On this day, October 15th 1923, Inspector John Donnelly resigned after 23 years as a policeman in Queensland. Sworn is as a Constable on 14 November 1900, Donnelly commenced duties at the Roma Street Police Station, and in early 1905 was transferred to the Brisbane Crime Investigation Branch (CIB) where he quickly showed promise as a Detective, successfully making a case against two offenders for committing grievous bodily harm towards a fellow officer, Constable Thomas James Heaney.
Whilst on duty on June 6th 1905, Constable Heaney was patrolling Ipswich Road in the vicinity of the Norman Hotel, Woolloongabba, when he detected a suspected burglary in progress with a male person climbing out of a window at the hotel. Efforts to question the man failed and as the Constable tried to make an arrest, a second male clobbered him with heavy metal blacksmith’s tongs which caused significant head and facial injuries. With Heaney quickly carted to hospital for emergency treatment, Constables John Donnelly, Michael O’Grady and Henry Kenny plus the assistance of other police stationed at Woolloongabba and Aboriginal Trackers, a search for the offenders was commenced. It took several days to decipher the evidence including the stolen forge tongs, the state of the hotel window and sill, and clothing splattered with blood. Although Constable Heaney was in too grave a condition to give a description of the men, hotel patrons did provide witness accounts and William Blake and Henry Smith were finally located and arrested.
Queensland Detectives along with a few interstate police visitors, pose outside the CIB building in 1920 on the occasion of the visit of the Prince of Wales.
Front Row L-R: Inspector Thomas Head; Detective Senior Sergeant Duncan Fowler; NSW Visitor; NSW Visitor; Inspector John Donnelly (CIB Officer in Charge); Unknown Visitor; Unknown Visitor; Inspector James Farrell; Sub-Inspector Michael O’Sullivan; Senior Sergeant Thomas McNaulty.
Also pictured: Michael O’Driscoll; Ted Dally; Frank Kearney; Alfred Jessen; James Henderson; Johannes Odewahn; Martin Moloney; Thomas McCarthy; Thomas Goggins; William Gooch; Michael Cahill; William Lipp; John Bookless; James Sproule; Percival Mullally; Stanley Bateman; Patrick Morahan.
Image No. PM0079 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.
Constable Donnelly was called to the stand in the South Brisbane Police Court on September 13th 1905 and gave evidence of the arrest. The Constable had detected blood on Blake’s coat sleeve which Blake fobbed off as being received in a fight. Further questioning by Donnelly of the suspect confirmed this was inaccurate, the suspect could not describe where the fight took place and many inconsistencies in William Blake’s version were revealed by Constable Donnelly’s testimony. Blake was charged with grievous bodily harm and gaoled for 10 years, Smith received the same charge with a 4-year custodial sentence.
Constable John Donnelly received a reward of £7 for his excellent service in connection with the case. His career with the CIB continued during promotions to the rank of Senior Constable in 1907, Sergeant in 1910, Detective Senior Sergeant in 1912, and Sub-Inspector in 1922.
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This article was written by Police Museum Assistant Georgia Grier using the best resources available from the Queensland Police Museum. The Police Museum is open from 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. Email: museum@police.qld.gov.au
“FROM the VAULT – Inspector John Donnelly” 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