Peter Dennis KAVANAGH – Police Officer

Peter Dennis Kavanagh joined the Police Force when he was twenty-one. How he crushed the gold stealing industry on the Golden Mile has now gone down in history.

Detective Kavanagh 1907

He was tutored by that wonderfully astute Excise Inspector – John Mitchell Christie. He was a born detective, keen and shrewd, with boundless energy. He was also a clever prosecutor.  When Kavanagh was only 18 ‘sly grogging’ was rife around Mildura South Australia and other places and he suggested to Inspector Christie that he (Kavanagh) put a stop to the illicit trade and eventually decided to give Kavanagh a chance and he quickly killed the trade in those parts.

Kavanagh was a relentless pursuer of the interests of the Crown but always fair. Numerous incidents were told of the helping hand he extended to those who came within the pale of the law even after he took over the Gold Detection Unit at Kalgoorlie Western Australia. When he joined the Police Force in the early 1890s his natural ability soon won him rapid promotion.  In 1896 he was transferred to the Eastern Goldfields where his first and most important case was the daylight robbery from Pearl’s jewelry shop in Bayley Street. The running to the ground and arrest of four Eastern States criminals was one of the pluckiest actions in police history.  After he was transferred to Kalgoorlie he was appointed to the Gold Stealing Unit (Detection) where he quickly became a legend. It was said that if there had been a dozen or so men of his ability and integrity gold stealing might have been brought to an end.  Another outstanding case was his capture of two well-known burglars – Jones and Grogan at Coolgardie on December 28^th, 1898.

Detective Kavanagh 1908

He was to receive shabby treatment at the hand of the Government of the day. About five years before he died at the age of 34, in St. Vincent’s Hospital (Sydney) he and Detective Porter out all one night in Weld Square watching the movements of a notorious burglar named Fogarty.  This vigil laid the foundation of an illness which assisted the game little Irish-Australian to his death. In view of the fact that so much money was being contributed to the ‘Widows’ fund for the wives of Inspector Walsh and Sergent Pitman it may be noted that Mrs Kavanagh was to receive less than £100 from the Chamber of Mines as compensation for the death of her husband who had saved the mining industry several hundreds of thousands of pounds and whose death was accelerated by the result of his efforts to thwart the gold thieves.  If he had accepted one tenth of the bribes offered to him he could have retired to a life of comfort and not worried about the welfare of his wife and family, his wife Lillian Augusta nee Ridley and only child, Lillian Fran Patricia Kavanagh, born VIC 1896.

Detective Kavanagh and Family 1908

One of his few failures was when a quick-witted miner’s wife plunged some stolen gold into a pot of soup on the stove as he knocked on the door, which became the basis for a short story “RICH STEW” by Gavin Casey which won for him the Bulletin Prize and was later to become a TV show.

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Moya Sharp

Owner at Outback Family History

My name is Moya Sharp, I live in Kalgoorlie Western Australia and have worked most of my adult life in the history/museum industry. I have been passionate about history for as long as I can remember and in particular the history of my adopted home the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia. Through my website I am committed to providing as many records and photographs free to any one who is interested in the family and local history of the region.

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