On Friday July 11, 1970, staff at the Criterion Hotel on George Street detected the odour of gas in the hotel’s basement. The gas company sent an inspector who soon found a leak in the basement adjoining George Street. He instructed that the wall be ‘clayed up’ to prevent further seepage.

What is LPG?

LPG is a generic name for propane gas and butane gas.  Domestic gas at the time consisted of steam reformed liquid petroleum gas – propane and butane, which generated a mixture of hydrogen, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide which was then enriched with LP gas.

It is highly flammable and dangerous if not used safely, and historically used for heating and cooking. At normal temperatures, LPG is colourless, odourless and heavier than air. In the 1970s and 1980s the Australian government encouraged the use of Autogas as a substitute for petrol by making LPG. Note that it is currently earmarked to be phased out by the year 2045 in favour of low emission and zero emission alternatives.

The city gas supply in 1970 was reticulated via cast iron pipes to consumers. It was this gas that was leaking that day.

Gas ignites

By 1 pm the air to gas concentration had reached optimum concentration. It only required a spark to ignite. It was lunch hour, and the city pavements were filled with pedestrian traffic when disaster struck at 1.05 pm. At the epicentre of the blast, a fireball was unleashed; half metre thick chunks of concrete were hurtled onto the roadway; manhole covers were shot 15 metres or more into the air. Portions of footpaths from Queen Street through to Adelaide Street along George Street were cracked as though hit by a giant sledgehammer.

A witness known to the writer was walking along Burnett Lane near George Street when she heard a rumbling that seemed to follow her, then there was a loud, terrifying blast. As she turned into George Street, she found victims amidst pools of glass as the plate glass windows in the office buildings had been blown out. She described it as a ‘war zone.’

There were three explosions in quick succession that sounded as one. Detectives from the Brisbane CIB which was situated a few hundred metres south on George Street, were soon on the scene to help, then investigate the cause of the explosion.

Young woman is tragically killed

An 18-year-old female office worker was tragically killed as she crossed at the lights at the intersection of Queen and George Streets. She’d gone ‘up town’ to purchase shoes in her lunch hour.

Emergency services personnel assisted the 37 injured who lay crumpled amidst the debris field of iron, concrete and glass whilst hundreds of city workers found themselves locked out of office buildings that had been cordoned off.

Testing a theory

Police had three pieces of evidence to test the theory that the traffic light control box had initiated the explosion.

1. There was damage to the control box, especially in the vicinity of the make/break assembly.
2. The traffic constable on duty informed the head of the Emergency Squad and chief forensic scientist, Detective Les Bardwell, that when operating the switch and after inserting the key, he normally could hear the click as the switch made contact, but in this instance, he heard the explosion within the control box.
3. Bardwell decided to test his theory that the traffic control box had initiated the explosion buy testing with Freon gas, which is a non-inflammable, heavier-than-air, and an inert refrigerant which can be identified with a gas detector. He set out to track, in reverse, the path that the domestic gas would have travelled along the trench and up to the switch in the traffic control box. He obtained a quantity of freon gas and released it from the traffic control box where it permeated down through the traffic box conduit and to the three manholes where the explosion had occurred… thereby confirming his theory.

Cause of gas leak confirmed

The Brisbane Gas Company later discovered a broken gas main in the cast iron pipe at the junction of George and Adelaide Streets. The detectives were present when the broken pipe was removed and it was obvious that it had been a recent break, probably caused by heavy traffic turning at this point.

This story was inspired by Les Bardwell’s story ‘Brisbane Gas Explosion’ from his anthology of works titled ‘No Stone Unturned.’ It was researched and rewritten by Museum Assistant Debra Austin using the best archival 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

“FROM the VAULT – Deadly Gas Leak on George Street” 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

From 1896 through to the early 1960s, Queensland police wore ‘khaki,’ then for a few more years they wore the ‘drab olive’ coloured uniform, although rural police preferred to wear the neutral colour long after their urban counterparts changed to ‘blue’ in 1972, simply because ‘it blended with the dust and dirt.’

Newly transferred to Mackay, Constable Edward John Aspinall aged 21 years, is photographed at the Eungella Races in August 1947 (below, far right) wearing the khaki uniform with the distinctive bush hat worn by country police up to 1978. His nine years stationed in Mackay included a dramatic pursuit and capture of Watchhouse escape artist – Thomas Watkins, in May 1951. Ted was later promoted to detective at Mackay’s CIB in September 1952. In all, Ted Aspinall spent 26 years of his 39-year policing career in country service where a further incident in Kilcoy in July 1972 earned him a citation for heroism and the prestigious award – the Queens Commendation for Brave Conduct.

Ted Aspinall returned to Brisbane in September 1973 after being posted to Morningside, then retired ten years later. Vale Edward John Aspinall passed away on September 5, 2007, shortly before his 82nd birthday.  

Lads to lead police a merry chase

On Wednesday, May 16, 1951, Thomas Watkins, aged 21 years and Keith Robson, aged 20 years, were on remand, due to appear on charges for breaking and entering, but they’d escaped the Mackay Watchhouse the previous night by lifting floorboards, climbing through, then scaling a 4.5 metre fence. After Watchhouse staff realised that they had absconded, Senior Sergeant John Gill was notified. He assembled a force of twenty officers to commence a manhunt around midnight… but over the next 40 hours, the lads would prove to lead the police a merry chase.

40-hour search ends with a cuppa

During the first 24 hours, the pair ranged across a good deal of territory to elude police roadblocks and search by civilian aircraft, police boat, cars and foot patrols. They also managed during those hours to beach a 33-foot sloop, lose a dinghy, arm themselves with a stolen .22 calibre rifle and ammunition, and help themselves to provisions from a property at the Habana around 4 pm. It is not known how the escapees reached the Habana, perhaps they rowed the dinghy, but a resident returning to Mackay from that location reported giving hitchhikers matching their description, a lift around 7 pm.

It was early afternoon on the second day when Senior Constable Reg Banks sighted the pair on the north bank of the Pioneer River. Tracks showed that the young men had separated. Aspinall followed barefoot tracks down to the river and soon sighted one of them crouched low in grass. The long-limbed constable sprinted through the high grass then gave chase along the riverbank towards the rail bridge, much to the entertainment of public onlookers. He was soon upon Watkins and called him to halt. He refused. Aspinall fired four warning shots and Barnes following closely, fired one. Watkins then fell heavily over a log and Aspinall thought he’d been shot, but as he was handcuffing him, he realised Watkins was unhurt. The offender offered no further resistance. He was glad it was over.

Meanwhile Robson, whose body was heavily scratched and sunburned, limped out from mangroves at Barnes Creek wearing only grey swimming trunks and with his shoes tied around his neck. He then surrendered himself to three very surprised men who were working on a fishing craft on slips, by handing over the stolen rifle and ammunition and asking to be taken to police headquarters. One of the men left for his home nearby to notify police. His mother took pity on hearing about the starving escapee and made him tea and sandwiches. Constable Charlie Pitt, who’d been following tracks through dense mangrove scrub, emerged by the creek bank to find Robson enjoying a cuppa with the men.

Officer in Charge, Senior Sergeant Gill praised his team’s efforts.

‘Members on duty did an excellent job, and although the majority had less than three hours sleep over the whole period of the search, not one man eased up for a minute.’

Press reports preference for PJs

Next Week: ‘Courageous cop overpowers offender’ Part 2 featuring Edward John Aspinall.

This story is another in the series ‘Just another day on the job for a Country Cop’ written by Debra Austin from information sourced by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available at the time, and in appreciation of police, past and present, who dedicate themselves to the service and protection our rural communities.

 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, 200 Roma Street, Brisbane.  Email contact: museum@police.qld.gov.au

“FROM the VAULT – Courageous cop overpowers offender Part 1” 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 New Year’s Eve 1968, a heavily sedated 27-year-old male was under police guard in the Royal Brisbane Hospital Psychiatric Unit. Two night’s earlier, the armed offender entered a home in Kilcoy through a bedroom window, then threatened to kill the sole occupant, a young widow. By the time police arrived around midnight, there was no sign of the intruder or the woman. Sergeant Edward Aspinall from Kilcoy Police Station searched until 2 am.

The incident repeated at 7:45 am the next morning when police were once again alerted by neighbours, but this time the same man had threatened to ‘shoot everybody.’ The woman wisely fled out the back door as Sergeant Aspinall followed the agitated man into the bedroom. He persuaded him to put the rifle down and move into the loungeroom where they could talk. Forty-five minutes later, the man agreed to accompany Aspinall to the Kilcoy Hospital, but he said that he needed a shirt and walked toward the bedroom. Wisely, the Sergeant followed because the man made a grab for the gun.

The Queen’s Commendation for Brave Conduct award was instituted in by King George VI in 1939 to acknowledge brave acts during war (and beyond into times of peace) by the military, but particularly for civilians, for whom there were no appropriate commendations at the time, especially those who worked for the Merchant Navy and the Home Office.

In 1954 it became known as the Queen’s Commendation for Brave Conduct. There is no ribbon, but the award was evidenced by a certificate and in the first stages, by a gold and red coloured badge (above) bearing the design of a sword in a wreath, surmounted by a crown. The badge was replaced at a later stage by another badge – in the form a silver oak leaf design (top right) that was awarded to Edward John Aspinall on March 13, 1969 by the Governor of Queensland, Sir Alan Mansfield.  See photograph above. The award was discontinued for Australians in 1982 and is effectively replaced by the Commendation for Brave Conduct in the Australian Bravery Decorations.

In good company

In 1969, Edward John Aspinall joined the ranks of the many worthy recipients of the Queen’s Commendation for Brave Conduct including spy, Julienne Marie Louise Aisner, code name ‘Clair,’ who was an operative for the French Resistance in World War Two. She was initially recruited as a courier, then extended her capabilities to finding safe houses for agents and providing them with forged identity documents.

In March 1944 Julienne was tipped off that her capture by the Gestapo was eminent and escaped to London. She died in Paris on February 15, 1947, from cancer. Julienne Aisner was 47 years old.

This story is another in the series ‘Just another day on the job for a Country Cop’ written by Debra Austin from information sourced by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available at the time, and in appreciation of police, past and present, who dedicate themselves to the service and protection our rural communities.

 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, 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. 

Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au

“FROM the VAULT – Courageous cop overpowers offender Part 2” 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

When you visit Queensland Police Museum at Police Headquarters, Brisbane, take the time to peruse the extraordinary eight-metre-long photograph displayed on the back wall. Lined up on horseback are the forty-one strong troop of Queensland Police officers who were gathered from across the state to escort His Royal Highness Prince Edward, the Prince of Wales, on the Royal Tour of 1920 to thank our returned diggers from World War One.

Help identify these mounted officers from 1920

The above image is the formal sitting of the same forty-one Queensland Police officers who escorted His Royal Highness, Prince Edward, The Prince of Wales, in 1920.

They also appear in the eight-metre-long image on the back wall of the Queensland Police Museum. Only a handful of these officers have been identified to date.

If you have any information, hints, or clues about mounted police in your family tree in the early 20th century, your assistance would be greatly appreciated. Perhaps there’s also a super-sleuth or two prepared to take on the task of naming them by digging into archives. Please forward your information via email to: museum@police.qld.gov.au

Next Week: Mounted Police Escort of 1920 Part 2 – Then the constable called, Go Don!

This story is another in the series ‘Just another day on the for a Country Cop’ written by Debra Austin from information sourced by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available at the time, and in appreciation of police, past and present, who dedicate themselves to the service and protection our rural communities.

Do you have an interesting story to share about a Country Cop?

 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, 200 Roma Street, Brisbane.  Email contact: museum@police.qld.gov.au

“FROM the VAULT – Mounted Police Escort of 1920 Part 1” 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

Then the constable called, ‘Go Don!

Constable Jack Hurley stood duty ringside at the Brisbane Royal National Show’s main arena one afternoon in August 1935. Almost 100,000 people had passed through the turnstiles to fill the stands with cheering crowds. He often performed special duties as a mounted police officer and is mentioned in the previous blog, ‘Mounted Police Escort of 1920. As a horseman and trainer, Jack cast a critical eye over the high-strung horses that were being held in check by jockeys who awaited the signal for the standing start of the upcoming trotting race.‘Don Wilkes,’ the previous year’s harness-horse Show Champion, that was owned and trained by the constable and his wife, was not racing. Instead, the horse patiently waited for the ringmaster, Fatty McCann, to step into the sulky. Fatty, who weighed no more than 120 pounds ‘dripping wet,’ soon alighted the conveyance and started the countdown with the help of the enthusiastic crowd… four, three, two, one… and as he cried ‘go’, Jack called to his horse, ‘Go Don!’

The crowd went wild as poor Fatty held the reins in a death grip, trying desperately to control the careening sulky as Don fought valiantly to catch the pack. It is rumoured that the ringmaster had words to say to the cheeky constable later.

In the blog, Mounted Police Escort of 1920, the writer draws attention to the above              eight-metre-long photograph which is displayed at the Queensland Police Museum. The forty-one-strong troop of mounted police were assembled to escort His Royal Highness, Prince Edward, The Prince of Wales, for the Royal Tour of 1920.                                                                                          

Constable John Herbert Hurley, Reg No 1940 (the writer’s grandfather), has been identified as one of the officers in the above photograph. He became ill with Scarlet Fever in the early 1930s and could no longer serve as a policeman. The former Nanango farmer had to look for another source of income to support his family. Although Jack had been a policeman his entire working life, he was ostensibly a horseman. Horses had always been an integral part of his life, but moreover, he loved horses, and horses loved him, particularly a pacer called ‘Don Wilkes.’

Secondary employment for policemen in early 20th century

The following excerpt pertains to a police officer’s permission to earn a secondary income. Rule 8 (a) from the Queensland Policeman’s Manual 1925-1952, states unequivocally that they do not have permission to engage in ‘remunerative employment of any kind.’ See below.

The question is… should the constable have bought the racehorse in his wife’s name in 1933 after reading the above regulation. Hmmm?

This story is another in the series ‘Just another day on the for a Country Cop’ written by Debra Austin from information sourced by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available at the time, and in appreciation of police, past and present, who dedicate themselves to the service and protection our rural communities.

Do you have an interesting story to share about a Country Cop?

 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, 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. 

Email contact: museum@police.qld.gov.au

“FROM the VAULT – Mounted Police Escort of 1920 Part 2” 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 Mounted Police Unit

Lecture by Senior Sergeant Paul Mason (OIC QMPU)

Book via Eventbrite

Lecture will be recorded. Will try for live recording via Livestream

or the recording may appear the day after.

The horse has always played an important role of the policing of Queensland. Horses were a principle means of transport for police officers across the state from the beginning of the Queensland Police Force in 1864 and for the next almost 100 years until motorised transport became the more usual means of transport. Up until the early 1960s, individual police stations had their own stables and paddocks in which to keep their troop horses.

A ‘Mounted Unit’ existed at the Oxley Station and was managed by the Officer in Charge. Oxley police officers also rode patrols and looked after the horses alongside their general duties. A coordinated mounted group was organised as an escort for Queen Elizabeth during her 1954 tour of Brisbane. On 26 August 1974 the Queensland Mounted Police Unit (QMPU) was created. A Senior Sergeant was placed in charge and 2 Constables were transferred from Oxley Station to the QMPU. Other officers were called in for mounted work when required.

Senior Sergeant Mason is OIC of the Queensland Mounted Police Unit and is the guest speaker for the Police Museum Sunday Lecture on 24 September.

During his presentation, Senior Sergeant Mason will outline how members of the QMPU perform a variety of duties from VIP escorts to patrolling inner city areas and parklands, and searching for missing persons. He will explain how the QMPU works to provide a visible police presence at major events and in public spaces.

The one-and-a-half hour presentation will begin at 11am on Sunday, 24 September and will provide educational 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: The Police Museum will open Sunday 24 September from 10am to 3pm and is located on the ground floor of Police Headquarters, 200 Roma Street, Brisbane.

Ammonium Nitrate – Created for good, but deadly when detonated

In the early 20th century, scientists were concerned about population forecasts for the coming millennia and the impending problem of growing enough food to feed the world. Nitrogen, which is crucial to plant growth, was the focus of their research. Nitrogen is found in a limited supply in nature as a mineral, but it is abundant in the gaseous state and makes up approximately 78% of the Earth’s atmosphere.

In 1908, a German chemist at the University of Karlsruhe, Fritz Haber, discovered how to chemically synthesise ammonia from nitrogen (from the air) and hydrogen (from natural gas) using iron (as a catalyst) whilst under pressure and in very high temperatures, to form a compound called ammonium nitrate, which is a white crystalline substance. This had long been deemed impossible because of the inert nature of nitrogen gas.

His brother-in-law, Carl Bosch, industrialised production of the compound in 1913, in what would become known as the ‘Haber-Bosch’ process. The ability to use the abundant reserves of nitrogen in nature to produce fertiliser, and increase crop yields, is considered one of the most important discoveries of the modern age. They individually won a Nobel prize in Chemistry in 1918 and 1931 respectively, for their contribution to science, and boosting production of the world’s food supply, though Haber, a German patriot, would later tarnish his reputation by acquiring an infamous title:

‘The father of chemical warfare.’

An ignoble use of genius

As Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry in 1914, Fritz Haber placed his team at the service of the German War Office. The goal was to weaponise gas, despite Hague Convention agreements that prohibited the use of chemical agents in battle. In practice, he had difficulty finding army commanders to test his weapons. Many considered it ‘unchivalrous.’ Regardless, Haber swapped his lab coat for a German captain’s uniform in 1915 and went to the Western Front where he instructed the German army on how to deploy the gas in prevailing winds. On the morning of Thursday, April 22nd, 168 tonnes of chlorine gas was released over the trenches near Ypres, Belgium. Within minutes, over 5,000 men died from asphyxiation. A Canadian survivor described the horror:

‘(…it was) an equivalent death to drowning only on dry land. The effects are there, a splitting headache and terrific thirst (to drink water is instant death), a knife edge of pain in the lungs and the coughing up of a greenish froth off the stomach and the lungs, ending finally in insensibility and death.’ He added, ‘It is a fiendish death to die.’

As they left the trenches vomiting and choking, a five-kilometre gap was created in the defences, but the Germans failed to take the advantage. Allied forces quickly filled the void using hastily improvised gas masks made from urine-soaked handkerchiefs that neutralised the chlorine.

Harmless… except when detonated

Well over 100 years later, ammonium nitrate continues to be uses as a fertiliser to boost production of over half the world’s food supply. A prilled form (mixed with 6% fuel oil) is used as an oxidiser in blasting for mining, quarrying and civil construction. Both forms are considered relatively ‘insensitive’ and safe for transport – except when contaminated with fuels, organic matter, or other chemicals and/or exposed to extreme heat or fire, or a combination of any of these, as well as being stressed by heat and pressure… or deliberately detonated.  Ammonium nitrate then becomes a powerfully explosive blasting agent.

Accidental ammonium nitrate explosions have killed thousands worldwide. On 4 August 2020, 2,500 tons of ammonium nitrate being stored in a warehouse in the Port of Beirut exploded killing 218 people. A powerful, supersonic shock wave generated, causing catastrophic damage. Most of the victims died instantly and a further 5000 people were injured. The explosion is categorised as the third worst urban explosion of all time after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombings at the end of World War Two. It created a 140-metre-wide crater and left over 300,000 people homeless.

Many countries are now phasing out use of ammonium nitrate because of the potential for its misuse. In Oslo in 2011, Norwegian terrorist, Anders Breivik, exploded a car bomb made from ammonium nitrate, as a decoy. This lured emergency services as he anticipated, while he proceeded to Utoya Island where his true mission lay – the massacre of students on a Youth Camp. In all, 77 innocent people died that day.

Timothy McVeigh killed 168 people when he bombed a federal building in Oklahoma, USA, on 19 April 1995, by detonating a van full of ammonium nitrate.

Outback deaths – 1972

Two fiery truck crashes involving the transportation of ammonium nitrate, and resultant detonation of the load, have occurred in recent Queensland history. The first occurred on the evening of 30 August 1972, when a load of 510 bags of ammonium nitrate, each weighing 80 pounds (36.2 kilograms), was being transported to a mine in the Goonyella coalfields. The truck crashed and caught fire, 100 kilometres from Taroom in Central Queensland, 480 kilometres north-west of Brisbane. The incident resulted in an explosion that killed three men instantly – the truck driver, 25-year-old Ronald Holzberger, and two brothers from nearby Stonecroft Station; 20-year-old Evan Becker and 18-year-old Douglas Becker, who raced their motorcycle to the crash site to give assistance.

Around midday the next day, the lead investigator, Detective Inspector Les Bardwell from the Brisbane CIB, travelled by light aircraft to the scene with the Brisbane-based Inspector of Explosives from the Department of Natural Resources, and a representative from the chemical manufacturer. He later declared that he was ‘absolutely aghast’ by what he discovered. He had expected to find the burnt out remains of the vehicle, but there was nothing. The prime mover and trailer had completely disintegrated and all that remained was a crater, measuring 9 metres x 12 metres with a maximum depth of 1.2 metres.

The engine block of the diesel prime mover was the only readily recognisable portion of the vehicle located in the immediate vicinity. Truck parts were later found up to 1.6 kilometres away. The massive turntable that connected the prime mover to the trailer was found 360 metres from the epicentre of the blast, badly distorted. Leading downhill from the site was a solidified lava-like run of molten ammonium nitrate: one metre wide, 114 metres long, and up to 15 cm in depth.

A memorial plaque was erected on 30 March 2013 on the unsealed Fitzroy Development Road, approximately 90 kilometres north of Taroom, near Stonecroft Station. The bull-bar from the International Transtar prime mover, which has been moved to its present site, stands as a silent witness. It was found in trees, 200 metres north of the crater. The absence of damage to foliage suggests that it had been blown hundreds of feet into the air before falling vertically.

Could this type of incident happen again?

This story was inspired by Les Bardwell’s story ‘Ammonium Nitrate,’ from his anthology of works titled ‘No Stone Unturned.’ It was researched and written by Museum Assistant Debra Austin using the best archival 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

“FROM the VAULT: Boom! Part 1 – Ammonium Nitrate Created for good, but deadly when detonated” 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

Ammonium Nitrate – 78 minutes to detonation

It was a clear night on Friday, 5 September 2014. On the Mitchell Highway, locally known as the ‘Matilda Way’ in Outback Queensland, 15 minutes south of Charleville, when at 8:54 pm, a Kenworth prime mover caught fire whilst hauling 52.8 tonnes of ammonium nitrate in 44 bags each weighing 1.2 tonnes. The driver had travelled the route from Gladstone to South Australia for the thirteen months prior, without incident. He told investigators later that the fire initially started in the prime mover, but once flames began to lick the windscreen, he knew that he had to leave the road. As he steered offroad, the truck unfortunately hit a guard rail near the Angellala Creek Road Bridge, causing the B-Double with three loaded trailers to rollover into a dry creek bed.

Fuel tanks ruptured on impact adding diesel to the deadly mix of ammonium nitrate and fire. The countdown to disaster had begun.

The badly injured driver managed to free himself from the burning wreck. A passing motorist stopped to help and was soon joined by a truck driver approaching from the south. The truck driver stayed with the injured man, while the motorist who was a local, left for a nearby farm to contact emergency services at 9:28 pm. There was no phone signal in the area. A second truck driver travelling north also stopped to assist.

Scenes of Crime Investigator, Sergeant Adam Pearson, finished work at 10 pm. He was travelling in a police vehicle when he observed two fire appliances heading out of town, with lights and sirens. He decided to follow to see if he could assist.

Crews not told that the load was ammonium nitrate

The first fire crew arrived from Charleville at 10:03 pm, expecting to find a routine traffic accident. Fire had engulfed the prime mover and first trailer; the injured driver was being attended… then one of the crew made an alarming discovery. Through the intense black of the Outback night, he saw strewn bags of ammonium nitrate.

This vital information had been missed in communications. They had not been informed that the truck carried ammonium nitrate, which is deadly when detonated. On closer inspection, white crystalline balls of prill spilled from where the rig exited the highway, to where it came to rest on the southern bank of the creek bed.

The second fire truck arrived nine minutes later. Shortly after, the first of two explosions occurred. It was a ‘low order’ explosion that caused no structural damage but gave off a ‘fireworks’ effect of white-hot sparks and a ‘pop.’ The first responders needed no further prompting. They were rushing to evacuate the scene when suddenly the second, powerful explosion detonated, generating a massive force that sent out a supersonic shock wave. Massive chunks of debris from the destroyed road bridge and highway, as well as shrapnel from the truck, were hurtled hundreds of metres.

Could anyone possibly survive?

Sergeant Pearson was approaching the crash site when he was knocked unconscious at the wheel of his police vehicle by the impact of the shock wave. Luckily for him, the car came to rest by the side of the road.

Constables Head and Everitt were also approaching in a second police vehicle, a kilometre or so from the scene, when they saw an extraordinary sight. A slim column of fire of rose hundreds of metres into the night sky. It was 10:12 p.m. They were taken aback milliseconds later, when they too were hit by the jolt of the shock wave. Constable Head described it as, ‘a kick in the chest.’

The officers remained stationary in their vehicle while the debris field fell, then continued to the site. On arrival they found what resembled a war zone.

Through all the fire and smoke, Constable Head saw a small light, the type that Queensland Fire & Rescue members have on the side of their helmets. Without concern for their own safety, the two constables raced into the blast zone. When asked by a journalist why they took the risk, Constable Head stated, ‘You just do that sort of thing as a police officer. We all do that sort of thing.’

The Aftermath

The police carried a CODAN radio telephone. It was the only means of communication in the isolated location. They imparted information to start the next phase – the rescue operation.

Officer in Charge of Charleville Police Station, Adrian Rieck, was awoken from his sleep at home by what he had assumed was an earthquake. The blast did, in fact, measure as a seismic event of 2.1 on the Richter scale. The explosion was so powerful (equivalent of 10-15 tonnes of TNT) that it shook the entire township of Charleville, 30 kilometres away. Shortly after, Senior Sergeant Rieck received a phone call from the police station and was advised of the accident and subsequent blast. By the time he arrived on scene, Constables Head and Everitt had extracted all of the injured with the Queensland Ambulance Service. To their amazement, police discovered that there were no fatalities.

How did they survive?

The Senior Sergeant Rieck later explained:

‘We believe possibly the location of the truck… and where it’s exploded… and the construction of the roadway… may have shielded them slightly from the majority of the blast; but there is a significant amount of debris (shrapnel from the truck and concrete from the destroyed road bridge and highway) that has been thrown a significant amount of distance from the initial explosive site.’  

Amongst the eight injured, four fire fighters and one policeman were hospitalised. The severity of injury depended on the proximity to the epicentre of the blast, but most experienced hearing problems, burns, cuts from flying debris and internal bruising. The injured truck driver was airlifted to the Royal Brisbane Hospital and placed in an induced coma.

The B-Double carrying the ammonium nitrate disintegrated, two fire trucks were destroyed and a parked truck to the south, and Sergeant Pearson’s police car parked to the north, also sustained considerable damage. Police could not determine the cause of the crash nor why the prime mover caught fire. Molten ammonium nitrate, copper, and aluminium were found at the crash site indicating the heat of the fire was greater than 1000C.

The writer of this blog gratefully thanks Senior Sergeant Rieck for sharing his photography and confirming the order of events at Angellala Creek that night. He added:

‘The blast was the largest peacetime transportation explosion in Australia’s history. It has been the only time that both the Mines Inspectorate and the Transport and Mains Road departments have been able to gather appropriate data as to what happens when ammonium nitrate explodes under these circumstances and has led to the raft of changes for its (safe) transportation.’

Government’s goal – to minimise risk when transporting ammonium nitrate

The Principal Inspector of Explosives for the Department of Natural Resources stated, ‘If the risk of fire is eliminated, controlled, or isolated, then the risk of an explosion is negligible.’ An investigation report by the department notes that all previous incidents worldwide have been on flat deck trailers.

A full copy of the report, including eight recommendations to be implemented for the safe transport of ammonium nitrate, can be found in the link below, as well as a link to a re-enactment video of the incident.

• Re-enactment video:  https://youtu.be/horEcWw_KxM

• Abridged Investigation Report by Queensland Government:  Investigation Report – Ammonium Nitrate Explosion, Angellala Creek (resources.qld.gov.au)

Queensland Police Museum congratulates the following heroes who received bravery awards for their roles in attending the incident at Angellala Creek.

QPS Valour Award: Senior Constable Mark Patrick Everitt, Senior Constable Kenric Head

Bravery Medal: Senior Constable Mark Patrick Everitt, Senior Constable Kenric Head and Michael Bradley Hadj

Star of Courage: Peter Robert Hackwood, Clinten Thomas McCarthy, Jake Paul Sullivan, and Nathan James Thompson

Commendation for Brave Conduct: Senior Sergeant Adrian Paul Rieck and Liam Colin Walsh

Group Bravery Citation: Inspector Stephen Edwin Kersley, Senior Sergeant Adrian Paul Rieck, Senior Constable Mark Patrick Everitt, Senior Constable Kenric Robert Head, Senior Constable Juliet Heather McGrath, Constable Logan Tristan De Costa; John Norman GILBERT, Peter Robert Hackwood; Michael Bradley Hadj, Clinten Thomas McCarthy, Jake Paul Sullivan, Nathan James Thompson, and Liam Colin Walsh.

This story was inspired by Les Bardwell’s story ‘Ammonium Nitrate,’ from his anthology of works titled ‘No Stone Unturned.’ It was researched and written by Museum Assistant Debra Austin using the best archival 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

“FROM the VAULT: Boom! Part 2 – Ammonium Nitrate – 78 Minutes to detonation” 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

Music to Our Ears: The QP Juvenile Pipes & Drums Band

11am to 12.30pm

Queensland Police Headquarters

Book a ticket via Eventbrite

The fore runner to our beloved Queensland Police Pipes and Drums, is the original Queensland Police Brass Band which was in existence between 1895 and 1905. 53 years later in 1958 the Queensland Police Pipe Band was formed. 40 years later, in 1998, the Queensland Police Juvenile Pipes & Drums Band was formed to continue the music legacy.

Curator Lisa Jones of the Queensland Police Museum will give a short talk about the early QP Brass Band and then Drum Sergeant Yvonne Coustley will be our main guest speaker for the Police Museum Sunday Lecture on 29 October.

During her presentation, Drum Sergeant Coustley will outline how Queensland Police Juvenile Pipes & Drums (QPJP&D) are a very successful competing pipe band who receive free tuition from their mentors, the Queensland Police Pipes & Drums. She will explain how juvenile pipers and drummers gain valuable skills and experience and feel a sense of achievement.

The audience will be treated to a performance of the QPJP&D after the lecture finishes.

The one-and-a-half hour presentation will begin at 11am on Sunday, 29 October and will provide educational 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: The Police Museum will open Sunday 29 October from 10am to 3pm and is located on the ground floor of Police Headquarters, 200 Roma Street, Brisbane.

This painting was given to retired Inspector Brendan Keleher while he was in charge of the Mount Isa Watchhouse from 1990 to 1993. Seven Sisters in the Sky was painted by one of the prisoners in his charge after he introduced a program to keep them occupied and engaged.  

In 1990 Brendan was promoted to Sergeant of the Mount Isa Watchhouse. In those days, the watchhouse keeper’s family were required to feed prisoners for the recompense of $2.78 per meal. Mrs Keleher cooked more than 1,000 meals per month—the same meals she and her family ate—with locals sometimes seeking to be arrested for the weekend to enjoy her home cooking.

Brendan said that apart from the high standard of food, the watchhouse—which was replaced with a modern facility in 2002—was not a good place to be. “The conditions were very poor in comparison to the level of service we provide in watchhouses today thankfully. There was no air conditioning and at times we had more than 25 prisoners sleeping in exercise yards, cells and in the blanket storage area for up to six weeks with summer days over 45°C.”

As the Mount Isa Watchhouse was the main facility for the district, prisoners from outlying stations were held there until an escort could be arranged to Townsville’s Stuart Creek Prison. Due to overcrowding at Stuart Creek however, it was not unusual for short term prisoners with sentences of less than eight weeks to remain at Mount Isa Watchhouse. Retikred Inspector Keleher said he tried to find ways of making the prisoners stay more tolerable and of keeping them busy or mentally active. One day during an inspection, I noticed one of the young Aboriginal prisoners using a pencil to sketch a landscape purely from memory.

Brendan said he approached some of the senior officers attached to the station with the idea of supplying the longer-term prisoners with painting materials. “I can say I did not receive any great encouragement awards and was told it would be my responsibility. There was no budget for these types of wild ideas back in the ‘90s, so I purchased paints from our new K-Mart store at my own expense,” he said. “The only thing that we had plenty of was very stiff, white watchhouse tea towels. For some reason we had hundreds of them in a storeroom, and they were made from a cloth that after many washings still would not absorb water.”

The stiff white tea towels were perfect for use as painting canvasses, and with a steady supply of paints courtesy of then-Sergeant Kelleher, many hundreds of prisoners passing through the watchhouse had the opportunity to try their hand at painting to fill in time. Prisoners generally took their paintings with them upon release, or else discarded them.  Brendan said “the man who painted Seven Sisters in the Sky was given to Brendan by a prisoner who when affected by alcohol was aggressive and violent towards police. This prisoner Mr Ned, was in my care and custody on a number of occasions and we developed a strong bond as sometimes happens with Watchhouse Keepers and prisoners. Mr Ned had not quite finished the piece when he left the watchhouse but brought it back as a gift when it was finished.

The ‘Seven Sisters’ is an Aboriginal Dreaming story common in various forms to many different language groups across Australia. The story tells of seven sisters who were foraging for food when they came across a man (or men) with amorous intentions from a different skin group. As traditional law forbade romantic relations with members of other skin groups, they fled and were eventually lifted into the sky where they assumed the form of the Pleiades star constellation.  The blue in the painting represents the various waterways in the Channel Country running into the centre, while other elements represent fertility.

Seven Sisters in the Sky touches on many things: a moment in Brendan’s career, an era in the history of the Queensland police, the relationship between police and Indigenous people, and the connection of Aboriginal people to the landscape.

This story was written from the reminiscences of retired Inspector Brendan Keleher.

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 – Seven Sisters in the Sky” 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

QPM 130th – Treasures from the Museum Collection

10:30 – 12:30

10:30-11:00 Morning Tea (tea, coffee, birthday cake. Gluten and diary free options available).

Bring you own keep cup and save the planet.

11:00 Lecture Begins

This lecture will be livestreamed

Due to a technological difficulty, tickets will not go live on Eventbrite until Tuesday 7 November. Email museum@police.qld.gov.au to secure a ticket in the meantime.

The Queensland Police Museum will celebrate its 130^th birthday on November 27 this year. The original c1890s collection was filled with “black” items such as crime evidence and murder weapons. The collection was housed at the Petrie Terrace Depot and was used to educate police officers about criminality.

Today’s Police Museum still includes collection items with gruesome stories but it also includes other significant objects which describe the changes in, and challenges to, policing across the past 148 years. The Museum’s current mission is to enhance the public image of the Queensland Police Service and foster pride in its achievements in the wider community.

In this presentation entitled Treasures from the Police Museum Collection, Lisa Jones, Police Museum Curator, will outline the fascinating history of the Police Museum and will delve into the collection to bring the stories of rarely seen objects to light.

The one-and-a-half hour presentation will begin at 11am on Sunday 26 November and will provide educational 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 Friday 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 26 November from 10am to 3pm, and is located on the ground floor of Police Headquarters, 200 Roma Street, Brisbane.

The Queensland Police Museum (QPM) today commemorated 130 years of preserving law enforcement history, educating, and honouring the dedication of those across the state who serve the community.

The QPM was established on November 27, 1893, with a memorandum sent by the Police Commissioner to all officers in charge of police stations, asking them to send in any items they might find interesting.

The Museum, infamous at the time for its grisly collection, was not open to the public and was initially used to educate police officers and recruits.

In 1979, the QPM was first opened to the public and now includes 25 displays, including unsolved cold cases, an interactive crime scene, women in the police and other exhibits detailing the history of policing across the past 159 years.

The Museum also hosts public programs, including educational lectures and monthly presentations featuring guest speakers from historical and crime-solving fields.

Commissioner Katarina Carroll paid tribute to the educational asset the Museum has become for both members of the public and officers and how much it shows just how much “policing” has changed over the decades.

“The Queensland Police Museum has become a destination for education, with schools and community groups visiting daily to learn about historic crime-solving methods and hear humbling stories of police bravery.”

The birthday celebrations also included unveiling a plaque, honouring the Museum’s first permanent curator, Ms. Gaye Flynn, and her enormous contribution to the advancement of the QPM.

As part of the commemoration, retired detective sergeant first class Geradus Stevens presented the current curator, Lisa Jones, with a commendation he received in 1983 for disarming an armed hostage taker in Toowoomba.

The commendation will now be preserved and displayed in the Museum for future Queenslanders to reflect on.

Lisa said that after 26 years, being curator is still her dream job and that she remembered, before her interview for the position all those years ago, looking at the front door and thinking, “This is going to be my museum.”

130 years later, the QBM continues to educate, collect, document, preserve, and exhibit the history of policing in Queensland.

Happy Birthday!

On May 30, 1935 Police Commissioner C.J. Carroll, directed that an application to the Deputy Director of Posts and Telegraphs for utilisation of the services of an experimental wireless station (VK4DR) owned and operated by Mr. David Andrew Laws. This application was approved on June 17, 1935 and the Call sign VKR was allocated by the licensing authority, the Department of Posts and Telegraphs, for the station to operate on 140 meters, with 25 watts input power. This allowed one-way wireless radio communication in patrol cars.

In 1941, just prior to the outbreak of war, a permanent two-way wireless transmission station was established at Petrie Terrace, on the site of the old Drill Instructors Residence. In conjunction with the wireless station, an aerial was erected on the top of the southern end of the Barrack building. Two-way radio communication with wireless patrol cars had been established and the station was linked to the interstate wireless police telegraphy service. During the second world war, military police attached to the Australian Army, Royal Australian Navy, Royal Australian Air Force, United States Army, Royal Australian Air Force, United States Air Patrol and the Royal Navy also utilised the police wireless transmission station at Petrie Terrace. In 1951 Brisbane’s Central Communications Room at the Criminal Investigation Branch in the city, came into operation and took over the handling of police radio communication.

The Police Wireless Transmission Station building still stands today and has been home to the Hog’s Breath Café since the early 1990s.

This information has been supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available at the time of writing.
Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au
The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Friday 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.

“Police Wireless Transmission Station 1941 – 1951” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a 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.

John James Robinson, a horse breaker by trade, was sworn in as a Constable on 5 July 1906.

He was obviously a talented trainer who enjoyed encouraging his horses to do all manner of poses and tricks. Constable Robinson was stationed at the Police Depot between 1906 and 1907 and again between 1909 – 1910. He resigned on 30 March 1911 but was re-appointed three months later and spent another 3 years stationed in far north Queensland.

These images show Constable Robinson’s “trick” horses and were taken in the field located at the Police Depot (which was located on the site of the current Barracks Development at Upper Roma Street).

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 Friday 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

“Smart Horse, Clever Trainer” 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

James (Henry) Craig, alias Robert Colquhoun, was the first criminal to be identified by his fingerprints in Queensland. He and George E. Mahony, were no strangers to the insides of jails in the southern states. They worked their way north and in January 1905, blew the safe and made off with £9 and four bottles of whiskey from the store of E. Cullen at Kangaroo Point. A few days later they blew open the safe at the Nundah Railway Station.

The Kangaroo Point robbery was their undoing. Acting Sergeant James Murphy noticed a fingerprint on a beer bottle found at the scene of the crime. He summoned the police fingerprint expert Acting Sergeant Duncan Fowler. Fowler could see one good print with a clear ridge and called on police photographer Constable James Donovan to take an photograph of the latent fingerprint. This proved to be more difficult than at first thought because early photography depended on good available light and neither the weather nor the bottle were very co-operative. Finally, at 6am on a bright morning, after 10 days of trying, Donovan achieved a good photograph of the beer bottle fingerprint.

In the meantime James Craig and George Mahony had been arrested and their impressions of their fingerprints taken. Amongst their belongings police found a suitcase containing a full kit of burglar’s tools and two loaded revolvers.

Acting Sergeant Duncan Fowler set about comparing the inked right thumb prints from both Craig and Mahony with the photograph of the fingerprint from the bottle. He found enough points of similarities (or identity) between Craig’s inked right thumb print and the latent bottle print to be able to say that it was Craig’s fingerprint on the bottle.

The fingerprint evidence along with the tools and revolvers found by police, backed up the case against Craig and Mahony and both were found guilty to the safe breaking offences and each drew sentences of five years for the shop burglary and ten years for the railway station crime, to be served cumulatively.

The latent right thumb print belonging to James Craig found on the beer bottle, is the first fingerprint ever recorded at the scene of a crime in Queensland.

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 Thursdau 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: First Fingerprint Success, 1906” 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

Howard Green was sworn in as a Constable 2959 in September 1927. He was 23 years old when transferred to his second posting to Coen in 1928 and spent a year there before moving on to Cairns. His Coen colleagues were Acting Sergeant Janes Dunne and Constable Charles Rattenbury.

In this series of images more than likely taken by Constable Green, we see the Coen police officers and residents enjoying a day out at the races in July and August 1928.

The captions are taken from the handwritten descriptions on the back of the photographs.

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: A day at the Coen Races, 1928” 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

A Police Act established the Queensland Police Force in 1863, or 160 years ago, and took effect on January 1, 1864. It stipulated that any applicants to the force be bachelors with no record of previous convictions or questionable associations of any kind:

No person shall be appointed Constable unless he shall be of sound constitution able-bodied and under the age of forty years of good character for honesty fidelity and activity and able to read and write.

The new colonial police had a complex role. In 1864, the population of the colony stood at 75,000 with a police contingent of 339 to preserve order and prevent crime in a colony that stretched over 400 square miles. The largest police establishment was in the capital of the colony, Brisbane. The men on the city beat were armed solely with batons. The physical requirements for entry into the force compensated for the lack of armaments. Stout uniformed men standing at near or over 6 feet in height with their batons at the ready were deemed an imposing enough sight to discourage potential depredators.

Recruitment and training took place in Brisbane at the Police Depot at Petrie Terrace, despite complaints from country hopefuls of their inability to travel to Brisbane. Although prevention of crime was the primary objective of Brisbane City Police, a Brisbane policeman was truly a jack-of-all-trades. Apart from the extensive policing duties (peace preservation, crime prevention, prosecution) the extraneous duties list contained on average fifty to eighty tasks:

James Lovett appeared to answer a summons for breaching a Town’s Police Act, when he was ordered to pay a total of 10 shillings for depositing manure on the North Quay. [Brisbane Courier, May 18, 1864]

We can only speculate how much police time these extra activities entailed; nevertheless, beat duty primarily dealt with social disorder.

__________________

This information has been supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from available resources.

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: No Person Shall be Appointed Constable Unless…” 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

Floods are not new to Queensland. We can look back to the 1840s to see the effects of rising rivers on low lying areas.

In modern times Queensland Police work in partnership with emergency services to keep people and property safe. But in times past, police officers were often the only emergency personnel on the ground.

In the 1890s there were a series of huge floods which devastated Brisbane and Ipswich – imagine all of Southbank under water.

In 1990 Charleville went under water by quite a few meters and the whole town had to be evacuated. In late 2010 and early 2011 almost every square kilometre of Queensland was flooded. The associated heartache of this flooding was experienced by almost every police officer working across the state.

These images illustrate that during floods police officers are usually in the thick of things, sometimes to the detriment of their own health and safety in their efforts to undertake their duties.

If you want to read about the history of Queensland floods visit the Bureau of Meteorology site visit: http://www.bom.gov.au/hydro/flood/qld/fld_history/index.shtml

______________________________________

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 – A land of drought and flooding rains…” 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

Part 1 – A Scotsman’s journey begins

This two-part blog honours the life of Constable William Murray who perished in the Outback, on or about 20 November 1913. We will explore the chain of events that led to his tragic death, and the reasons behind Murray’s transfer to the Outback. The writer of the Queensland Police Union Journal article, ‘Police Transfers,’ dated August 18, 1923, nearly ten years after the incident, was scathing in his criticism about the police transfer system in the early 20th century. He wrote:

“During the earlier years of the force, many if not all transfers were regarded as a means of punishment, and if a member of the rank and file happened to be without friends, he was almost sure to be exiled to the extreme north or west, but more particularly, if he was unfortunate enough to possess a spirit of independence.”

After reading Constable William Murray’s file, none could doubt the Scotsman’s ‘spirit of independence’ or his spirit or adventure. He has held a place of honour on the Queensland Police Memorial since 2003, when his name was added to the Remembrance Board at Police Headquarters and other memorial plaques.

The ruddy-faced, blue-eyed Scotsman left his homeland in Lockerbie, Scotland, in the year 1900 to travel to South Africa where he served as a constable with the South African Constabulary in the Orange River Colony. After the Second Boer War, the British occupied the area from 1900 to 1910 when it was then absorbed into the Union of South Africa. Murray was offered a transfer to another district upon being made redundant, but he chose to make his way to Australia.

After arriving in Queensland, Murray worked as a railway guard while his documentation to join the Queensland Police Force was being processed. Measuring a half inch short of the minimum height – ‘[that] they must stand clear five feet eight inches without their boots,’ leads us to construe that his lack of height was overlooked in favour of Murray’s police experience and favourable references – see example below.

Discord at Many Peaks Station, 1911

Constable Murray commenced service at the Brisbane Depot on 4 March 1910 and was transferred to Fortitude Valley Police Station a week later. From there he was transferred to Rockhampton where his duties were performed to the complete satisfaction of his superiors, but on 21 June 1911, Murray was transferred to Many Peaks Police Station and Courthouse where his fledgling career with Queensland Police stalled through a personality conflict. Both he and fellow constable, Nicholas Donges, rubbed with the Officer in Charge, Acting Sergeant Thomas O’Keefe, who was later described by the writer of the Queensland Police Union Journal in 1923 as, ‘a veritable tyrant… no subordinate could agree with him, and as Murray was no exception to the rule… [neither did he].’

Did Murray literally ‘dig his won grave?

Inspector John Quilter arrived from Rockhampton by train on 9 December 1911, to interview Constables Murray and Donges in relation to the incident. He gave the men the opportunity to state their case in relation to their differences with Acting Sergeant O’Keefe. Both men said they they had no problem with him – although Murray asked for a transfer from Many Peaks citing that he could not ‘get on’ with O’Keefe.

Both constables said that their major problem was that they could not get leave when they requested it, which was usually after returning from days on patrol. The Inspector told them that police were not entitled to leave unless they could be spared, and if they could, he was sure that the Acting Sergeant would grant them a few hours at any time. He also cautioned that if they used insubordinate language and questioned instructions, then they would have to put up with the consequences.

Inspector Quilter further wrote in a memorandum about the events of 18 November 1911, stating: ‘…both of these men are concocting everything they can against the Acting Sergeant to irritate him.’ He described O’Keefe as: ‘A decent and steady man’ but [he] ‘appears delicate and does not seem to have any idea of how to give instructions, or [how] to manage men, or to have the slightest confidence in himself.’

Addressing police behaviour c1910

Constables Donges and Murray were transferred to Alpha and Clermont, respectively. Were these transfers ‘punishments’, as suggested by the writer of the Police Journal in 1923? The ‘Queensland Police Manual’ c1910, Regulation 5, was clear about expectations of police behaviour and obedience to superior officers. See excerpt below.

Next Week Part 2 – A Scotsman’s Final Journey

This story was researched and written using the best archival resources at the time by Debra Austin, a former Museum Assistant at the Queensland Police Museum, and a member of Friends of Queensland Police Museum, a group dedicated to restoring the graves of Queensland police officers who died on duty. Constable William Murray served the Queensland Police Force from 04.03.1910 until that fateful occurrence on or about 20.11.1913 when he perished in the Outback. The Friends of the Queensland Police Museum shall endeaour to locate and mark his grave.

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- Doomed Patrol to Doongmabulla 1913 – Part 1 -A Scotsman’s journey” begins 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 Coolangatta Hotel Fire 1 January 1975

Seminar by retired police officers Ian Rogers QGM and David Lacon QGM

11:00 – 12.30

Tickets via Eventbrite or email museum@police.qld.gov.au

On 31 December 1974, just before midnight, Michael John Kelly, a disgruntled former hotel employee started a fire. The Coolangatta Hotel was old and constructed of timber, brick and fibre board. On the ground level there was an entertainment area, reception and kitchen. All of the guest rooms were on the upper level and were accessible from an internal staircase and also from the external fire escape. The fire was set in the entertainment area, directly under most of the upper floor guest rooms. When the fire took hold the plastic tables and chairs melted and gave off toxic fumes and black flecks of plastic.

In this seminar retired police officers Ian Rogers QGM and David Lacon QGM, both young constables at Coolangatta Police Station in 1975, will describe the scene and their tremendous efforts to assist with the rescue of the 36 hotel residents. Both Ian and David received the Queen’s Gallantry Medal for their brave efforts on that night. This rescue mission took its toll on both of these brave officers and they have stayed good friends across their lives.

The one-and-a-half hour presentation will begin at 11am on Sunday 25 June and will provide interesting and educational content suitable for any audience.

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 25 June from 10am to 3pm and is located on the ground floor of Police Headquarters, 200 Roma Street, Brisbane.

“Sunday Lecture – The Coolangatta Hotel Fire 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