A reflection by former Assistant Commissioner Lawrence Pointing
I spent my early days on dairy farms in the Fernvale and Ipswich districts. I learnt to milk cows and ride horses at a young age. I was 14 years old when we moved to an Ipswich suburb. I certainly did not like city living and had a burning desire to ‘go west.’ A year later I secured employment on a property in the Taroom district, some 460 kilometres south west of Brisbane. I remained there for the next seven years performing bush work and working on cattle properties and droving cattle from various stations to the saleyards at Wandoan and the railhead at Miles.
The late Sergeant Jim Johnson was the Officer-In-Charge (OIC) of a Police Station there, and it was through his encouragement that I joined the Queensland Police Force. I was sworn in on the 3 December, 1958 and with one month’s service was transferred to Miles, and later to Blackall. In September, 1963 I was appointed a Plain Clothes Constable and transferred to the Brisbane Criminal Investigation Branch. Sometime in the following year, I was sent relieving to the Brisbane Stock Squad for one month, but remained relieving in that capacity for the next 16. During my time there I worked with three Detective Senior Constables, who were all competent energetic men dedicated to stock investigations.
Members of the CIB on assignment in Goondiwindi, 1978. From left to right are Detective Sergeant 2/c Laurie Pointing, Detective Senior Constable Bob Atkinson, Senior Sergeant Ted Warner and Detective Sergeant 2/c John Huey. Image PM3485a courtesy of Laurie Pointing.
In the early months of 1975 I was the sole detective at Biloela CIB when the weekly Police Gazette advertised a vacancy for a Plain Clothes Sergeant in charge of the Roma Stock Investigation Squad. At about this time I noticed also in the Police Gazette that a colleague had been promoted to Sergeant in charge of the Cloncurry Stock Squad. As he was not that much senior to me in service I decided to apply for Roma. My application was successful and I took charge of the Roma Stock Squad in April, 1975. At Roma I was supplied with a police residence, while the Detective Senior Constable resided in a police residence next door. We shared a building with the general CIB staff situated in walking distance from our homes and in close proximity to the Roma Police Station.
During the mid-1970s a severe down turn in the cattle industry saw the price of stock drop considerably and many graziers did not bother mustering their paddocks for long periods of time. If they were of the view that stock had been stolen many of them did not bother reporting the theft. We remained active throughout this period and frequently visited stock sales on a regular basis. We addressed many meetings of graziers and associate bodies and kept a high profile. We camped out on back roads many miles from townships and intercepted many stock transports in unusual locations at odd hours of the day and night. We had cards printed and deliberately placed in places where they could be found, particularly if we were satisfied that the grazier was suspect. It was surprising how many stock found their way home.
I have fond memories of carrying out stock investigations at Dalby, St George, Dirranbandi, Goondiwindi and Theodore. When absent from my home base I always had in my possession my potable typewriter and necessary law books, such as the Criminal Code, Brands and Stock Acts as well as the Vagrants, Gaming & other Offences Act.
Laurie will be launching his next book very soon,
titled “Keeping the Peace – Volume II”. Keep an eye out for this.
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This information is supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available. The article was written by former Queensland Police Assistant Commissioner Lawrence Pointing (retired in 1993), and edited by Museum Volunteer and Crime and Policing Historian Dr Anastasia Dukova.
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
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