There was obviously a lull in criminal activity in the Coen area around 1897. This fabulous photograph purports to show a staged scene of police officers capturing bush rangers. A quick look in the 1897 Queensland Police Gazette reveals that only six apprehensions were recorded for that year, so there was definitely plenty of time for practicing the techniques for capturing bush rangers!
Coen Native Mounted Police Camp in the Cooktown District opened in October 27, 1885 with Sub-Inspector Frederick Mergetts in charge with a staff of two Constables and nine indigenous troopers and trackers. Coen Township Police Station opened April 20, 1895 with Constable James Kenny in Charge.
There are five people in the photograph Constable 1/c Charles Batemen sits on his horse with his revolver pointed at one of the so called bush rangers; Senior Constable George Inkerman Smith is in the foreground keeping a tight handle on the other so called bush ranger. A mounted indigenous police trooper keeps hold of the horses on the left. Unfortunately we are not sure who was playing the part of the bush rangers.
Charles Bateman was sworn into the Queensland Police on October 24, 1888 and served at Port Douglas, Montalbion, Herberton, Cooktown, Musgrave, Piccaninny Creek and Cooktown before being transferred to Coen Township Police Station in 1895. Charles spent four years at the remote station before moving on to Mount Morgan in 1900.
George Inkerman Smith was sworn into the Queensland Police on September 19, 1884 and served at Glenroy, McIvor and Laura police stations before he was transferred to Coen Native Mounted Police Camp as officer in charge in 1894. George spent four years at the NMP camp before moving on to Cardwell in 1898.
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This information has been supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available at the time of writing.
The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Friday 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
“How to capture bush rangers: a demonstration, Coen c1897” 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