On New Year’s Eve 1968, a heavily sedated 27-year-old male was under police guard in the Royal Brisbane Hospital Psychiatric Unit. Two night’s earlier, the armed offender entered a home in Kilcoy through a bedroom window, then threatened to kill the sole occupant, a young widow. By the time police arrived around midnight, there was no sign of the intruder or the woman. Sergeant Edward Aspinall from Kilcoy Police Station searched until 2 am.
The incident repeated at 7:45 am the next morning when police were once again alerted by neighbours, but this time the same man had threatened to ‘shoot everybody.’ The woman wisely fled out the back door as Sergeant Aspinall followed the agitated man into the bedroom. He persuaded him to put the rifle down and move into the loungeroom where they could talk. Forty-five minutes later, the man agreed to accompany Aspinall to the Kilcoy Hospital, but he said that he needed a shirt and walked toward the bedroom. Wisely, the Sergeant followed because the man made a grab for the gun.
The Queen’s Commendation for Brave Conduct award was instituted in by King George VI in 1939 to acknowledge brave acts during war (and beyond into times of peace) by the military, but particularly for civilians, for whom there were no appropriate commendations at the time, especially those who worked for the Merchant Navy and the Home Office.
In 1954 it became known as the Queen’s Commendation for Brave Conduct. There is no ribbon, but the award was evidenced by a certificate and in the first stages, by a gold and red coloured badge (above) bearing the design of a sword in a wreath, surmounted by a crown. The badge was replaced at a later stage by another badge – in the form a silver oak leaf design (top right) that was awarded to Edward John Aspinall on March 13, 1969 by the Governor of Queensland, Sir Alan Mansfield. See photograph above. The award was discontinued for Australians in 1982 and is effectively replaced by the Commendation for Brave Conduct in the Australian Bravery Decorations.
In good company
In 1969, Edward John Aspinall joined the ranks of the many worthy recipients of the Queen’s Commendation for Brave Conduct including spy, Julienne Marie Louise Aisner, code name ‘Clair,’ who was an operative for the French Resistance in World War Two. She was initially recruited as a courier, then extended her capabilities to finding safe houses for agents and providing them with forged identity documents.
In March 1944 Julienne was tipped off that her capture by the Gestapo was eminent and escaped to London. She died in Paris on February 15, 1947, from cancer. Julienne Aisner was 47 years old.
This story is another in the series ‘Just another day on the job for a Country Cop’ written by Debra Austin from information sourced by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available at the time, and in appreciation of police, past and present, who dedicate themselves to the service and protection our rural communities.
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, 200 Roma Street, Brisbane.
Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au
“FROM the VAULT – Courageous cop overpowers offender Part 2” 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