Throughout the 1800s and early 1900s, the Irish police organisations were viewed as exemplary across the British colonies, their members were actively recruited by Canadian, Indian, Egyptian, New Zealand and Australian forces. Many officers from the colonies and dominions travelled to the Royal Irish Constabulary Depot in Phoenix Park, Dublin, for ‘professional development’.
Between late the 1860s and 1921, Ireland had two police forces with parallel jurisdictions. The Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC), a largely rural state paramilitary force, and the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP), an urban civilian force. As Ireland struggled with economic and political crises, many men and women left the country for the colonies, including Queensland, seeking employment and stability. In the 1880s, 61% of all recruits to the Queensland Police Force listed Ireland as their country of birth.[1]
Royal Irish Constabulary evict T. Birmingham from his house in Moyasta on the Vandeleur Estate in County Clare, July 1888 during the Plan of Campaign.
The Royal Irish Constabulary provided the highest number of recruits for the Queensland Police. The Land Wars of the 1880s facilitated the largest influx of ex-Irish policemen in the second half of the nineteenth century. The sectarian and nationalist violence, land clearing, evictions, and protection of the land owners during these years fell under the responsibility of the RIC. Many of the RIC men resented these duties and subsequently left the service. Queensland statistics illustrates that approximately 2,000 Irishmen migrated into the colony in 1880 alone.
Image: Phoenix Park Murders, May 1882: the assassination of chief secretary Lord Frederick Charles Cavendish and permanent Irish under secretary Thomas Henry Burke in Phoenix Park by a republican group; from Le Monde Illustre in 1882. Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty Images
1882 was an especially hard year for Ireland, both economically and politically. A range of key industries, such as shipbuilding, were in decline, the Dublin Police went on strike, and all with a backdrop of daily tenants’ evictions and assaults on authorities by the extrmist nationalist group the Invincibles. In May, its members assassinated the Chief Secretary for Ireland Lord Cavendish and Under Secretary Burke in Phoenix Park. Dublin was panic stricken by weekly attacks on authority figures.[2] The rural police, RIC, were among the top targets.
Overall, throughout the 1880s and 1890s, 780 out of 1591, or half of all men sworn in to the Queensland Police, were immigrants from Ireland. Ten per cent of the Irish-born recruits identified as ‘policemen’, ‘Dublin Police’, or ‘Royal Irish Constabulary’.[3]
Patrick Nolan’s QP Application, 1890. QSA File No 3433
Patrick Nolan was 27 years old when he applied to join the Queensland force in 1890. He was born in Newtown, County Kilkenny. In 1882, he briefly served with the Royal Irish Constabulary but resigned after four months ‘owing to [his] brother leaving for America’.[4] Patrick arrived in Queensland in 1889 and worked for FW Galloway, an immigration agent in Kangaroo Point, for a year before applying to join the local police.
P Nolan Reg No 107, 360 Swearing In Certificate, QPM Collection
In Queensland, Constable Nolan went on to have a 30-year-long career in the police with numerous commendations. In 1914, Sergeant Nolan received an unusual commendation for his assistance in locating and capturing a parrot.
Parrot rescue, QSA File No 3433
The parrot was a pet of Andrew Lang Petrie, Member of Queensland Legislative Assembly for Toombul, a well-known stonemason, and the eldest son of John Petrie, the first mayor of Brisbane.
Sketch of Andrew L Petrie, JOL 167296; Advertisement for the manufacturer of stone memorials JOL 62255; John Petrie, JOL 17153.
His namesake, William Nolan, was also 27 when he applied to join the QPF. He grew up in Mullingar, County Westmeath and previously served with the Dublin Metropolitan Police for five years, resigning in late August 1900.[5]
W Nolan’s QP Application 1890, QSA File No 4118 with his photo, PM387, attached
Nolan arrived from Ireland on 14 October 1900 and submitted his application two days later. He was sworn in in March 1901.
Due to marriage restrictions in the first years of police service, Constable William Nolan resigned on 1 June 1903, a day before the wedding, to marry Margaret Murphy in 1903. He was re-appointed three days later. Like Patrick, William Nolan also went on to have a long and meritorious career within the QPF, retiring in 1933 as an Officer in Charge of Cairns Police Station.
[1] Dukova, A (2016). A History of the Dublin Metropolitan Police and Its Colonial Legacy. Palgrave Macmillan, London, p. 153.
[2] Ibid., pp. 123-130.
[3] Register of Members of the Police Force, 1859-1917 and 1879-1924. QPM.
[4] Patrick Nolan, QP Service History, QSA File No 3433.
[5] Nolan William, Numerical Register of the Officers and Men of all Ranks in the Dublin Metropolitan Police, 1836-1924.
The article was researched and written by Dr Anastasia Dukova. The Queensland Police Museum is currently closed due to COVID19, with staff working remotely by email and phone. When reopened, hours of operation will be 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month. QPM is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane.
Contact by email: museum@police.qld.gov.au
‘FROM the VAULT – ‘Irish Police Come to Queensland’ 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