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[[../../../../index.html|Fremantle Stuff]] > Fremantle History Society > Fremantle Studies > 6 > Conole

Policing the port in early colonial times

Peter Conole

Conole, Peter 2010, 'Policing the port in early colonial times', Fremantle Studies, 6: 12-28.

During the last few decades of the Victorian era and well into the 20th century, the view from the highest point of Fremantle Prison enabled the eyes of residents and random visitors to settle on several sites resonant with law officers and law enforcement in the port city. The Henderson Street police quarters, with a station and lockup attached, lay just below the prison. Within easy walking distance, but closer to the sea, the earlier police station, barracks and stables were located directly east of the Round House, not far from the Water Police station and the old traffic office. During the time of the Convict Establishment, the sight of the courts by the Round House, the Commissariat, the Enrolled Pensioner Force (EPF) parade ground and the pensioner guard and warder cottages will have struck a chord with men in blue uniforms.

Most of these buildings have since disappeared or changed beyond recognition, but the remnants enhance the historical traditions and heritage of Fremantle, one of the best preserved traditional port towns anywhere. Fremantle’s survival from 1829 as a continuing and discrete law enforcement jurisdiction, with a local chief of police, also makes it a rather old police district in world terms. Examination of policing in the port from 1829 until the 1872 police district reforms is a worthy exercise, one involving the early policing geography of Fremantle, working conditions of the colonial constables, the type of work they did and the kind of people they were, or wanted to be.

When the Swan River Colony was founded in 1829, no well organised Police Force existed in any British colony. In the same year Sir Robert Peel’s Bill for Improving the Police in and near the Metropolis received royal assent and was promulgated, setting up a permanent Police Force for the city of London under two commissioners, with a supporting code of rules and general instructions. 1

As the years rolled by Peel’s new system spread throughout Britain and then to her various colonies and provinces, including the Swan River Colony. James Stirling and his settlers, however, were on their own for some time and had to make the best arrangements they could. In general terms, they drew on older British ‘parish constable’ examples of maintaining the public peace in London and other cities. In his founding proclamation Stirling stated the need for a constabulary system. In December 1829 he formalized the appointment of fourteen constables to look after law enforcement in the colony. Four of them, under Head Constable Richard Lewis, were based in Fremantle. 2 In passing, it is necessary to note that at the time police ranks such as sergeant, inspector or superintendent did not exist. Senior officers like Lewis were variously called chief or head constables in official documents.

Money was scarce in the colony during the 1830s and the men who held the office of constable were only part-time officials, often appointed on a year-by-year basis. They had farms and businesses to run and families to care for and many could not hold office for too long because of changing life circumstances. Hence there was a rather rapid turn-over of individuals who were constables. By the time Stirling left over 60 men had served their communities as law enforcement officers. 3

Fremantle constables were civil police, not members of a paramilitary force such as the Mounted Police Corps. The situation was relatively stable. Only eight constables were appointed during the period 1829-1839 and a couple served for a number of years. The question of scale is an issue to bear in mind; Fremantle was just a village and as late as 1840 had a population of only 416. 4

The numbers serving in any given year declined. In June 1836 only three constables kept the peace in Fremantle and by 1842 there was just one. 5 Some of these men received an annual payment of £10 to compensate them for the work done and loss of time from more regular employment. Any fortunate constable who also worked as a gaoler in Fremantle received a reasonable salary of £100 per annum. 6

Some men were able to pick up additional paid government work, such as court bailiff or tide waiter. In 1841 Head Constable Thomas Harwood of Fremantle - in fact he was the sole constable in the town - acquired the extra job of inspector of weights and measures. He maintained a watch over local shop keepers to make sure they were not deceiving their customers. 7

Constables also had to rely on a fee for service in order to cover time and costs. The rates of payment, based on the amount of time needed to carry out their duties, were set by the chairman of the Court of Quarter Sessions from 1830. 8 Payments tell us quite a lot about the work done by these part- time officers: they received cash for summonsing people to court, arresting offenders and escorting prisoners. Money could also be claimed for any expenses incurred while conveying a prisoner to a place of confinement and for the prisoner's sustenance, as long as the constable swore an oath before a justice of the peace that he had truly paid the amounts. 9

Not exactly an encouraging situation for a part-time constable, although all of the Fremantle appointees seem to have done their jobs well. Much of their law enforcement activities centred on the master and servant system, which was never popular with indentured servants. Some servants ended up in prison for breaching their indentures. The constables must have had mixed feelings, for even two head constables of Fremantle (Henry Bond and William Birch) came to the colony as servants. 10

The overwhelming majority of cases resulting in the police bringing people before the courts in the early period of the colony involved stealing. Tools, money and household equipment were scarce at the time and sometimes usually law abiding citizens were tempted to ‘borrow’ work implements. Burglary could also be a problem and attracted criticism from the press and calls for more police activity during the 1840s. 11

Then there were the hazards of the job to consider - a policeman’s lot in the port could not have been happy because of the need to work in isolation and manage private concerns at the same time. The constables who held office in Fremantle up to the late 1840s sometimes risked death or injury. During the convict era Fremantle and Perth constables were even more vulnerable to potential assailants - and their homes and families could at times be prime targets. 12The colonial government did not make things easy for the constables when things went wrong. Henry Bond, employed as head constable of Fremantle and court bailiff from October 1831, is a case in point. He was a tough, brave man who was praised by the colonial press on more than one occasion for his vigilance and dedication to duty. Bond’s wife herself was quite a woman - when she and Bond were attacked by a thug in their own house, she broke off a table leg and belted the intruder until he passed out. 13

In 1832 Bond was kicked in the leg by a local thug when making an arrest. Bones were broken and it took him months to recover. Bond appealed to the governor to have his medical costs paid. There was no reply. Instead the convicted criminal was made to pay about £6 to Bond as a fine, the full extent of his punishment. One year later, Bond broke the same leg again while chasing a suspect. As before, no compensation for medical costs was offered. The Perth Gazette editor became rather angry and raised a public subscription to look after Bond and his family until the constable recovered. 14 Risks were highest for constables when trying to arrest violent offenders. As just mentioned, Henry Bond was injured twice, while Constable Lawrence Welch was on the receiving end of a murder attempt in 1836. 15

A more unusual threat was posed by the gentleman’s code of honour of the day. One quarrelsome character in the colony was John Wade, who had been nominated as a constable in late 1829, but not appointed. The reasons soon became obvious - he was volatile and sensitive about his personal honour. Wade was involved in a couple of duels at a time when such affairs were unlawful and held in some contempt by the press. An incident of 1833 involved a man named William Lewington, who challenged his own father-in-law, Constable Robert Maydwell of Fremantle. There had been a marriage break-up and Lewington blamed the constable. Briefly, Lewington pursued the unarmed Maydwell to a hotel, took a shot at him, missed and was promptly arrested. A jury acquitted Lewington of the charge of attempted murder. 16

No more affairs of honour are reported in the days of Stirling, although the last duel fought in Australia (and possibly one of the last in the British Empire) was between two West Australian police officers, Constables Brice and Rice, who in the Kimberley during the 1890s decided to settle their differences by exchanging shots at dawn in the traditional way. Neither was hurt because their fellow constables doctored the ammunition. One officer gave a rather humorous account of the incident, but it was a serious matter that could easily have generated criminal charges and ended the police careers of everyone involved. 17

In 1849 the pending arrival of convicts, combined with a fairly rapid increase in the number of free settlers over the next decade, radically changed the local law enforcement scene. Influential members of the community realised a stable, permanently staffed and well-regulated Police Force would be needed. The ground was set for this move with the proclamation of the Ordinance for Regulating the Polite in Western Australia in mid-1849, outlining the powers and duties of men who held the office of constable. 18

Soon after the convicts started to arrive in 1850, a major recruiting drive became necessary. As a result, no less than ten full-time constables were selected for Fremantle in 1851-1852, although some pulled out quickly or were removed as being unsuitable. 19

The colonial Police Force, the forerunner of the present Western Australia Police, was formally established on 14 March 1853, when Superintendent (later Commissioner) John Conroy took office as chief of police. The government had published a Code of Rules for the Western Australian Police Force three days earlier, outlining a chain of command, reporting arrangements, standards of conduct and responsibilities. 20

Various types of police officers were brought under one administrative roof on that date, except for the Imperial Water Police. In January 1851 the latter force was created and had a very strong presence in Fremantle. The Water Police came into being because of the need to keep a wary eye on convicts, some of whom had made an escape attempt by sea a few weeks earlier. Superintendent George Clifton, a former midshipman in the Royal Navy, served with great merit as head of the Water Police until 1864. 21

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The Fremantle Police Station just outside the Round House tunnel, 1853 - the station is on the left facing the viewer, the quarters on the right. (WA Police)

He and Conroy had one thing in common. They were both direct descendants in the male line of two very old and distinguished aristocratic families. Conroy’s folk were Irish nobility. Clifton's English ancestors were baronets and could be traced back to a follower of William the Conqueror. 22 Connections such as these are important to remember because they really mattered in those times. They were known to the local hierarchy and tended to be a decisive factor in regard to some appointments. In addition, they were an indication of what would become a major and unique theme in West Australian colonial policing: a determination on the part of the government to gentrify the upper ranks of the police establishment.

During the convict years Fremantle became a fairly rough port town and police service there was no joke. The officers often had to move around the bushlands between the port and Perth. And because of poor street lighting, or the lack of it, policing in Fremantle itself was risky. The consolation was that constables no longer had to operate alone and without back-up, for the number of officers permanently based in the port gradually increased. From two in 1849, numbers rose to thirteen in 1853 (including two trackers) and stabilised at fifteen in 1860 until severe government cost cutting in the 1870s. 23

The pioneering constables had to do their own crime detection. As in any bustling port, grog-shops, boarding houses and brothels popped out of the ground like mushrooms. Most other policing work for Fremantle constables, as elsewhere in the colony for town police officers, focussed on arresting drunk and/or disorderly persons, preventing offensive or indecent behaviour, vandalism and cruelty to animals, dealing with sly grog selling and with cases of larceny, burglary or breaches of public hygiene and so on. 24

Assessing the relative level of serious crimes against the person - resulting in major trials and convictions or acquittals for indictable offences such as murder, manslaughter and rape - could be an interesting exercise for criminologists. There was a rash of them in the early days of the settlement, then a perceptible decrease in Fremantle during the 1840s and early 1850s. 25 Local constables and magistrates of the port town had done a good job in weeding out hard case villains in the community.

After the appearance of convicts, as could only be expected, the numbers of major criminal incidents increased. So did opportunities for police officers to make names for themselves. Apart from keeping a watch on the activities of convicts they enforced the curfew on ticket-of-leave men announced every night at 9.50 pm by a bell near the Arthur’s Head police station. After that time came cries of ‘bond or free’ from foot patrol officers moving around the port. There are numerous tales highlighting the increasingly volatile nature of policing work. To give just one example, a felon made an extraordinary physical attack on constable and gaoler George Campbell in the middle of court proceedings. Sergeant Hicks of Fremantle saved the day by ‘collaring’ the miscreant. 26

Officer Patrick Kelly, Chief Clerk and Accountant of the Police Force in 1897 - in his youth a Fremantle constable. (WA Police)

Sergeant William Regan, who as a constable in 1860 had distinguished himself in the pursuit and capture of the bushranger James Lilly, proved to be a tough disciplinarian who supported efforts to lift policing standards in Fremantle. He was among various police officers of the time who wasted some time and energy looking for Moondyne Joe. 27

Later Regan played a solid role in bringing to book the murderer of Maria Kenny. Soon afterwards he was also instrumental in the arrest of a convict who, after escaping from Fremantle Prison, assaulted a warder who tried to arrest him. The local press praised Regan for his effective policing of the port and in 1871 the citizens even petitioned the most senior officer of the Police Force, Superintendent Matthew Smith, not to transfer him. 28

Skilled crime detection was now becoming a core issue; an essential adjunct to preventive policing. When the Police Force was formally established, the colonial government knew highly trained detectives were necessary. The first two real detectives, William Hogan and George Baker, arrived in early 1854 - both of them former members of the London Metropolitan Police. They had to stay in private lodgings as it was a security risk for detectives to hang around police buildings too much. 29 Fremantle and Perth were still small towns and gossip spread like wildfire; for their own safety, detectives needed to be more wary than ordinary constables and avoid making their presence obvious.

In those days - and later - one of the best ways for detectives to get underworld information was to spend time in hotels and bars. One of Hogan’s colleagues developed a problem with drink. Hogan wrote a letter to the government explaining that, because of the nature of the work, addiction to alcohol was an occupational hazard for detectives and one fully capable of ruining a career. 30

Superintendent William Hogan, reformer of the Fremantle police in the 1860s. (WA Police)

Hogan went on to take charge of the Police Force in 1861 and he took strong action in the process of carrying out serious reforms. Hogan  demoted or fired officers as though there was no tomorrow, sometimes for good reasons. For example, two Fremantle constables were removed in 1862 for ‘being drunk and in a brothel’ while on duty. 31

Fremantle was a port town and sailors on leave are, after all, only human. So are police officers and Hogan was forced to dismiss others for alcohol abuse which has been depicted as a chronic social problem in the colony. Excessive alcohol consumption among settlers attracted adverse comment in England as early as 1839. 32 However, the subject is worthy of more serious study, rather than just being another method of ‘showing up’ the colonial ancestors. We need to remember that well into the 1800s medical practitioners recommended strong alcohol doses for a range of ailments. Such treatment eventually cost Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger his life. From the age of 15 he drank a bottle of port every day - doctor’s orders. 33

By the 1860s the police occupied several buildings necessary for them to carry out their work. Earlier Fremantle police had all been closely involved with the Round House. Head Constable Richard Lewis was worried and annoyed by difficulties concerning the use of the wreck Marquis of Anglesea as a lock-up. One of his constables, Richard Maxworthy, had a complaint lodged against him for appropriating a boat in order to take a prisoner to the wreck.

In July 1830 Lewis lobbied the magistrates to have a secure lock-up built for short-term holding purposes and to retain people committed for trial, or until they could be sent to the colonial prison to serve their sentences. Civil engineer Henry Reveley designed the building. Lewis submitted cost estimates and also asked for attendance costs and fees for himself and his constables to be paid. The Government agreed and work on the Round House lockup began a month later, finishing in 1831 - the oldest surviving public building in our State. 34

In 1851 the popular and efficient Sergeant Nicholas Paterson was appointed senior law enforcement officer in Fremantle and he oversaw the movement of the town police into a newly built police station and barracks to the east of the Round House tunnel in 1852. A court house was also built on Arthur Head, so the management of policing work in Fremantle was starting to look quite compact. The Round House continued to be used a police lockup for many years. On at least one occasion, when living conditions for constables were unusually bad, the Round House served as quarters for a police family. In about 1870 additions were made to the police buildings to house trackers. The stables were also enlarged after an increase in the number of police horses was approved. 35

Paterson did not last long as he became disillusioned about the lack of promotion. In March 1853, when the Western Australian Police Force was formally established under John Conroy, a disgusted Paterson resigned. Perhaps he had sought the top job and took umbrage when overlooked. Paterson was a skilled tradesman and capable with the pen but the government wanted, and obtained, a gentleman to lead the police. 36

Conroy had no easy task and his various reports on the situation in Fremantle make grim reading. Working conditions for police officers were awful. The station and barracks lacked drinking water and thirsty officers often had to go from door to door begging for mugs or buckets of water. Sanitary conditions for the station personnel were not hygienic. Stalls for the horses remained unfinished and the quarters lacked even locks and keys. Furthermore, there were no arrangements for housing trackers or assigning uniforms to the police. 37

The superintendent also faced recruiting problems. In terms of personnel, those involved in law enforcement matters received a huge gift in 1850 when the first shipment of about 1200 former soldiers who made up the EPF arrived. 38 Although these army veterans more usually worked as warders for the Convict Establishment, scores of them offered their services to the police. There was a great deal of intermarriage between the children of pensioners and police and a startling number of constables of the late 1800s were the products of such unions. In some families, a service tradition was established that has survived until today.

Successive police superintendents continued to look kindly on the veterans and seem to have overtly ignored age limits - some soldiers were inducted into the police in their 40s or 50s. 39 The attitude of men like Acting Superintendent Robert Crampton (in office 1866-1867) needs no explaining. He was an army officer and later commanded the EPF. 40 All West Australian police superintendents (later commissioners after upgrading of the title in 1887) from the time of Sir Alexander Cockburn-Campbell until 1912 were, or remained, military men one way or another. For the Fremantle police in particular, the permanent presence of military pensioners and their parade ground (now the happy haven of an Australian Rules Football club) helped reinforce the ‘constituted authority’ (a fine Victorian era term) in a potentially volatile working environment.

However, the gift also brought difficulties. Paterson’s replacement was an EPF man and knew nothing about policing. But he did know a lot about alcohol, and was involved in disgraceful scenes of public carousing and debauchery. The superintendent removed him late in 1853. 41

Fortunately another EPF member, Sergeant Thomas Walsh, proved an efficient and strong-minded successor as senior police officer in Fremantle. He even helped his men prepare and forward a petition to the government asking for more pay to clothe and feed themselves and their families. Superintendent Conroy also did his best but it was a long hard road before a well organised and properly equipped and trained Police Force was fully established. 42

It goes without saying that the convict era and its immediate aftermath (the Catalpa episode of 1876 being a classic example) was marked by numerous dramatic and exciting events affecting the local police. 43 Less dramatic but equally onerous were the unending struggles of officers in charge of the port to improve working conditions and obtain equipment. In 1859 alone there were skirmishes over station equipment, repairs to the local jetty, uniforms and helmet covers, while Sergeant Robert Hicks found himself being landed with extraneous duties into the bargain - helping to organise a new census. 44

The organisation of the Police Force continued to change and eventually Fremantle police were to be commanded not just by sergeants but also by commissioned officers such as sub-inspectors and inspectors. Some senior Fremantle policemen became virtually living status symbols in themselves because of their public fame, an important issue for a town gradually increasing in size, civic pride, social complexity and prosperity.

Analysis of the career patterns of the Fremantle chiefs of police from 1829 to 1872 is revealing and yields surprising results. Most police officers were of working class or farming stock and even in the late 1800s a high proportion were men born in the British Isles. 45 It would be fairly accurate to claim such sturdy yeomanry and artisans virtually made the force, if one adds the pensioner guards as being among the makers. In another sense, however, the exact reverse was true. Good service in the Police Force could yield huge benefits in terms of social advancement and personal prosperity. That is, serving the community by holding public offices such as that of constable ‘made’ the men involved by raising their status and that of their families.

Consider the Fremantle policing elite from 1829 until 1853. Governor Stirling had written that he tried to pick constables from the most reliable elements of the ‘lower orders’, or rather, the working class. The successive senior men in Fremantle - Richard Lewis, Henry Bond, William Birch, Thomas Harwood, Lawrence Welch and Nicholas Paterson were all skilled artisans and two were indentured servants into the bargain. 46 Without exception, to use another good Victorian era term, they all ‘bettered themselves’ through service as policemen and prospered as businessmen and/or landowners or public servants after leaving office. It is safe to assume that policing work raised their community status and gained them useful contacts. For younger men especially it was prestigious to be offered and to hold any public position and this may be the reason many part-time law enforcement men stuck to their arduous and underpaid work.

The pattern after the creation of the Police Force also gives pause for thought. In 1865 arrangements were formalised to confirm Fremantle as one of five major police divisions in the colony under the command of a commissioned officer. Trouble was, there were not enough of the latter to go around and a sergeant ended up in charge of the port by 1868. 47

In 1872, Superintendent Matthew Smith restructured the police districts and brought Fremantle more under control from Perth, although it still remained a distinct entity with a local sergeant in place. 48

Between the years 1853-1872 an additional ten officers were in charge of Fremantle. On balance, there are glaring differences in their backgrounds to those of the earlier officers. Two may be regarded as being of gentry origin, namely Sub-Inspector William Timperley, a younger son of an old Manchester family, and Sergeant William Pulford, an accountant by profession and a nephew of the noted artist and caricaturist George Cruickshank. 49

Constable David Hackett of Fremantle, 1872 - a colonial boy hero just a few years earlier. (WA Police)

Sergeants Thomas Walsh, Stephen Oliver and Thomas Ryan were EPF men, while John Hyde, Phillip Furlong, Henry Dunmall and Sub-Inspector William Snook were career police officers recruited from Britain. Furlong was an Irish policeman and the rest were Londoners. A couple of these officers, such as Sergeant Oliver, were failures in the job, but those who succeeded prospered afterwards. 50

Sergeants Robert Hicks and William Regan were both working men who certainly ‘bettered themselves’ through their excellent police service; both became publicans and respected pillars of the West Australian Community, as had Nicholas Paterson long before, them, the successful proprietor of a Fremantle tavern. Hicks also held office as a Fremantle city councillor. 51

The well-educated and articulate Phillip Furlong turned out to be a fine success story. He eventually resigned to take up a civil service position and ended his public career as an inspector of schools in the South Australian Department of Education. 52 Former commissioned officer William Snook prospered as a storekeeper and businessman, with additional interests in the eastern colonies. He was active in the colonial militia and the Freemasons. 53

In terms of career mobility among these men, and varying aspirations, William Pulford was perhaps in a class of his own. He seems to have passed up accountancy and went to the colonies to work as a police officer in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia with some distinction. He blotted his copybook once: while serving as officer in charge of Fremantle in August 1864 Pulford attended a society ball at the wrong time and was carpeted for it. He returned to duty, but Superintendent William Hogan issued a set of Fremantle station regulations to reduce the chance of future lapses. 54

Pulford later worked as a public servant in Perth and then moved to New South Wales, Victoria and New Zealand in turn. How he maintained himself and his family (including a godson of George Cruickshank) is not certain; he applied for police positions in other colonies a couple of times. Pulford’s letters to artist uncle Cruickshank could be of great interest. Some are in the Princeton University collection and may throw extra light on colonial policing history - at least one seems to have been sent from Fremantle in 1865. 55

Inspector William Timperley, the first commissioned officer in charge of Fremantle, 1861 (WA Police)

William Timperley visited the port at various times when he was an inspector and second in command of the police force in the 1870s. After years of service as a senior police officer, he went on to hold three additional high level public positions and was awarded the Imperial Service Order. I might add that he was a prominent figure in the cultural life of the colony - an amateur anthropologist, public lecturer, novelist and a stalwart of the Anglican Church. A notable music lover and a fine violinist, Timperley also became the founding father of an orchestral society at Bunbury. He was anticipated or the last point by the ubiquitous Nicholas Paterson, another good violin player who established an earlier orchestra in Fremantle. 56

One final issue hinted at earlier: some of the senior Fremantle officers established families with strong service traditions. Timperley, Furlong and others had brothers, sons or later descendants who served our State as policemen or members of the military, often as ‘officers and gentlemen’. And distinguished ones at that: a son and a nephew of the gallant explorer and bushman Sub-Inspector Hector McLarty (officer in charge of the Fremantle police, 1883-1884) were both awarded the Military Medal and commissioned in the field during World War One. One of them, Sir Duncan Ross McLarty, later became Premier of Western Australia. A couple of Hector McLarty’s brothers had also been members of parliament long before Sir Duncan. 57

The colonial government's efforts at gentrification of the senior ranks of the constabulary fell somewhat short of expectations, but the very effort to achieve this lifted policing standards and benefited most of these officers in later life. Only a couple retired as police officers. That was a problem in itself. The Police Force found it difficult to retain such talented, capable men.

Constable Edward Back of Fremantle - later Officer in Charge of the Port in the 1880s and 1890s. (WA Police)

In a less constricted and specialised age, the high point of a globalised institution called the British Empire, social and career mobility for skilled, literate and adventurous Anglo-Celtic males was greater than it ever had been or ever would be. The establishment of solid police career paths and improved working conditions in the time of Commissioner Robert Connell (in office 1912-1933) helped stabilise the situation.

A distinguished police career in Australia’s most western colony was a fine stepping stone in the drive to move onwards and upwards in five key elements of the ideal Victorian era manhood trajectory - renown, status, wealth, duty and recognition as a gentleman benefactor  of the community. The last factor is of  particular importance because, whatever modern historians choose to believe, those men were members of a genuinely pious community and Christian beliefs helped shape and constrain their behaviour. As members of the clergy will have stressed in sermons every Sunday, good works for the public welfare were useful investments for life both in this world and the next.

Fremantle Studies Day, 2007

Notes

1 A Reith, A New Study of Police History, Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, 1975, pp129-142.

2 Colonial Secretary Office (CSO) 49/1, 9/12/1829 - Government Notice, State Records Office of Western Australia (SROWA).

3 P Conole, ‘Constables of the Swan River Colony’ (unpublished manuscript 2008, Western Australia Police - cited hence as ‘Constables’) - those listed include four commissioned officers of the Mounted Police Corps.

4 P Conole, ‘Constables’- entries under W Birch, HR Bond, T Harwood, R Lewis, R Maxworthy, R Maydwell, HF Vincent and TB Wall; R Davidson, Fremantle Impressions, Fremantle Arts Centre Press, WA, 2007, p88.

5 Perth Gazette, 18/6/1832; M Bentley, Grandfather was a Policeman, Hesperian Press, WA, 1993, p15.

6 M Bentley, 1993, p6.

7 The Blue Books list Harwood as the constable in Fremantle up until 1847. That of 1841 refers to his weights and measures position.

CSO 5/11, Mackie to Colonial Secretary, 12/2/1830, SROWA.

CSO 12/24, 18/6/1842 - Government Notice, SROWA.

10 R Ericson (ed), Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, University of Western Australia Press, WA, 1988, vol 1, A-C, p256 (HR Bond); vol 1, A-C, p223 (W Birch). Cited hence as Bicentennial Dictionary.

11 B Purdue, An index to violent indictable crime in Western Australia where a conviction was recorded, The Author, 2002, vol 1, pp5-6; Perth Gazette, 18/12/1848.

12 CT Stannage, The People of Perth, Perth City Council, WA, 1979, p24.

13 J McArthur, ‘Policing the Colony of Western Australia’, Master of Arts Thesis, University of Western Australia, 1995, vol 1, p65, note 59.

14 CSO 30/143, Bond to Colonial Secretary, January 1834, SROWA; Perth Gazette, 26/6/1833.

15 Purdue, vol 1, p11.

16 A Graham, ‘Early duels of Fremantle’, Fremantle Studies no. 4, Fremantle History Society, WA, 2005, pp98-99. For John Wade, see pp101 and 106.

17 RH Pilmer, Northern Patrol: an Australian Saga, Hesperian Press, WA, 1998, pp58-60.

18 An Ordinance for regulating the Police in Western Australia, 12 Victoria, no 20, 1849.

19 Government Gazettes 9/12/1851 and 28/8/1852.

20 Government Gazettes 8/3/1853 and 15/3/1853 - ‘Abstract for a Code of Rules for the Western Australian Police Force’.

21 M McKeogh, Rescues, Rogues and Rough Seas, Western Australian Water Police and the Police Historical Society, WA, 2001, pp9-12 .

22 For Conroy - Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 1879 edition, pp278- 279; for Clifton - EK Clifton, Alverstoke, first farm on the Brunswick, Artlook Books, WA, 1981, p14.

23 Government Gazette, 5/6/1849; WA Almanac 1854; SROWA AN/5-6 Acc 129, 2/995, December 1860.

24 P Conole, Protect and Serve: a History of Policing in Western Australia, Western Australia Police Service, WA, 2002, pp16-17, 53.

25 Statistics on this issue may easily be drawn from Purdue 2002, vol. I, pp9-29.

26 Conole, 2002, p53; DJ Barker, Warders and Gaolers, Western Australian Genealogical Society Inc., WA, 2000, p31.

27 I. Elliott, Moondyne Joe, University of Western Australia Press, WA, 1978, pp14-16, 92-93.

28 Purdue, 2002, Vol. 1, pp47-48; SROWA AN/5 Fremantle, Acc 419/31, 3/4/1867; Bentley, 1993, pp95-96.

29 Western Australia Police (WAPOL): records of services of William Hogan and George Baker; Bentley, 1993, p44.

30 CSO Acc 36/335, 20/12/1855, SROWA.

31 Police General Duties Book, 15/8/1862-19/2/1895: entry of 12/11/1862.

32 Conole, 2002, p48; N Ogle, The Colony of Western Australia: a Manual for Immigrants, James Fraser, London, 1839, p83.

33 Pitt’s physicians later prescribed ‘bitter ales’ to treat gout and brandy during his last illness: see R Reilly, Pitt the Younger, Cassell, London, 1978, pp12, 249 and 341. British armed expeditions took great quantities of alcohol with them - for medical and the more usual purposes. On experienced officer firmly believed alcohol to be more effective than quinine in treating malaria: MJ Maurice, The Ashantee War, Henry S King, London, 1874, p274.

34 C Treadgold, ‘The Police Department of Western Australia: its formation and extracts from it history’ Police News (October 1929), p19; AR Pashley, Policing our State, Educant, WA, 2000, p26, with K Ward, Fremantle Sketch Book, Rigby Publishers Ltd, 1981, p4.

35 Government Gazette, 12/8/1851; Pashley, 2000, pp206-207; P Conole and G Sisson ‘Policing in the Round House’, Newsbeat, issue 29, March-April 2005, p13; Davidson, 2007, pp85-88.

36 Government Gazette, 22/3/1853, Perth Gazette, 11/3/1853.

37 Bentley, 1993, pp34-36.

38 For an overview of this military force, see FH Broomhall, The Veterans, Hesperian Press, WA, 1989, pp62-65.

39 Just one example: William Hardman was 45 when inducted into the police. See Broomhall, 1989, B127 and WAPOL - record of service of William Hardman.

40 Conole, 2002, p52.

41 Bentley, 1993, pp36, 41.

42 Ibid., p42.

43 RM Lawrence, Police Review 1829-1979 - since the days of Stirling, Public Relations Branch, Police Department, WA, 1979, p51 for a succinct and matter of fact account.

44 SROWA Acc 129, AN 5/6, items 435, 583, 827, 907 and 919.

45 A Gill, Some aspects of the Western Australia Police, 1887-1905, Public Relations Branch, Western Australian Police Force, WA, 1974, pp59-61.

46 Bicentennial Dictionary, vol 3, K-Q, p1058 (R Lewis); vol 2, D-J, p1395 (T Harwood); vol 4, R-Z, p3251 (L Welch); vol 3, K-Q, p2428 (N Patterson). For Bond and Birch, see note 10 above.

47 Bentley, 1993, pp43-44.

48 SROWA AN 5/ Guildford, Acc 240/28, circular order regarding arrangements from 1/4/1872. The first Fremantle sergeant under the new arrangement was Charles Wisbey. This officer proved to be an enterprising man who, like many of his peers, prospered after leaving the police. Wisbey did well in business and politics and became the first mayor of Bunbury. WAPOL: record of service of Charles Wisbey; Bicentennial Dictionary, vol 4, R-Z, p3356 .

49 P Conole, ‘William Henry Timperley’, West Australian Police Historical Society Inc., July 2008, www.policewahistory.org.au; Bicentennial Dictionary, vol 3, K-Q, p2545 (WS Pulford).

50 WAPOL: records of service for the officers listed; Bentley, 1993, pp53-54.

51 Bicentennial Dictionary, vol 2, D-J, p1470 (R Hicks); vol 4, R-Z, p2594 (W Regan.

52 Bicentennial Dictionary, vol 2, D-J, p1134 (P Furlong).

53 Bicentennial Dictionary, vol 4, R-Z, p2891 (W Snook).

54 SROWA AN 5/Fremantle, Acc 419/1, 28/8/1864; Station orders for Sergeants at Fremantle - Regulations for Sergeants on duty at Fremantle, 26/8/1864.

55 WAPOL: record of service of William Sylvester Pulford; Princeton University Library: George Cruickshank Collection, sub-series 2B (correspondence to Cruickshank), AM 17142, 12956, 15985, 13994, 82-54 and AM 78-5 - diglib.princeton.edu .

56 R Timperley, Heroes Galore, CopyRight Publishing Company Pty Ltd, Brisbane, Qld, 1996, Chap 8, passim; Bentley, 1993, p23.

57 WAPOL: record of service of Hector McLarty; R Richards, The McLarty family of Pinjarra, Perth, WA, 2003, pp77-83, 157-159, 188-197

Freotopia

This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 9 April, 2018 and hosted at freotopia.org/fhs/fs/6/Conole.html (it was last updated on 16 December, 2018), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.