Recruited in 1924, Constable Harold Vincent Sjostedt commenced in the usual Brisbane city precinct before effecting a joint venture with another officer, Constable Ernest James Dawson, and the Main Roads Commission in 1929. The Constables’ motorcycled through Queensland to police major road construction sites, inspect heavy vehicles and monitor the speed and behaviour of drivers passing through. Any drivers found breaching the regulations of the Main Roads Commission were issued infringement penalties.
Constable Sjostedt was also known for impressive abilities with a camera lens, and many sobering images tell of outback adventures, rough living conditions and unpredictable weather. Long distances were travelled on isolated roads and a love of camping was necessary, plus an ability to dig oneself out of a sand bog ’15 miles from Proserpine’ in 1933.
“This is me sitting on Dawson’s bike, he got bogged in the sand about 15 miles from Proserpine”, 1933. Image PM0697 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.
“Our camp about 25 miles from Bowen”, 1933. Look closely inside the tent – utter devotion! PM0694 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.
“My bed on top of the bike away from the fleas”, 1933.
Image PM0719 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 – Motorcycles, Main Roads and Mosquitoes” 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