Fascinating historical stories

The Queensland Police Service Museum has a collection of interesting articles and information available.  A selection is listed here.

Timeline

QPS timeline 1864 - 2014

Early QP documents

Report of the Police Commissioner 1863

Queensland Police Gazette 1864

1869 Queensland Police Manual

Book of Names

​​As part of the QP150 celebrations in 2014,​ the Police Museum completed a list of every police officer either appointed and/or sworn since the Queensland Police Force began on 1 January 1864. Such a list was first suggested by former Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson in 2009 after he viewed the Western Australian list of police officers.

The list includes 30301 names, and of these, 767 officers left the Queensland Police and later returned, meaning that between 1864 and 2014, 29,534 individual officers (4797 women and 24737 men) have served the community of Queensland.

The complete list can be viewed within the Queensland Police Museum exhibition space on our touchscreen.

The Book of Names is being updated. We hope a new list will be available soon 

Police Commissioners 

Police Commissioners 1864-2024

Policing Stories

1867 The murder of Constables John Power and Patrick Cahill by Gold Commissioner Thomas Griffin

1872 Woogaroo / Goodna Police Station

1883 The murder of William Dwyer by Wild Toby

1898 The Gatton Murders - still unsolved

1906 The first fingerprint comparison success

1926 Police officers disguised as “hobos”  'jump the rattler' to detect breaches of the railway laws.

1932 A riot at Parramatta Park  in Cairns during the depression

1943 A cyclone almost blows Coen away.

1952 A murder charge leads to the use of a very unusual piece of evidence.

1964 Police officers swap patrolling Queensland for the streets of Cyprus.

1976 The Emergency Squad leaps into action during a siege and hostage situation.

1988 Queen Elizabeth comes to open Expo ’88 and police are on hand to maintain security.

1990 The purpose-built Queensland Police Headquarters building is the last in a long line of such organisational locations.

2001 The Wildlife Response Unit does its best to stop poachers from taking wildlife and selling it onto the highest bidder.

2011 The brave rescue of stranded passengers from a raging creek at Wujul Wujul

2019 The history of Queensland Police Liaison Officers