In 1895, William Parry-Okeden, succeeded Queensland Police first commissioner, Thomas Seymour. During Parry-Okeden’s relatively brief commissionership (1895–1905) the organisation expanded and underwent structural changes. In his report for 1897, Commissioner Parry-Okeden detailed the new developments that aimed to increase the education levels of the men in the service. He indicated that every effort was made to teach the police their duties, to fit them to perform their work credibly and to maintain discipline. Weekly classes of instruction in general knowledge and police duties were established and held on Wednesday nights at the Police Depot.
Police Depot, Petrie Terrace, 1901. Image No. PM0137 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.
These were attended by all the members of the Force stationed at the Depot, as well as the recruits.
The first lecture introduced the office of constable:
- his influence on the community personal bearing
- demeanour towards public
- personal habits
- improvement in education, including study of law
- advice to parents neglecting children.
The lecture also addressed key topics such as muscular training (shooting, swimming, running, rowing and riding); temperance; self-respect; courtesy; thrift; coarse language; swearing; uniforms, religion and the Magistracy.
Group photograph of recruits in Petrie Terrace Police Depot, Brisbane, March 1899.
Back Row, L-R: Sgt T.McGuire; H R. Kenny, M Grady, L. Bell; F. Kingston, McEvoy, Kennedy, H. Clancy, J.J. Molloy, Front Row, L-R: D. McGrath, H. Young, W. Sloan, Shelford, B. Brimstone, Lester, McKenna, F. Hoge; P.W. Cowley. From a note found in file regarding photographs of Philip Webster Cowley, donated on 15.08.1996 by Robyn Raymond.
Image No. PM2366, courtesy of photographer Philip Webster Cowley and donor Robyn Raymond, 1996.
The lectures were published in 1899, the period the author claimed that witnessed changes of public attitudes to the police, noting that ‘the old prejudice against a constable just because he is a constable, is now seldom met with’, excluding the ‘pushes’ and the larrikins, of course. It emphasised that ‘many opportunities to do good work happen to the Police by the effect of their example and judicious advice, or remonstrance, upon the community.’
Cotter, Lectures Addressed to Police Recruits on the Powers, Duties, and Conduct of Police. Sydney: William Applegate Gullick, Government Printer, 1899.
Recruits’ training also consisted of drill, both squad and company, physical and dumb-bell exercises, and fatigue work as was necessary. Every afternoon the men read aloud, and were instructed in the various duties that they, as constables, would be called upon to perform. Those men deemed suitable were taught to ride the bicycle and care for the same. In addition, the Police Museum was used to educate recruits in the various methods employed by criminals. And finally, a course of ten ambulance lectures on ‘First Aid to the Injured’ was given to the city and Moreton Bay Division police by a medical doctor. The lectures were attended by 69 sub-officers and men, who now were considered capable to treat injured persons and if a situation required to instruct others.
The lecture series concluded with a quote from Sir Andrew Reed, the Irish Inspector-General and author of The Policeman’s Manual, Intended for the Use of the Royal Irish Constabulary, which urged the young constables to embrace the ‘spring-time of life and manhood’; aim high; ‘and if you decide to cast your lot with the Service for good, resolve that if for a few years God spares you, you will be amongst the sergeants, inspectors, and superintendents of the futures, or the fault will not be yours.’
Further Readings:
Dukova, Anastasia. A History of the Dublin Metropolitan Police and its Colonial Legacy, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.
‘First Lecture’, Cotter, Lectures Addressed to Police Recruits on the Powers, Duties, and Conduct of Police. Sydney: William Applegate Gullick, Government Printer, 1899.
Report of the Commissioner of Police for the Year 1897.