Remembering the fallen
Marks on the ground indicated Const Duff had been dragged by the stirrup for 10-15 metres, with the impact enough to tear his clothing. A medical practitioner, Dr Hetherington, declared the cause of Const Duff’s death to be a broken neck when he arrived on scene about five hours later.
A riderless horse was the first sign something wasn’t right. It was around 4.20pm on 11 November, 1871 when a horse belonging to Mounted Constable John Alexander Duff was spotted “furiously” galloping past the police camp at Greta, a broken bridle entangled in its legs.
Const Duff was laid to rest at the Greta cemetery, but his grave was never marked. It would remain that way for 147 years. In that time, the only memorial that existed to Const Duff’s life was an unattributed entry to his personnel file that was made after his death.
Fellow Mounted Constable Ernest Flood sensed an emergency after witnessing the distressed horse galloping past and ran on foot in the direction of the post office.
It said Const Duff was “an efficient and well conducted constable whose death was a great loss to the Department”.
On the road lay Const Duff’s lifeless body.
POLICE LIFE | WINTER AUTUMN2019 2019
Const Flood had previously noted the horse was a nervous creature, but “not vicious”.
It had been just over two hours since Const Duff had set off on patrol to the Greta Post Office, but now his horse had returned without him.
Just 400 metres into Const Flood’s urgent dash, his search ended.
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An inquest conducted before Coroner Walter Butler two days later concluded Const Duff had been accidentally killed by a fall from his horse.
That loss was finally acknowledged by Victoria Police in February this year when a grave dedication for Const Duff was held at the Greta Cemetery with Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton, Deputy Commissioner Rick
