This cast iron Queensland Police Station Badge was use as a station identifier between 1911 and 1958.
During the 19th century, police stations were not identified in any way, so if you wanted to find one you needed some luck or local knowledge.
In 1907, Police Commissioner William Cahill and the Deputy Queensland Government Architect, designed the Queensland Police Station Badge based on the police cap badge of the time.
In 1911, 300 cast iron badges, each weighing 17 pounds (7kgs) and costing 4 shillings and 10 pence, were manufactured for the Police Department by Harvey & Son, Globe Iron Works, Brisbane and distributed as identification badges to every Police Station in the State.
On November 11, 1958 because of complaints that police stations were not readily identifiable, the Department of Works was asked to supply conspicuous illuminated signs showing POLICE in black letters on a white background. On May 5, 1959, a sample illuminated sign was erected at Holland Park Police Station and with that success, an order was placed with Albert Smith and Son to manufacture these signs.
Blackbutt Police Station, 1912. Note the station badge attached to the peak of the right hand tent.
Over the next decade the illuminated signs were progressively installed at stations and the old style cast iron badges were returned to the Police Depot. Sometime in the late 1960s the illuminated word POLICE, was produced in white letters on a black background, and in the mid 1980s a blue light was added to the top for more effect.
Cairns Police Station, 1948. Note the station badge above and to the left of the entry.
Mundubbera Police Station, c1985. Note the illuminated sign with blue light.
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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 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
“FROM THE VAULT – Police Station Identification: a sign of the times” 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… Continue reading