Unveiling of Police Heritage Site Plaque & Monument
2:30pm Friday 17th November 2000
Boggy Road, Ngapala via Eudunda
- Brief welcome & explanation of proceedings:
Chief Superintendent Owen Bevan (Retd.)
Vice President, South Australian Police Historical Society. - Historical address:
Chief Superintendent Bob Potts, APM, JP (Retd.)
Secretary, South Australian Police Historical Society. - Plaque unveiling:
Jointly unveiled by Assistant Commissioner John White APM, President South Australian Police Historical Society and Councilor Denis Keller, Chairman, Regional Council of Goyder. - Brief Address:
Assistant Commissioner John White - Response:
Councilor Denis Keller - Conclusion and thanks:
Chief Superintendent Owen Bevan
Invited guests are welcome to adjourn to “Gumvale” for Afternoon Tea.
‘Police Heritage Site’ plaques have been unveiled at a number of locations throughout the State to commemorate sites, events, or individuals, significant in the history of policing in South Australia.
Today the former Julia Creek Police Station is being recognised by a ‘Police Heritage Site’ plaque and monument for its significance in early policing history and the development of South Australia.
Interviews with a number of local and former residents of the area revealed that over a number of generations an area to the west of the present day very small settlement of Julia, and the east of the Tothill Range, had been locally known to some residents as ‘Policeman’s Creek’ or ‘Police Station Creek’ or similar. Information has been passed from generation to generation that a policeman or a Police station has been located in the very early days of the settlement by a small tributary running east from the Tothill Range into Julia Creek proper.
Police were often in the forefront of expansion of frontiers, and in this instance provided the first government input into the area and much needed police protection for pastoralists, shepherds and flocks, from attack and other hazards.
This isolated police post is believed to have been located near the ceremony site from 1842 to 1846. Probably built from local stone, it was staffed by two Mounted Constables, assisted at times by a Native Constable. Mounted patrols from Julia Creek provided police protection until 1846 when the police station was closed and personnel were relocated to the new mining centre of Burra.
The South Australian Police Historical Society gratefully acknowledges the kind assistance of Mr. & Mrs. Jim & Rhonda Dunstan in constructing the Police Heritage Monument, and the generous sponsorship of the Police Heritage Site Plaque by the Community of the Region of Goyder, through their Council.
South Australian Police
When the first Governor of South Australia, Captain John Hindmarsh, enlisted ten Foot Constables and ten Mounted Constables on the 28th April 1838, he established the first organized state police service in Australia. Indeed, it is one of the oldest in the world, predating many English police services, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police by 40 years.
A blend and adaptation of Sir Robert Peel’s Irish and English policing ideas, the objectives of the South Australian Police have remained unchanged. They are: the preservation of law and order, the prevention and detection of crime, and the maintenance of the Queens peace.
The South Australian Police has proud traditions, and from humble and often precarious belongings, SAPOL now comprises some 3,700 police officers with a further 600 public service and weekly staff, making a total strength of 4,300, serving the community.