The 1974 flood was a massive inundation event for thousands of home and businesses in Queensland. None more so affected as the old Water Police Station under the Storey Bridge at Petrie Bight. We water rose several meters into the station and while all the other water police officers were out and about busy with flood duties, Sergeant 2/c Douglas ‘Dougie’ McLean Scott stayed behind at the station to co-ordinate the movement and allocation of water police jobs.
Never one to miss a great picture, Principle police photographer Sergeant 2/c Alywn Higgs made his way down to the Water Police station and waded in, capturing Dougie, phone in hand, floating in a dingy, the only dry spot in the building.
(Police Museum Image PM1033)
Alwyn Walter Higgs was sworn into the Queensland Police as Constable 5873 on 12 December 1955, aged 22. He was transferred to Roma Street and Woolloongabba police station before arriving at the Photographic Section, at that time a unit of the Criminal Investigation Branch, in July 1957. Alwyn stayed at the Photographic Section for the next 27 years, rising to the rank of Senior Technical Officer Grade 3. He was medically retired on 17 March 1984 and passed away in 1985.
(Police Museum Image PM0352)
This information was researched by Curator Lisa Jones and sourced from the best Queensland Police Museum resources available at the time of writing. 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. Email: museum@police.qld.gov.au
“FROM the VAULT: 1974 Flood – A picture is worth 1000 words” 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