19
POLICE HISTORY
CELEBRATING 150 YEARS OF POLICING IN THE NORTHERN TERRITORY
BY MARK MCADIE APM, CHAIRPERSON NT POLICE MUSEUM AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY THE REAL FIRST POLICE STATION IN THE NT For many years this building, located at the intersection of the Esplanade and Mitchell Street was regarded as the first police station in the NT. If you google “first Darwin Police Station” you will be presented with this picture:
What was thought to be the first Darwin Police Station
It certainly was the Palmerston (Darwin) police station from 1870 to 1875. It was even built by the police officers themselves (except for the roof ), from wood they had hand cut and carted to the site. Because they also had to cut and carry timber for the first version of Government House (not the present building) the job was not completed until
November 1870 when they moved into this building. They had arrived in January 1870, so where did the police operate from for the period from January to November? When Sub Inspector Paul Foelsche, along with his small detachment of South Australian Police, arrived in Darwin on 4th January 1870, there was
no police station in Darwin, because of course at this early stage of Darwin’s history there were few permanent structures. So, Dr. Peel, whose house was near the camp, allowed the Inspector the use of same for a police barracks and Police Station. This house or police barracks was built of rough timbers,
with iron roof and bark sides. It was used and known as the police barracks until 1874, once the move to the Esplanade was made. The location of this police station / police barracks is not completely clear, but it appears to have been near the beach at the base of Fort Hill, in what was then called Goyder’s Camp.
