Every family has its secrets, and they are often revealed in The Police Gazette of Western Australia (1876 onwards), a valuable resource for researching people, police and criminals in Western Australia.
Information can be found under various headings:
- apprehensions (name of person arrested, arresting constable, charge and sentence);
- police appointments, dismissals, discharges, promotions, resignations and transfers;
- tickets of leave, certificates of freedom, and conditional pardons issued to convicts;
- physical descriptions of prisoners (name, condition, build, age, height, hair and eye colour, visage, complexion, trade, nationality and distinguishing marks);
- deserters from military service;
- escaped prisoners;
- expirees leaving the colony;
- inquests (where held, date, before whom, name and date of death of person, verdict);
- licences (publican, gallon, eating, boarding and lodging houses, railway refreshment rooms, wine and beer, colonial wine, spirit merchants, club, wayside house, packet and billiard table - name of licensee, name of hotel etc and town or district given);
- missing friends;
- prisoners discharged;
- people tried at Quarter Sessions (name, offence, district, verdict, how disposed of);
- special inquiries;
- stealing in dwellings;
- and warrants issued.
How do you access them?
Click on this link: https://slwa.wa.gov.au/collections/collections/police-gazettes
With thanks to the Friends of Battye Library and the Sholl Bequest, the Police Gazettes 1876-1900 have been digitised and are fully text searchable.