After 45 years, five months and five days, Queensland Police Employee Number 1169194 has left the building. Prior to her exit, Lorrayne Stone provided a thought provoking piece on her civilian career. The Police Museum retains the histories of police officers and civilian employees, and we wish to acknowledge the long, often arduous career of Lorrayne, and we thank her for taking the time to record these memories.
I started with the Queensland Police Force on May 25, 1970. On that day the first police officer I saw was wearing a khaki coloured uniform. I was allocated to the Fingerprint Bureau in Police Headquarters. The building was known as the Old CIB building and was located on the site of the current Police HQ carpark. There were five female staff members with a Senior Sergeant in Charge, a number of Sergeants, Senior Constables and Constables. There was one electric typewriter, mainly used to type requests for interstate and international fingerprint matches, criminal histories and other ‘very important’ documents, as well as a number of manual typewriters.
Image No PM0203 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.
There was a small locker room and apart from a few lockers, this room also contained a desk where fingerprints were sometimes taken from criminals and Visa applicants, and where staff could enjoy their tea break and lunch if they chose. Photocopies were made with the only photocopier in the building, located in the Commissioner’s Office. All photocopies had to be recorded and signed for. Office records were held in the form of small index cards and all documents including fingerprints, criminal histories and associated paperwork were kept in individual manila folders filed in cabinets.
I lived at Manly West and getting to and from work was by bus, and after a couple of months I braved the train. In those days the last train station in the city was South Brisbane and the last bus stop was at North Quay – both a half hour walk from Police HQ. On transferring to Wynnum Station, in 1972, I was allocated a desk which was situated in a hallway just inside the front counter, and two lockers; one for my personal gear and one to secure the new manual typewriter bought solely for my use and which was to be locked away at the end of each day. Apart from operating the PABX system (three telephone lines with a number of extensions) I was responsible for typing reports for the Inspector, Senior Sergeant, Criminal Investigation Branch, and later the Juvenile Aid Bureau, Police Prosecutor, and uniformed officers. These reports were all typed in original with up to seven carbon copies. Overtime for civilians was unheard of.
I was the babysitter for children waiting to be claimed by ‘lost’ parents, parents attending court, parents being questioned on criminal matters. There were male toilet facilities, but as there had been no other females working at the station prior to my transfer there I had the pleasure of using the public female toilet in the courtyard, situated between the Magistrates Court and the Police Station.
Image PM2880 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.
In 1978 I was seconded to the Wynnum District Office. Initially, this office was located within the Wynnum Police Station, and then moved into a house previously lived in by the Senior Sergeant and his family which was converted into office accommodation (it’s amazing how the addition of desks in an empty two bedroom house can achieve that ‘office’ look and feel). The house was located behind the police station, cell block and Court House. In 1993 I joined the world of the ‘rotational shift worker’ and transferred to CRISP (Crime Reporting Information System for Police), which later became PAC (Police Assistance Centre), and finally Policelink. Policelink is the only workplace within the Queensland Police Service where I first sat at a brand new desk on which was a brand new computer, in a brand new building. My only other memories of ‘brand new’ were the manual typewriter at Wynnum Station, an electronic typewriter some years later in the District Office which progressed to a Star Writer, and a headset when I started at CRISP.
Computerisation was one of the biggest changes within the Police Service, however between 1970 and 2015 I witnessed the appointment of a new Commissioner of Police six times; I commenced with Ray Whitrod at the helm in 1970, then Terry Lewis took over in 1976, Ron Redmond in 1987, Noel Newnham in 1989, Jim O’Sullivan in 1992, Bob Atkinson in 2000 and finally the current Commissioner Ian Stewart in 2012.
Throughout my career I have had the honour and privilege of working with some truly amazing men and women – too many to list – none that I will intentionally forget. I have shared laughter, pain and tears with, and for, many workmates. I sincerely thank those who have supported me and will cherish those memories.
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This information has been provided by Lorrayne Stone, former Policelink employee, and collated by Georgia Grier, Museum Assistant, for use by the Queensland Police Museum. The Police Museum is open from 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- A Walk Down Memory Lane” 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