On May 30, 1935 Police Commissioner C.J. Carroll, directed that an application to the Deputy Director of Posts and Telegraphs for utilisation of the services of an experimental wireless station (VK4DR) owned and operated by Mr. David Andrew Laws. This application was approved on June 17, 1935 and the Call sign VKR was allocated by the licensing authority, the Department of Posts and Telegraphs, for the station to operate on 140 meters, with 25 watts input power. This allowed one-way wireless radio communication in patrol cars.
In 1941, just prior to the outbreak of war, a permanent two-way wireless transmission station was established at Petrie Terrace, on the site of the old Drill Instructors Residence. In conjunction with the wireless station, an aerial was erected on the top of the southern end of the Barrack building. Two-way radio communication with wireless patrol cars had been established and the station was linked to the interstate wireless police telegraphy service. During the second world war, military police attached to the Australian Army, Royal Australian Navy, Royal Australian Air Force, United States Army, Royal Australian Air Force, United States Air Patrol and the Royal Navy also utilised the police wireless transmission station at Petrie Terrace. In 1951 Brisbane’s Central Communications Room at the Criminal Investigation Branch in the city, came into operation and took over the handling of police radio communication.
The Police Wireless Transmission Station building still stands today and has been home to the Hog’s Breath Café since the early 1990s.
This information has been supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available at the time of writing.
Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au
The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Friday 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.
“Police Wireless Transmission Station 1941 – 1951” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a 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.