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VICTORIA'S EARLY POLICE FORGE!
SOME INTERESTING RECORDS.
(From Our Own Correspondent.)
-MiUjJtJULKiNJi, baturoay.
\ ery complete records are preserved
in the Police Department of the person
nel of the members of the force, and
these go back almost to the earliest davs
of our history. They show that 37 indi
viduals held the position, of chief con
stable, and that whilst the majority re
ceived, their appointment in 1857 a few
belonged to a much earlier period, viz:,
Messrs. Falkner. Charles Brodie, J.
Bloomfield. W. J. Sugden and William
Wright. The latter, who was appointed
in 1838, when the police work of the
infant settlement must have been very
limited, will be remembered as having
fulfilled the office of sherifiL of the
Supreme Court in comparatively recent
times. The departmental archives ac
count for 223 officers, approved after the
chief constable era, and reaching down
to the end of last year.
In the early fifties many came to the
force as cadets, and this was the case
with men like Barclay, Beaver, Chomley,
Green, Kabat, Sadlier, Winch, Ximenes
and others less known. The late Sir W.
H- F. Mitchell, who was the first chief
commissioner, appears" to have been ap
pointed direct to that position in 1853,
but he did not remain at the helm long,
for it is stated that in January. 1854, he
went to Eugland on leave, and did not
return to the service.
His successor, the late Sir Charles
MacMahon, began as a district inspector,
and was placed in charge of the force in
April, 1850." Both Sir Charles and his
| predecessor subsequently attained higher
positions, one becoming Speaker of thg.
Legislative Assembly and the other Pre1
sideiit of the Legislative Council.
Next followed Captain Standisli, whose
name does not figure in connection with
any subordinate position. He reigned
for two-and-twenty veal's, to make way
in due. course for Mr. Chomley. The lat
ter's connection with the force began in
1852. and he went through all the
grades. The present chief, Mr. O'Calla
ghan, joined as a detective in 1867, and
reached the position of superintendent iu
1895.
Amongst the officers appears the name
of Robert O'Hara Burke, who joined as
an acting inspector in April. 1853, and
became a superintendent of the first
class iu the following January. It should
be unnecessary to remind Australians,
young and old, that it was he who shared
with Wills and King the glory of that
great expedition whicli crossed "Australia
in I860. The fine monument to the men
who forfeited their lives in the cause of
Australian exploration long stood in Col
lins-street, but retired before the ad
vance of the cable trams to a less con
spicuous position in Spring-street ^"Re
signed." "superannuated," "left the
force," is written against the names of
many officers. A few terminated their
connection in a less pleasant manner.
Superintendent Roche was drowned in
1894, and the same fate bc-fel an officer
named Wrixon in 1858.
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