George Christopher Dyas (1840-1881) a dyer from county Westmeath, was admitted to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) force in 1858. His application was supplemented with a recommendation from a Protestant clergyman. Interestingly, (and not so unusually), Dyas later converted to Catholicism. Customary to the RIC practice, Dyas was moved away from his native county: his first transfer was to co Armagh. After a brief spell in reserve, he was relocated to Dublin in 1862, and a year later to Cork. He was regularly on mounted duty, which indubitably later influenced his colonial placement in the northern parts of Queensland. Having completed nearly six years in the RIC, in the rank of Sub-Constable First Class, he resigned and emigrated to Queensland.
Recruitment and training for the new Queensland Police Force took place in Brisbane at the Police Depot. All candidates were instructed to attend with an application in their own handwriting, along with testimonials to their character. His personnel file shows Dyas was sworn in May, 1864, a month after he applied. After a year in Ipswich, Dyas was transferred closer to the frontier, to Mackay, then Gilbert Ranges, where he undertook Gold Escort duty. The work was arduous, dangerous, and required extensive travelling on horseback. It is striking how Sub-Inspector Dyas’ colonial line of service diverged from his previous employment with the RIC. Frontier Queensland of the 1870s was still an unsettled territory, the site of recurring conflicts with the aboriginal population of the colony.
Dyas was transferred from Georgetown to Normanton on 8 January 1881. He set out with Constable McGrath and on the 13th made camp at 40 Mile Waterhole. At 6am the next morning McGrath left to collect the horses but at 7.30am he returned to tell Dyas that they were gone. Dyas immediately set out to search and later returned to report to McGrath that he had found horse tracks, but because of sore feet, he could not continue on to get them. Dyas pointed McGrath in the right direction and instructed him to take a bridle and find the horses. At 11am McGrath found the tracks and at about 3pm the horses. On his return to camp he was surprised to discover that Dyas had left taking his gun, cartridge belt and bridle. He waited at the camp for 24 hours and then left for Normanton to report the incident to Sergeant Byrne. Byrne and McGrath then left for Bynoo Native Mounted Police Camp to report the situation. Soon after Sub-Inspector Lamond and several troopers left for 40 Mile Waterhole. The search for Dyas started on the morning of the 18th, four days after he went missing.
Dyas’ tracks were found and followed for 10 miles down a creek to where he had taken off his boots. Sometime was then lost while other footprints were investigated, later found to belong to the mailman. Lamond continued the search and on the morning of 22nd he found Dyas’ bridle hanging in a tree and tracks left by a group of aborigines. On the 23rd Lamond followed more tracks and spotted a series of arrows and the word DYAS written in the dirt. At 8am Lamond finally found were Dyas had slept and tragically where he had been murdered, stripped and buried by aborigines.
Lamond believed that Dyas was murdered on the night of 20 January and that he had been speared in the back. His body was left buried at the site of the murder. It has never been ascertained why Dyas left the camp while McGrath was away looking for the horses. During his service, Dyas continually pushed the frontier, opened up places, and arranged them for settlement.
Correspondence from his file described Dyas as highly skilled, seasoned policeman defiant in the face of danger; an avid bushman, and one of the best in the colony at that.
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This information has been supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available at the time of writing and those made available by Dr Anastasia Dukova.
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 – George Dyas, a Gallant Officer” 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