In 1863, a separate Queensland Police Act was promulgated which took effect on 1 January 1864, marking the beginning of an independent history for the Queensland Police Force. On 31 December 1864, 21 ordinary constables took to the streets. Vigilant guardianship of person and property was one of the key principles of police duty. Absence of crime was considered the very best evidence that can be given of the complete efficiency of the police. A nascent Queensland Constable took an oath to see and cause Her Majesty’s peace to be kept and preserved, and to prevent to the best of his power, all offences against the same.
Police parade “Under Arms” at Petrie Terrace Police Depot, Brisbane, 1867.
Image PM0159 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.
According to the former Police Magistrate WRO Hill recollections, Brisbane of the early 1860s was not a very attractive city, with uniform streets, atrociously kept shops, and houses few and far between…Bullock teams frequently blocked the thoroughfare. (Forty-Five Years’ Experience in North Queensland, 1861 to 1905, p. 20) In 1861, Brisbane census recorded a population of 6051 and 1,144 (1,115 inhabited) buildings, by 1864 the town’s population doubled to 12,551 with an ordinary police presence of one police officer to 600.
Early view of Queen Street, Brisbane, c1859.
Image courtesy of the State Library of Queensland.
The first areas to develop were North Brisbane with the commercial centre in Queen Street, Kangaroo Point, and Milton. The central area was known as Petrie Bight, its immediate districts, such as Fortitude Valley and Petrie Terrace, soon became epicentres for criminal activity, mainly theft, drunkenness and common assaults. In 1864, an anonymous correspondent to the Brisbane Courier, signed as E.T.M., expressed his concerns regarding the environment of Petrie Terrace. Several letters had appeared in the columns relative to the wants and what is not wanted in the area; the rising locality was ‘blessed with three public-houses’ and ‘therefore, it is requisite that the peaceable inhabitants should have three policemen’.
Lord Alfred Hotel, 1929. Originally Prince Alfred hotel built circa late 1860s and rebuilt in late 1880s.
Image courtesy of the State Library of Queensland.
Despite the limited police presence, thousands of persons were apprehended annually and appeared before the Police Magistrates daily. The majority of cases disposed of at the Police Courts were offences against good order: drunkenness, drunk and disorderly behaviour; minor offences against property, such as larceny; and a range of offences against the person which often involved the police, such as assaults, assaults on police, resisting arrest, rescuing or aiding a rescue of a prisoner, and obstructing a constable during execution of his duty. After drunkenness and common assaults, offences against the police formed the most numerous sub-category tried at the Police Courts:
On the night of 16 February 1880, Constable Elliot had occasion to arrest George Hawkins in the centre of Caxton-street, opposite Caxton Hotel, a landmark notorious for overindulging and disorderly behaviour. Hawkins resisted the constable, striking him on the face and other parts of the body. During the struggle, Hawkins bit Constable Elliot and tore off a portion of his whiskers. At the trial, the constable’s face still bore evidence of gross ill-usage. The bench found the defendant guilty, and fined him £3, to be recovered by a levy and distress, or in default of distress, one month’s imprisonment. A cross-case arising out of this, in which Hawkins charged the Constable with assaulting him, was dismissed, after several witnesses had been examined.
Constable George Elliott, previously of the Royal Irish Constabulary, joined the Queensland Police late in 1879, aged 33 years, and remained in the force for two more years following the incident. He was discharged in 1882. (Dukova, A History of the Dublin Metropolitan Police and Its Colonial Legacy, p. 186)
Mounted and Foot Police parading outside the Victoria Barracks, Petrie Terrace, Brisbane, 1881.
Image PM0156 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.
Over the first decade, the number of ordinary beat constables patrolling Brisbane increased from 20 (1864) to 92 (1874). As per the newspaper court coverage, the year was remarkable for high rates of offences against policemen on duty in central Brisbane. As a rule drunk and disorderly behaviour walked hand-in-hand with assaults, and assaults on police especially.
City Brewery, Perkins & Co, Brisbane, 1872-1882.
Image courtesy of the State Library of Queensland.
Crime and policing historian Dr Anastasia Dukova in conjunction with Queensland Police Museum invite you to come join an ordinary patrol Constable on a beat of colonial Brisbane. Digital Colonial Brisbane, proudly supported by Brisbane City Council, will take you on a walk through Brisbane’s criminal underbelly: www.digitalcolonialbrisbane.com
If you would like to learn more about Irish heritage of the Queensland Police Service, please see Anastasia’s recent book, A History of the Dublin Metropolitan Police and its Colonial Legacy (http://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9781137555816).