MYSTERIES, CLASSIC CARS, THE BEATLES… ALL PART OF POLICE HISTORY

By Brett Williams

The SA Police Historical Society boasts a nation-leading museum collection. But, like other occupants of the doomed Thebarton police barracks, it needs a new home.

TODAY it would look like a series of action scenes for a Dirty Harry or Lethal Weapon film playing out on location Three fearless cops take on four armed prison escapees in a wild high-speed chase through suburbia.

The pursuers and the pursued fire shots at each other and their cars end up with blown-out tyres. Crash goes the escapees’ stolen car into a fence, and a foot chase ensues through backyards and a primary school

More police, including detectives and traffic cops on motorcycles with sidecars, descend on the scene to back up their colleagues

The shooting resumes with two of the escapees firing on police with revolvers and sawn-off shotguns A bullet pierces a wall and ends up in a school classroom occupied by students

One escapee steals a bike and pedals his way clear of the ongoing daylight shootout The other three bust their way into a family home. Police follow and shoot one of them but he survives and surrenders.

The other two flee the house and head toward the nearby main road where two council workers are approaching in a city-bound truck Sure enough, the desperados commandeer the vehicle, threaten to kill the driver and order him to step on it

As they make this last attempt to outrun the now many pursuing police, one villain – positioned on the back of the truck – fires on them.

Police bombard the vehicle with continuous gunfire; the driver struggles with the other offender before jumping clear of the truck . He suffers a lacerated head and shin in the process

One police officer leaps from a motorcycle sidecar onto the back of the truck and exchanges gunfire with the escapee there

He and other police persist and finally hit their targets, one of them five times Another officer jumps into the truck cabin and brings the vehicle to a halt Both offenders die at the scene The terror is over, with no police lives lost

These movie-like scenes might be a reality in current-day Chicago or Los Angeles. Few, if any, would expect that they played out for real on the streets of suburban Adelaide. But they did – in 1930. And the hours-long incident became known as the Battle of Enfield

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William Hayes, Arthur Harrison, John Newchurch and Joseph Dawson were inmates of Yatala Labour Prison They made their daring 9am escape with outside help That was how they got hold of shotguns and came to have a getaway car waiting for them.

The gang took a guard hostage and set out, but failed, to find and speak to a particular MP in the Adelaide Hills. Back in the suburbs came the chase and the first exchange of gunfire outside the Sussex Hotel at Walkerville around 1:30pm

But the action moved north and wound up in and around Nailsworth Primary School before it ended with the truck shootout on Main North Road

In another gallery, the same visitors can inspect a 1921 Bianchi patrol car and a replica Black Mariah horse-drawn prisoner carriage The Police Historical Society suspects the Bianchi is the oldest police patrol car in Australia

Among other diverse exhibits is the original plaster cast of the long mysterious Somerton Man, found dead on Somerton Beach in 1948.

Even the Beatles feature in the museum, in the form of a letter they wrote to then-commissioner John McKinna

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Despite its cinema-like action, high drama and fatalities, the 93-year-old Battle of Enfield remains mostly unknown – even to cops

But every detail of this major police incident, and a stack of others, is available to both police and the public through the Police Historical Society.

Its museum of five themed galleries at Thebarton police barracks houses thousands of exhibits, some dating as far back as the 1830s. And one display, of course, features the Battle of Enfield

For their bravery and devotion to duty, 38 police officers received honourable mentions Six of them scored the King’s Police Medal One of those medals, awarded to Motor Traffic constable Percy Holloway for conspicuous bravery, is part of that Enfield display

It holds its place among many other rare police documents, uniforms and equipment, and even decades-old patrol cars and motorcycles In fact, Police Historical Society president Bill Prior describes the museum collection as “the largest” and “most comprehensive in Australia”.

“South Australia’s got such an interesting police history,” he says. “And the early parts of that history are as much about the pioneers of the state.

“Some of the early police officers were explorers They really were pioneers and peacekeepers

“Our early police really did do a marvellous job So, it’s important that we demonstrate what South Australian police have done

“But I think it’s important to preserve any history You’re then learning a whole range of things about how people lived and what their abilities were ”

The museum holds around 100,000 displayed and stored exhibits An obvious strength of the collection, as Prior highlights, is its diversity.

In one gallery, visitors can view an SA police cap badge which Australian astronaut Andy Thomas took on a space flight. A NASA certificate, also on display, authenticates the exhibit

Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and stand-in drummer Jimmy Nichol were grateful for the support of police during their 1964 visit to Adelaide

Their letter was not a thank you to McKinna but rather a request that he pass on their thanks to the rank-and-file police who had “looked after us” Museum visitors can also see photographic and documentary displays of investigations into the missing Beaumont children (1966) and the Sundown murders (1957).

But likely the most moving display in the entire museum is the Wall of Remembrance It features the names of all 61 SA police officers killed in the line of duty Of the officers’ photos, the oldest is that of 38-year-old Mounted Constable John Barwick Porter, killed in 1880

Says Prior: “You see serving or retired officers coming through and saying: ‘I worked with him, I remember him ’ It gets those stories and that discussion going I think it (the photo display) brings it back to the personal side of things. ”

The society had to cease museum tours once the controversial COVID-19 restrictions came into play. But, while forced to keep its doors closed to visitors, the society took the opportunity to restructure the museum

“Basically, a few of us decided to pull it to pieces and put it all back together again, but theme it this time,” Prior explains “We swapped items displayed in certain galleries into different galleries

“So, when we take people through on a guided tour now, we can say: ‘This is the theme for this particular gallery ’

“John White, the former deputy commissioner, holds the honour of being the museum curator. So, a lot of it is based on his thinking.

“I do a lot of tour guiding and I think (the restructure) has made the museum look much more professional for everybody who comes through now ”

Named after a significant figure in SA policing, each gallery displays history which spans at least the past 100 years.

In the Bob Potts Gallery, however, the theme is “the first 100-plus years”, which takes museum visitors back to 1838 and onward

It covers the early police troopers and the service of trailblazers like Kate Cocks and Annie Ross The two were the first female police officers in the British Empire to receive pay and arrest authorities equal with those of male officers

In the Robert Clyne Gallery, the emphasis is on criminal investigations, crime scenes and forensic examinations. It allows visitors to “ponder over a murder scene” and see the first-ever police drone of its type used in Australia.

The Wall of Remembrance features in the Dorothy Pyatt Gallery as does the letter from the Beatles to John McKinna Also displayed are early police photos, including criminal mugshots, and former commissioners’ uniforms

The Roy Harvey Gallery boasts, among other things, one of the world’s largest collections of police shoulder patches And visitor reactions to the sea of insignia have brought about a nickname: the “Wow Gallery”

“When people open the door and walk through, 80 per cent of them say: ‘Wow! Look at this,’ ” Prior explains. “It just shocks them because they’re not expecting it. It’s almost overwhelming. ”

Also in the Wow Gallery is what Prior believes to be the largest display of international police uniforms in the Southern Hemisphere

In a separate building, the Bruce Furler Gallery houses the Bianchi, the Black Mariah and classic patrol cars like the FJ Holden and Charger Also on display is the last police Commodore to roll off the production line at the Elizabeth Holden plant

A team of trained volunteer tour guides, most with police backgrounds, leads visitor groups through the galleries.

“They’re people like Dave Modra, Mark Thompson, John Anderson and others,” Prior says. “They’re members of the society, have done the basic training, and are registered with SAPOL as volunteers ”

The society is independent of SAPOL and pays for itself by means of fundraising, membership fees, tours, government grants, and souvenir sales

Of course, the vexed issue the society faces now is its future locale, given the death sentence imposed on the heritage-listed Thebarton barracks The government last year ordered its demolition to allow for construction of the new children’s hospital

The decision left Prior and his fellow board members “very disappointed”.

“It came after a lot of effort to get the museum re-established to the quality we’ve got it to now,” he says. “But we understood the government’s need to acquire the land and decided to direct our attention to where we’d be going in the future

“Our plans and our ambition are that we develop a very new, modern museum, a place more accessible to the public It gives us an opportunity to expand our schools programme, for example, and get more visitations from schools and other groups ”

“We’re working with a consultant to develop a business case to put to the government explaining who we are, what we do, how we operate and where we want to be. It’s going to take some time to find a location which is suitable. ”

The society has to vacate the barracks by September If, by then, it has no building to move into it will have to pack up its entire collection and move it into storage

“We’ve been promised government support,” Prior says “We assume that they will follow through with that We certainly need a lot of support from both the government and SAPOL

“This is SAPOL’s museum and we, the Police Historical Society, provide the labour to manage it So, we still need support in terms of buildings and their maintenance. That is critical for us.” PJ