.

PLEASE NOTE: The Police Museum will open Sunday, February 28 from 10am to 3pm, and is located on the ground floor of Police Headquarters, 200 Roma Street, Brisbane.

William Cahill was appointed Commissioner of Police in 1905 and was a capable administrator in the justice department, supervising a period of expansion and introducing reforms to the Queensland Police Force, including free uniforms and better pensions. He made every effort to have police relieved of extraneous government duties in rural areas—without notable success. He pressed for better arms and ammunition, and set up a police horse-breeding establishment at Woodford which was moved later to Rewan, south of Springsure. ‘Somewhat inclined to be a martinet’, he tightened discipline, following the practice of the Royal Irish Constabulary, and in 1913 issued a Policeman’s Manual, adapted from the Irish version for Queensland conditions. He tried to improve training conditions and to modernize the Criminal Investigation Branch. Cahill’s responsibilities as Commissioner included increasing control of urban traffic, closer supervision of liquor licensing and gambling, and enforcement of infant life protection legislation.

Portrait of Commissioner William Geoffrey Cahill, c1905.
Image No. PM2296 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

The Brisbane general strike of 1912 was the critical point of Cahill’s career. Charged with preservation of law and order by the D. F. Denham government, he had to resist the demands for rigorous suppression made by extreme anti-unionists, maintain control of the irregular force of special constables sworn in to assist the regular force, and deal with a potentially serious civil disturbance. After days of increasing tension and some street incidents, the strike leaders ignored his instruction not to assemble on Friday, 2 February. Confronting the demonstrators in Albert Street, Cahill led a baton charge to disperse the crowd and was thrown from his horse in the mêlée. The police prevailed without serious injury to either side and incidents thereafter gradually decreased.

On the election of the T. J. Ryan Labor ministry in 1915, Cahill retained office, with his erstwhile opponent David Bowman, one of the 1912 strike leaders, as his ministerial head. After quarrelling with senior officers of the Home Secretary’s Office on police policy and control, he clashed with John Huxham, who succeeded Bowman as home secretary on 23 March 1916, over the formation of a police union which, to Cahill, constituted a breach of good order and discipline. In December he applied for and was granted early retirement on medical grounds, with a pension of £450 a year.

At the presentation of the “Imperial Service Medal”, October 21, 1912.
Back row from left: Unknown, William Henry Wardle.
Front row from left: John W. White, Commissioner William Cahill, Unknown.
Image No. PM0573 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

Cahill was described as ‘outwardly stern’ and ‘reserved’, but ‘tall, lithe, well set up and strikingly handsome’. He was awarded the Volunteer Officers’ Decoration in 1911 and was appointed C.M.G. in December 1912. He was honorary aide-de-camp to two governors in 1912-16. Predeceased by his wife and childless, Cahill died at his home in Newmarket, Brisbane, on 25 April 1931 and was buried in the Nudgee Cemetery.

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This article excerpt was written by Paul D. Wilson and published in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 7, 1979.  The information is supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available at the time of writing.  The Police Museum is open from 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au

A flight of crows circling over a gully, the barking of a dog, and the expert bushcraft of a black tracker led to the finding yesterday morning of Valmae Bridges, the 21 month old baby who wandered from her grand-parents’ home at Salisbury on Tuesday afternoon.  After 18 hours in rugged, thickly timbered country, the child’s face, legs and arms had been badly bitten by mosquitoes and torn by undergrowth, but otherwise she was none the worse for her wanderings.  Searchers found her sleeping peacefully beneath a tree a mile and a half from where she was last seen, but the tracks that had been followed indicated that she had walked at least five miles.

All the available mounted police and reserves from the police depot and suburban stations, aided by more than 100 civilians, had taken up the search within an hour after the child disappeared at 4pm on Tuesday [5 December 1933].  Led by Sergeant F. McGrath, of Stephens Police Station, the searchers were divided into separate parties, so that the surrounding country could be searched within a minimum of time.  Among the first to take up the search was a black tracker, Jack McGrath, attached to the Oxley Police Station.  He and a group of police and civilians followed the marks of the child’s tiny feet into the bush until darkness obliterated the tracks.

Police Tracker Jack McGrath, c1933.
Image courtesy of The Courier Mail.

Throughout the night the bush closer to the Beaudesert Road was scoured without avail, and at daybreak McGrath was again able to pick up tracks.  These led the searchers to within a foot of the edge of a lagoon with water eight feet deep.  The footprints were clearly discernible on each side of the pool, and at first it was thought that the child must have fallen into the water.  Arrangements were being made to drag the lagoon, when the tracker’s keen eyes observed a flight of crows circling over a thickly-wooded gully beyond the grandparent’s home.

“Where you see crows you find baby” he told his companions, and finding in his words hope that the waterhole had not claimed a victim, they set out in the direction he indicated.  Among other searchers on Tuesday evening were Mr and Mrs Alfred Cox who reside on the outskirts of Salisbury.  They searched until darkness overtook them and while they were returning home they heard what sounded like a child’s cry in the bush some distance from the track.  A brief search in the dark was unavailing, and they returned home.  Yesterday morning they renewed their search, and shortly before 10 o’clock they were again going home to snatch a brief rest when their dog, Lonesome, ran barking into the bush.

They followed and found the missing child, her head pillowed in her arm, asleep beneath a tree.  The police party met them as they were carrying the child towards the road.  As the tracker had predicted, she had been found at the spot above which the crows were circling.  She was speedily restored to her anxious parents. It was fortunate that the searchers’ success came when it did, for an hour later a thunderstorm with torrential rain, passed over the district.

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Article courtesy of The Courier Mail, Thursday 7 December 1933. The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au

“FROM the VAULT- Police Tracker’s Bushcraft” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode

Polair – Police Eyes in the Sky

20 March 2016
11am – 12.30pm

 Police Headquarters
200 Roma Street
Brisbane  QLD  4000

The Queensland Police Service operates two helicopters, which normally conduct operations within the greater South East Queensland area.  These helicopters are based in Brisbane and at the Gold Coast but may be deployed to other parts of the State.

Sergeant Dan Butler of Helicopter Support Brisbane, will present ‘Polair – Police Eyes in the Sky’.  He will outline the variety of technology fitted to POLAIR 1 & 2 such as Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) and a Searchlight (TRAKKA beam).  Sergeant Butler will also illustrate the types of scenarios undertaken by these helicopters in support of police operations on the ground.

This one and a half hour presentation will start at 11am on Sunday, March 20 and will be both informative and educational.  The lecture content will be suitable for all audiences.

PLEASE NOTE: Sunday March 20 is the 2nd last Sunday due to the fall of Easter on the last weekend of the month.

The Museum opens its doors to the public on the last Sunday of each month from 10am to 3pm from February to November in addition to the standard Monday to Thursday 9am to 4pm opening hours.  Monthly Sunday openings feature guest speakers from across the historical and crime-solving spectrums.

PLEASE NOTE: The Police Museum will open Sunday, March 20 from 10am to 3pm, and is located on the ground floor of Police Headquarters, 200 Roma Street, Brisbane.