Police Summons Sheets

An interesting series that I recently used for the first time is Rockhampton Police Station summons sheets 1898-1905 (Queensland State Archives series ID 6545). The three volumes (item IDs 212364-212366; previous system A/146-A/148) cover 1 Nov 1898 - 13 Jul 1900, 29 Apr 1902 - 1 Sep 1903 and 6 Nov 1904 - 7 Feb 1905. Details shown are date, plaintiff (sometimes 'police'), defendant, offence, judgement and magistrate's name. Entries are chronological.

A wide variety of offences are listed. They include larceny; assault; insulting words; obscene language; excessive use of liquor; boarding a train while in motion; breaches of various Acts and By-laws; child desertion; wife desertion; disobeying a maintenance order; failing to contribute to support of children in an orphanage; and affiliation. ('Affiliation' refers to a court order against a man alleged to be the father of an illegitimate child, requiring him to make payments towards the child's upkeep.)

One entry in A/146 shows that Bob LONG, charged with 'larceny, lollies', was 'convicted but not punished upon condition that his father flogs him'.

To check whether similar sources exist for other towns, search for the phrase summons sheet in ArchivesSearch.

Other 'unusual' sources are described on my Web site, which lists over 70,000 names from records in Archives.

Shooting accidents/homicides 1935-1959

Queensland State Archives item ID 318535 (A/45246) is a Police Department file consisting mainly of newspaper clippings about shooting accidents (and some homicides) 1935-1959. I have indexed part of this file and some names are on my main Web site.

Police Station criminal offence register

Here are 2 examples of entries in Police Station, Croydon: criminal offence register, 20 Dec 1894 - 13 Jul 1905 (Qld State Archives item ID 293075) - and note that Qld Police Gazettes will give more details including detailed physical descriptions of the offenders:

Sep 1897. Offenders: William MALLOY and William FOTHERGILL. Offence: ship desertion, H.M.S. Torch at Cairns, 26 Aug 1897...

Sep 1897. Offender: Edward LOPDELL. Offence: wife and child desertion (Alice, Ernest Edward and Ethel May LOPDELL) at Muttaburra, 17 Jul 1897. Offender supposedly gone to Hughenden or Croydon. Warrant issued. Not to be arrested if he enters into recognizance to pay for the support of his wife and children.