The Black Tracker – a verse

The Black Tracker Swart bloodhounds of the fenceless West, Black gallopers that lead the Law, To whom your victims stand confessed By every lightest line they draw; The hawks that high above you sail Have eyes less keen to pierce the blue, The dingo on his hunting trail Runs slacker in the chase than you! […]

The Picadilly Police Station

This photograph shows  Constable Jeremiah John JONES and his wife Evelyn Mortimer nee HOLLOWAY and their infant daughter Eveleyn Margaret Jones, born 1903 in Kalgoorlie (their only child). Jeremiah was born in May 1873 at Wangaratta, Victoria to Owen Jones and Ann Kennedy. He died in Merredin WA in 1932 and is buried there with […]

Blake the Bold – a ripping yarn

In the town of Mt Magnet, one of the local public figures, a police constable, became very unpopular due to his making a point of closing the Grand Hotel at night whilst allowing the Royal Mail Hotel to keep trading.  This situation came to a head when he arrested a man for swearing in the […]

Constable Edward Tindall – Grave Tales

Death from Typhoid Fever was common around the turn of the 19th century. Many of the victims were fit young men who could succome to the disease and perish very quickly as this story of a young Police Constable, who had been on the Goldfields less than 6 months, will tell. The following is an […]

The Prison Log and “Sky Blue Goannas”

In the early days of Coolgardie, there was no provision for holding prisoners pending their appearance in court so Corporal McCarthy chopped a four-foot log from a three-foot thick trunk of a blown down salmon gum to which they were chained by a strong steel staple at one end and handcuffs at the other. (A […]