The stock standard Queensland Police Gazette (QPG) managed to treat readers with a colourful addition on September 24, 1938. A swath of silk fabric in red, yellow, ochre, black and white adorned the front page in attempts to locate the package of stolen material which included ‘a quantity of dress trimmings and green buttons of a total value of £3 12s. 4d., which was stolen from another mail bag in the mail van at same time’. The addressee of this parcel was Eileen Cameron from Mount Isa who had purchased the dress material from David Jones Ltd., Sydney. The brazen theft of £3000 in bank notes from the same mail van suggested a calculated theft; both bags were stolen to ensure the targeted cash was within.
Queensland and New South Wales newspapers including The Armidale Express, New England General Advertiser and Cootamundra Herald reported the missing money a day after the crime. A week later a regular editorial in the Townsville Daily Bulletin headed ‘Mt Isa Notes’, revealed ‘The mail train robbery excitement has simmered somewhat. Two detectives are investigating at the moment, but clues, if any have not been divulged. There were many wild rumours during the first day or two after the discovery of the theft, but there have been so many robberies of a similar nature out this way, that it takes something extraordinary to cause old-timers to raise their eye-brows now’ (Townsville Daily Bulletin, 9 Sept 1938, p. 2).
Unusually colourful image added to this 1938 edition of the Queensland Police Gazette showing the stolen silk fabric, bound for Ms Eileen Cameron of Mount Isa.
Image copied from the Queensland Police Gazette, 24.09.1938.
Three weeks prior to the QPG notice above and on September 3, notice of the mail robbery was made, having occurred from a locked train carriage somewhere between Townsville and Mount Isa. The property was considered to be that of the Postmaster General, but the cash was intended to pay the wages of Mount Isa Mine employees. The notes had been properly accounted for, including serial numbers, and within months were being circulated around northern Queensland towns and in Brisbane.
All serial numbers and denominations were recorded before the journey from the Bank of New South Wales by the Postmaster General, destined for Mount Isa Mines.
Image taken from the Queensland Police Gazette, 3 September 1938.
A Cloncurry Railway Guard, Francis Walsh, was arrested and brought before the Police Court. String similar to that which bound the mail bags was found in his possession, a mismatched Yale lock was located on the wagon, evidence of the presence of a train jumper was sought, as was the procedure to check mail bags in transit, and all tendered in court with relevant witness testimonies examined. The case was heard by Police Magistrate R. Power over several weeks who found a lack of evidence sufficient to commit the defendant, and discharged the much relieved Francis Walsh. Mr Walsh then alleged Brisbane Detectives, Senior Sergeant Daniel Mahony and Sergeant 1/c Thomas Lloyd ‘maliciously caused him to be arrested and charged with stealing’ (The Courier Mail, 29 June 1939, p. 2), and attempted to sue the policemen for wrongful arrest. A day later that claim was finalised with Justice R.J. Douglas handing down a verdict in favour of the Detectives; although there was insufficient evidence to convict Mr Walsh, that evidence was sufficient for an arrest. The Detectives were awarded costs but this crime remains unsolved.
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This article was written by Museum Assistant Georgia Grier from the best resources available within the Queensland Police Museum. 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- Silk Yards and a Railway Guard” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY-SA 4.0. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence.