Herbert Thomas – his constabulary duties

Herbert Henry Herle Thomas was born on the 9th of January 1865 in Plympton St Mary, Devon in England. he arrived in Western Australia in 1892 and soon after his arrival he joined the West Australia Police Force. The following year he married Emma Eliza Goodwyn nee Burchell, (from Norwood South Australia), in Perth on […]

When the Law Came to Niagara –

Smith’s Weekly 26 November 1927 – by John Drayton How “Justice” was served out on the Goldfields. Niagara was one of the little towns worth a column in the WA Post Office Directory of 1899 following Bob Menzies strike in September 1894. The town’s life was short, but while it was alive, it ‘LIVED’. Menzies […]

Gold Rush Days The Kimberley

West Australian 14 September 1934, page 29 GOLD RUSH DAYS The Kimberley the Eighties Interesting diaries, containing details of life in the North in the eighties, and written by one who was a trooper with the first police gold escort sent to Halls Creek goldfield in 1886, are in the possession of Mr. S. P. […]

Police Honour Legendry Tracker Pannican

Police Honour Legendary Aboriginal Tracker On the 2nd of July 2008, a memorial was unveiled in Kalgoorlie for one of the state’s most renowned Aboriginal police trackers.  Johnny Grey, also known as Pannican, who was considered one of the best trackers of his time. He worked for the police in the Laverton-Leonora area from 1942 […]

The Great Unwashed Preserver of the Peace

Sunday Times Perth – 7 November 1909, page 1 Jolly’s Bath – by Spinifex It was hot, something like 100 deg in the Victoria Hotel passage, and about 120 in the police tents. The ‘cosmopolites’ of the old camp were as cool as they could get in common khaki, pants and soft shirts, the latter […]