Police in Queensland have been tasked with enforcing liquor licensing and trading laws since before its centralisation in 1864. In the previous year, the Publicans Act reduced the licensing of public houses to publicans and packet licences (ship). It provided that ‘no spirituous or fermented liquors shall be sold without a license, under a penalty of £30 for the first offence, and £30 to £50 for every subsequent offence.’ In addition to attempts to control public intoxication, fines levied were a consistent stream of revenue for the public purse.
In 1900, the Truth newspaper criticised inadequate attempts by the police to curtail illicit distillation and sale:
The majority of these dens are sly grog shops, where the illicit rum and beer is dispensed as openly as in any licensed pub. The police officials have stated that they are not aware that any such sly grog shops are carrying on their unlawful trade. Well, if they are not aware of it, they are the most ignorant men in the community, for that things are as we say is well known even to the man in the street.
Enforcing licensing laws was an arduous job for the police, as seen from literal trials and tribulations of Constable Bennett and Bee (Part 1 and Part 2).
To ensure a successful prosecution, a witness was required of the sly grog sale. During the World War Two years and immediately after, it became a common practice for undercover police to complete the sale before their uniformed colleagues would execute the arrest. The following is an account by Albert Austin Montague, an American and former WWII Submariner and retired Sergeant Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, now deceased, of time spent in Brisbane, on sly grog patrol:
Submariner Albert A. Montague, c1941.
Image courtesy of Young’s Funeral Home, Tigard, Oregon
In the early part of 1945 I was transferred from the U.S.S. STINGRAY to the submarine relief crew based in Brisbane, Australia. I spent a very short time in the relief crew before being transferred to the shore patrol, and was then loaned to the [Queensland] Police Department’s bootleg detail. Our main function was to buy illegal whiskey from anyone who would sell it to us. My partner and I would operate with four Queensland police officers and acting very drunk we would go to known bootlegger’s houses and buy bottles of whiskey. After making the buy we would tip our hats and the four police officers would make the arrest.
Two of the arrests stand out in my mind as being somewhat unusual. The first is when we made a buy from a female and when the officers arrested her, her husband went berserk. It seems that he had just been released from a 6 month jail term that morning and low and behold they were taking his wife away for another 6 months! I would have hollered too. The second [memorable case] case occurred when we were attempting to make a buy from a group of men and had a marked patrol car pass by. The leader of the gang accused us of being undercover agents for the police and pulled a gun. We had not as yet made a buy so could only talk our way out of the situation. We finally got clear of the gang and advised the officers of what happened and they arrested them. We felt kind of funny riding next to them in the police car.
Sketch of a Spirit Still.
Image Courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum
My partner and I worked from 1500 hours to 2300 hours every other day. Another thing that happened later on our tour with the [Queensland] Police Department was when we would encounter suspects that we had help arrest before and would again buy illegal whiskey from them which would lend to there being arrested once again. After being in law enforcement for 20 years I can appreciate the professional way in which the [Queensland] police officers protected us during our tour on Brisbane bootleg detail.
The sly grog sellers were catching on and growing suspicious as well as more cautious. In 1947, women police were utilised for undercover work though they did not have full powers and could not arrest the perpetrator. In her recollections, Muriel Bath (later Beresford), 21WP, describes her experience working with the detectives in Fortitude Valley:
Muriel Beresford (nee Bath)
I was dressed casually and one of the young detectives was dressed casually and we were passing ourselves off as a young couple, you know. He had his arm around me and giving me a squeeze and all this business as we got near this place. And of course this was before mobile phones and we had to go in and see if there was any sly grog etc and see if we could buy any and if we were successful, when we got outside I was to stand under the nearest lamp and powder my nose. So we went into this awful place and the fellow sold us this stuff. Then we got outside, we went under the light which was quite near and I brought out a powder puff and was dabbing my nose like that and then the detectives closed in. One detective grabbed me and took me and put me in a car right away from the business and the others went and they got him.
The content was written by Dr Anastasia Dukova in collaboration with Police Museum Assistant Georgia Grier using interviews with Albert A. Montague and Muriel Beresford (nee Bath) 21 WP. This information has been supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available.
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“FROM the VAULT – Illicit Distillation and Sly Grog Patrol” 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