James Lawrence Joseph Tobin was sworn in as Constable 1144 on 28 May 1908. During his career he was transferred to 11 police stations around the state – Roma Street, Childers, Cordalba, Childers, Kingaroy, Kilkivan, Rockhampton, Malanda, Cairns, Tully and Texas. While in Childers he met and married Dorothy Kaminski and they had two children. Unfortunately his good career was tarnished in the end when he was found guilty of misconduct and dismissed in 1933 for placing a gaming machine in the licensed premises of the Royal Hotel situated at Texas. Perhaps Acting Sergeant James Tobin felt that his wage was not sufficient to cover his families expenses and that a gaming machine might be a good way to supplement his income.
Even though James Tobin’s police career ended badly, he was none-the-less an efficient and hardworking police officer and during his career was accorded four Favourable Records and a Certificate of Merit from the Royal Humane Society of Australia.
Favourable Records:
1920: Accorded a Favourable Record for good Police work performed in conjunction with Detective Sergeant O’Sullivan, in connection with the case Rex v. James Searle for wilfully setting fire to C. J. Booker’s grass paddock at Woolooga in December 1919
1926: Granted a Favourable Record and reward of £5 for good work performed in connection with the arrest of an insane patient at Malanda in July 1926
1926: Accorded a Favourable Record for bravery displayed in arresting single handed, a dangerous lunatic at Malanda
1928: Accorded a Favourable Record for good work performed in connection with a raid on a gambling school at Tully
Royal Humane Society of Australia Certificate of Merit
In October 1921 Constable James Tobin was awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Royal Humane Society of Australia by Justice Jameson, for his heroic action in descending into an old well, 40′ 6” deep to rescue a 13 year boy who fell into the well on 18 August 1921at Kilkivan.
An article from The Brisbane Courier (Wednesday, 26 October 1921) describes the event quite well:
Constable J. L. Tobin has been awarded the certificate of merit of the Royal Humane Society of Australasia for bravery in rescuing Bernard French, aged 13 years, from an old, disused well in a yard exploring the Kilkivan Hotel, at Kilkivan. The honorary correspondent of the society in Brisbane (Mr. J. England, Secretary to the Police Commissioner) has been advised of this award. It appears that on August last the lad, who is a son of the licensee of the hotel, was playing with other children, when he fell down the well, which has a depth of 40ft. 6in from the top to the surface of water, which was 5.9in. deep. The boy was chest deep in the water, and it was evident that he could not hold out for long as the water was affecting him. Difficulty was experienced in getting a rope of sufficient length to reach to the bottom, and, in the meantime, Constable Tobin lowered a lighted hurricane lantern to the boy, who was seen to be clinging to the rocky wall of the well. A steel hawser, used at the railway yards, was then fastened to the well windlass; which had not been used for a considerable period, and consequently was frail and unsubstantial. Messrs. Albert Euler and Charles Powell affixed the hawser to the windlass, and Constable Tobin was lowered to the bottom of the well. The constable found the boy clinging to the rocks, tied him to his body, and was hauled up some distance. “When about 20ft. from the top the windlass gave way through the upright on the handle side bending over; the rope dropped a few inches, and the con- stable and the boy swung against the side of the well. Finally, however, they were hauled to safety. Inspector King, in his report, stated that he considered that Constable Tobin performed a brave and heroic action in descending the well depending on an old dilapidated windlass.
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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 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: James Lawrence Joseph Tobin” 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