PART 2 next week 15 November
With the establishment of the Queensland Police Force in 1864, the government took steps to ensure its officers behaved and dressed in an appropriate manner. Rules for the general government and discipline of the members of the Police Force were published in the Queensland Government Gazette, ‘in order that it may be conducted upon one uniform system and that its members may not be embarrassed in the execution of their several duties from want of proper instructions’. The government of the day agreed to supply police with work clothing on the condition that the wearer was responsible for the uniform’s care. Uniforms were inspected before the officers received their monthly salary, and money was deducted if they were not found to be in “good and serviceable order”. Financial difficulties in 1866 resulted in uniform supplies being delayed. Due to these delays, police officers often had to dress in civilian clothes. When the uniforms did arrive, they were quite often ill-fitting and made with material of poor quality.
By 1871, Commissioner David Thomas Seymour had transferred the responsibility of obtaining uniforms to police officers, who were given an allowance of six pence per day to meet this expense. This system was meant to encourage police officers to take good care of their clothing and save
government funds. This early uniform consisted of a short jacket with a standing collar, called a jumper, and was made of dark blue fabric, tightly fitted at the waistband. The trousers were made of the same fabric. Mounted police also had the option of wearing white or drab cord breeches that were often quite tight. This was topped off with a navy blue serge cap, bearing the officer’s district letter and number.
Helmets were introduced as a means of affording greater protection from the heat of the sun, as it was not safe to let the men wear caps during the day. In the early 1880s, the helmet was changed from white to black. This was met with disapproval by the men, as some suffered sunstroke. In 1891 Police Commissioner Seymour relaxed his stand and allowed the wearing of white helmets.
In 1896, Commissioner William Parry-Okeden introduced a new uniform. A tender process was undertaken for its manufacture to ensure uniformity in colour, material and quality. A loose tunic was adopted in place of the existing
jumper for the police uniform. It was deemed that the cloth uniform be worn in winter with the serge uniform for summer, while the khaki uniform could be worn with the regulation soft felt hat for bush or other duty. White helmets were worn during the day with caps at night, except in wet weather when caps with waterproof covers were worn both day and night.
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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
“A History of Police Uniform – Part 1: 1864 – 1905” 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