The following is a copy from the news report of the government inquiry into the conditions of the police services
in Australia in 1835.
This section of the report covers the district south of Goulbourn.
Reports for the remaining districts (Van Diemens Land, Maitland,Goulburn,Bathurst,Paterson,Argyle, Wollongong,
Windsor,Ivermien and Yass Plains) can be found at Genseek's Police History
The Committee (consisting of the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney General,
Mr Berry, H.H.M'Arthur, and Mr Bell ) was appointed to "..enquire into and report upon the establishment
and strength of the Police Force and all it's branches, to what extent
it may be expedient to maintain it, and the expense it will occasion, and
to enquire into the capacity and condition of the Gaols in the colony,
and to report what additional buildings appear to be required, and
the probably expense of providing them.." .
presented by © J.Fawcett (Genseek) 2002 |
Friday June 5th.1835.
T.A.Murray, Esq., J.P, brought in and examined.;
I am a member of the Bench of Magistrates at Goulburn: but
I am very seldom situated there, as I hold Police Courts at my own
residence (25 miles southwest of Goulburn),where a constable and a
scourger are situated.
The population of the district in which I act as magistrate
appears,by an estimate of the strength of the establishments from
which cases are sent to me, amounts to about eight hundred. I reside
at a greater distance from Sydney, in a south-westerly direction,
than any other magistrate. All the police business from the nearest
part of the Limestone Plains, part of the Murumbidgee country,Maneroo
and Molongle, is brought before me.
Complaintants have to traverse sometimes eighty, and even one
hundred miles, to my court, with cases where in a single magistrate is
competent to decide, and they frequently bring serious complaints
before me, rather than go a still greater distance to Goulburn for the
decision of two magistrates.
There is no public lock-up house near my residence: I am,
therefore, obliged to confine all prisoners in a strong room on my
own premises. The court is also held in one of my own rooms.
The weekly average of cases brought before me is about seven
or eight, scarcely a day passes without one. Generally speaking the
proportion between free and convict cases is about equal.
I think that two more constables are necessary to enable me
to carry on the police business of the district efficiently. At
present it frequently occurs that both constables and scourger are
absent on duty at the same time; and on these occasions one of my
own men is obliged to serve as special constable.
There are several parties of squatters in my neighbourhood.
I detected, not long since, three men at one of their stations in
the act of slaughtering one of my own cattle. I have strong reason
to suspect that these people are, in general,illicit sellers of
spirits. I had occasion to search one of their huts some time ago,
at a considerable distance from my own place, and found in it many
signs of its being a 'grog shop' such as an empty keg, empty bottles,
and measures (the latter, however,might have been used for ordinary
purposes as well as for measuring spirits),together with a number of
orders drawn by overseers of large establishments in the neighbor-
hood on the proprietors for small sums of money, but amounting in
all to about £100, the owner of the hut had no ostensible means
whatever of getting these orders honestly. I can, of course, say
nothing of this mans character from my own observation I having
never seen or heard of him before, but I have not the slightest
doubt, judging from the circumstances observed on this occasion,
of the correctness of the common report of his being a 'notorius
grog-seller'.
Many of the small settlers are also in the habit of selling
spirits: but it is most difficult to obtain a proof against them.
The squatters are in general, very serious nuisances in the
neighborhood. We have no means of getting rid of them; and it is
almost impossible to convict them of the crimes which they are in
the habit of committing.
I consider that the greater part of the crimes committed
in the interior arise from the sale of spirits: many persons
dispose of it in quantities of not less than two gallons at a time;
thereby avoiding the penalty of retailing without a license.This
large quantity is obtained by a number of convicts and other
servants clubbing together for its purpose.
There are four unpaid magistrates in the Goulburn district,
exclusive of Yass. I do not know what the strength of the police
force of the district is,there are no mounted police stationed
nearer to me than Goulburn.
Considerable difficulty is experienced in my neighbourhood
in procuring proper persons for constables. I consider an expiree
as unfit for the situation as if he were still a prisoner; next to
men who have come free to the colony,I would choose ticket-of-leave
holders for constables.
A great portion of time of the constable and scourger attached
to my police court is occupied in serving subpoenas and warrants
for the Supreme Court and Court of Quarter Sessions. Before I left
home lately, they were employed a whole fortnight in this industry.
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