A CASE OF HIGH LEVEL CORRUPTION AND CONSPIRICY IN THE NORTHERN TERRITORY POLICE FORCE

Copyright Dr. A.B. Kelly, 4^th December 2010.

Police Service: I joined the NT Police in 1950, aged 21, the minimum age for the Force. Prior to this I was a permanent Public Servant in NSW, having begun work in 1944. I arrived in Darwin by DC3 on 25^th March 1950 and was transferred to Alice Springs in October 1950. In November 1951 I was appointed O.I.C. Finke Police District, a single Officer posting, policing the entire area from just south of the Alice Springs Aerodrome to the three adjoining State Borders. Finke was a one man Station with Camels the only official transport. While there I carried out the last Police Camel Patrols in Australia.

I was transferred to Alice Springs in June 1954, where, while a Constable, I began prosecuting Police cases, in addition to my normal Police duties. I was promoted to Sgt. 3^rd Class at Alice Springs in October 1955. In November 1956 I was promoted to Sgt. 2^nd Class and posted to Darwin as Police Prosecutor. There the Crown Law Officer, Ron Withnell, complimented me on the standard of the Preliminary hearings I conducted in relation to Indictable Offences which were referred on to the Crown Law Office for prosecution in the Supreme Court.

While stationed at Darwin as Police Prosecutor I also revived the Police Association and argued a salaries and conditions claim before the Police Arbitral Tribunal in the person of Mr. Justice Kriewaldt. In August 1957 I was transferred as OIC Police Tennant Creek, in the Southern Police Division. I was promoted to Sgt. 1^st Class there in February 1958. All my promotions were by examination and in recognition of my practical ability.

As an example of this recognition and of its exercise outside my normal jurisdiction, while I was stationed at Tennant Creek I was asked by Commissioner Graham to sort out a problem that had arisen concerning a death at Hidden Valley Station which was in the Northern Police Division. Senior Constable Gordon Stott of Elliott, one of the great old time policemen, had initially investigated the death but had not arrived at a satisfactory conclusion. I called in to see Gordon on my way to Hidden Valley. He told me what he knew of the case, and he was pleased that I had been given the investigation, rather than the Darwin C.I.D or the Sergeant stationed at Katherine.

The circumstances of that case were that two partners had been running Hidden Valley Station and one of them had been shot. The surviving partner told Gordon that the deceased had come back from Katherine with their Christmas supplies of grog and they had got stuck into the grog without waiting for Christmas. While they were both sitting on an old car seat on the homestead veranda, someone had fired a shot from the surrounding scrub, killing the other person. The deceased was badly decomposed when Gordon arrived, so he wrapped the body in an old waterproof tarpaulin and buried it. Gordon was not satisfied with the story told by the survivor, who was still in the D.T’s. He got some admissions from this suspect, however when he got these he had been giving the suspect a nip of whiskey from time to time “to straighten him out” from the D.T’s. In those circumstances the suspect’s admissions would not have been admissible in Court.

When I arrived at Hidden Valley I found the .38 revolver that was registered to the Station. It was loaded and two shots had been fired. I demolished the old car seat on which the partners had been sitting and found one embedded spent bullet, but no sign of a second.

With the aid of my Tracker I dug up the body, which was buried nearly six feet deep. I got the body out still wrapped in the old waterproof tarpaulin. The body was by then mainly bones and gravy, and the stench was terrific. I kept the body wrapped in the tarpaulin as this could contain evidence. I loaded it into the back of the Police Land Rover and headed back to the Stuart Highway and on to Darwin to carry out a Post Mortem.

It was hot and humid in the Darwin Hospital Morgue, which was not air-conditioned. With the Doctor I was looking for the other bullet. Gordon Stott had told me there was no exit wound. We kept finding small stones in the tarpaulin, but no bullet. The smell was so bad that we borrowed a couple of gasmasks from the Army, but found it too difficult to work while wearing them.

After some time I asked the Doctor if the Hospital had a portable X- ray machine. It did, and we got hold of it. We eventually located the other bullet with the X- ray. It was lodged in the spine between the fourth and fifth cervical vertebrae, which had closed over it. Without the X-ray we might never have found it.

I took the revolver and the two spent bullets to Sydney for forensic tests, as we had no scientific forensics in Darwin. The NSW Police Forensic section confirmed that the two bullets had been fired from the revolver I had recovered. The Defendant abandoned the story of the mysterious bullet from the scrub. He admitted that while getting stuck into their Xmas grog they had begun to argue about the breeding of a horse. The argument was eventually settled by a bullet. The Defendant was found guilty of manslaughter, and served a short custodial sentence.

In the Territory at that time the trackers were our only forensic section. Taken to the scene of a crime a tracker would usually be able to reconstruct everything that had occurred from tracks and other signs. We could not have done without them.

CONSPIRACY AND CORRUPTION

In 1960 I was the victim of a gross miscarriage of justice. I was reduced to from the rank of First Class Sergeant which I had attained by examination and demonstrated ability in the previous ten years, to the rank of Constable. The miscarriage of justice which resulted in my reduction in rank was the result of a conspiracy between two senior officers in the Force, Inspector McKinnon O.I.C. Southern Division, and Acting Superintendent Bowie, during the absence on annual leave of Superintendent Graham, the senior serving Officer.

The motive of the action taken against me by Inspector McKinnon and Acting Superintendent Bowie was to prevent my transfer to the position of O.I.C Police Alice Springs, a position to which I had been posted by Superintendent Graham before he went on leave. In this posting I would have been able to put a stop to Inspector McKinnon’s continuing receipt of significant corrupt payments from S.P. Bookmakers in Alice Springs.

As agents of the Northern Territory Administration these two officers conspired to

have me charged, and falsely convicted, concerning a course of action I had taken at Tennant Creek in relation to the control of gambling at Peko Mine. I resigned from the Force as a result of this demotion. It was clear that I had no future as a N.T. Police Officer regardless of my demonstrated ability.

As Keith Willey wrote in “The Eaters of the Lotus” (Page 96): “Kelly claimed that the then Administrator (Mr. Archer) and Assistant Administrator (Mr. Marsh) had tolerated S.P. Betting in the Town. (Tennant Creek). The enquiry was closed to the press. Summaries of evidence were issued to newsmen, but Kelly’s own testimony was never revealed. So the full facts of the case never came out and many believe Kelly was given a raw deal in a town (Alice Springs) where police had allowed betting shops to open for years.” The full facts are as set out below.

The action that I had taken at Peko was fully consistent with the other actions I had taken in Tennant Creek in relation to gambling, which actions had gained the specific approval of both Superintendent Graham and of the Administrator of the Northern Territory, the ex-officio Police Commissioner. All my actions were taken with the intention of maintaining the Peace.

The purpose of the conspiracy between these two senior officers had nothing directly to do with gambling. It was to prevent my transfer to the position of Sergeant as O.I.C Police Alice Springs, a pending transfer of which they were aware, but notice of which they had withheld from me, in breach of the established procedure.

The Notice of my transfer had been sent to Inspector McKinnon by Superintendent Graham, for transmission on to me, before the Superintendent went on Annual Leave. The Inspector failed in his duty to forward this notification to me. He also failed to forward the notification that Superintendent Graham had gone on leave and that Inspector Bowie had been appointed as Acting Superintendent. All such communications from Police H.Q. to Officers in the Southern Division were sent from Darwin through the O.I.C. Southern Division, Inspector McKinnon. The irregular withholding of these communications ensured that I did not become aware of my proposed transfer to the position of O.I.C. Police Alice Springs until I was able to see my Police File in Alice Springs in 1992. This was thanks to the then holder of the Alice Springs position, Sgt. Andy McNeil. Until I saw that file I was at a loss to understand the rationale of the action Inspector McKinnon took against me in 1960.

Relations between Inspector McKinnon and me and had a history. While stationed in Alice Springs in 1956 I raided a S.P. Betting Shop without giving the operator any prior notice. I arrested and charged the operator running the shop, and seized his records as evidence. Prior to this raid there was always a “dummy” running the Betting Shops in Alice Springs whenever they were “raided” by Police. This indicated that the real operator had received prior notice of the “raid”, which ensured that the real operator could provide a dummy operator so he real operator would not incur a conviction. This replacement of the regular operator whenever there was a “raid” confirmed my suspicion that there was collusion between the proprietors of the shops and Inspector McKinnon, the Officer-in-Charge of the Southern Division of the Northern Territory, the most senior Police Officer stationed at Alice Springs.

Following that raid Inspector McKinnon ordered me to make the documents, which I had seized as evidence, available to the offenders so that they could complete their transactions. I considered that such action would make me an accessory to their offences. I refused and asked to be allowed to give my reasons. I was not allowed by the Inspector to give my reasons for disobeying what was clearly an unlawful order. I was immediately suspended from duty by the Inspector and later fined Five Pounds by him for “disobeying a lawful order”. This fine was imposed by the Inspector acting as Judge in his own cause.

Inspector McKinnon made his demand to make the evidence available twice during our conversation, the first time stating the reason why he wanted the evidence. He repeated the demand in the same conversation. It was held on appeal that I was justified in my refusal when the Inspector gave the reason, but I was not justified in refusing when he repeated the demand in the same conversation without restating his intention. Inspector McKinnon had then made the betting records available to the offenders, confirming his stated intention.

Superintendent Graham, the most senior Police Officer in the Territory, subsequently sent a memo to the NT Administrator, who was ex-officio Commissioner of Police, reporting my action and fine. The Administrator made a note on my file, asking whether “the act of making these betting slips available in the way proposed would amount to aiding and abetting the offence”. This was my reason for not obeying the order, which Inspector McKinnon had not allowed me to express. The Administrator suggested that a Crown Law opinion be obtained. There was nothing on my file to show whether this opinion had been obtained.

My enforcement of the Lotteries and Gaming Ordinance in Alice Springs was prompted by the blatant nature of offences and the fact that people associated with these activities were generally unhelpful to Police. Some of them had been known to provide assistance to persons of ill repute, whom Police would rather see out of town. There was also the inevitable and well-founded implication that some member of the Police Force was in receipt of corrupt payments.

At Tennant Creek: On my transfer from the position of Police Prosecutor in Darwin to O.I.C. Police Tennant Creek I found an antagonistic attitude towards Police. This had resulted from the attempted enforcement of the Lotteries and Gaming Ordinance by my predecessor, Sgt. Mannion. I came to Tennant Creek with a similar reputation as a result of my earlier attempted enforcement of that Ordinance in Alice Springs. Shortly after my arrival in Tennant Creek the antagonism towards Police became evident. A person named Witney was arrested by the two Constables, who were on town patrol, for returning to the premises after being removed by Police. The Constables had previously removed Witney from the Tennant Creek Hotel on suspicion of betting. An anonymous phone call was subsequently received at the Police Station, advising that the offender, Witney, had returned to the Hotel. The two Constables went back to the Hotel to remove Witney. They were met by a rowdy crowd, jostled, heckled and booed in a near riot.

Soon after that event Superintendent Graham from Darwin and Inspector McKinnon of Alice Springs came to Tennant Creek. Supt. Graham said that as OIC Tennant Creek it was my responsibility to encourage better relations between the Police and the public. I considered this situation for some time and decided that my best course of action would be to institute some form of control of Gaming that would both benefit the town and would remove any suggestion that any member of the Force in Tennant Creek was in receipt of corrupt payments. My primary responsibility was the maintenance of the Peace and this appeared to require a change in my previous approach to the strict enforcement of the letter of this Law.

I decided to institute a de-facto “licensing” of Betting shops. The SP bookmakers would have to contribute to a “Tennant Creek Amenities Fund”, as a de facto licence fee. A committee of reputable townspeople, to be known as the Tennant Creek Advancement Society, would be established to administer the fund and to set the “licence fee”. I would not be a member of the Advancement Society.

My idea was that the Tennant Creek townspeople would know that the bookies were paying for the privilege of operating, and the fund would be available to support educational, sporting, social and cultural facilities in Tennant Creek. I drew up the Constitution of the Tennant Creek Advancement Society, as follows:

The Object of the Society shall be to assist Tennant Creek Educational, Cultural, Sporting and Social bodies.

The Society shall operate a fund to be known as the Tennant Creek Amenities Fund.

There shall be both Contributing Members and Ordinary Members of the Society.

Contributing members shall be such as are appointed by the OIC Police Tennant Creek. Contributing members shall pay (space left blank) Pounds per week into the Amenities Fund. (The Committee later decided on Ten Pounds per week. This was slightly less than the established weekly Basic Wage)

Ordinary members shall be such as are appointed by the OIC Police Tennant Creek. The OIC Police may appoint such persons as are nominated by the Contributing Members as Ordinary Members. The OIC Police shall have the power to dismiss any Member.

Meetings of the Society shall be held in the months of February, May, August and November each year and such other times as are necessary. The Office bearers of the Society shall be a Chairman, Secretary and a Treasurer who shall be elected by the members at the meeting in February of each year.

A quorum shall consist of the contributing members and three ordinary members.

At each meeting the amount of credit of the Fund shall be disclosed and applications for assistance considered. Payments from the fund shall be made according to the will of the meeting provided that no such payment shall be made unless all the contributing members are in favour.

No body shall be granted more than 25% of available funds at any meeting unless with the unanimous approval of the meeting. Funds will be distributed as equitably as possible among the above mentioned bodies.

The fund shall be audited by a resident Tennant Creek Accountant every December and the Auditor shall report to the OIC Police Tennant Creek.

I appointed Jack Ford, Businessman, Charlie Huck, Publican, Bill Hamilton of Native Affairs, and Jeff Kittle, Businessman, as Ordinary Members. I did not want professional gamblers as contributing members so I approached “Handlebars” Macintyre, licensee of the Goldfields Hotel and John Ross, an Electrician, to start one shop and Jack Meany, of the Works Dept. and Len Pratt, a Miner, to start the other.

Before long Macintyre and Ross sought permission for Peter Lynch to run their shop as they said it was not a game for amateurs and they were losing money. Jack Meany later withdrew and was replaced by Cec. Bourne, the local TAA Agent.

By October 1957 the system was working well and the attitude towards the Police in Tennant Creek had improved. Police were now able to perform individual patrols in the town, no longer having to patrol in pairs, as had been the case when I took over. Townspeople were also more forthcoming with both information and assistance. I felt I had achieved what Supt. Graham had sought in the encouragement of better relations between the Police and the public.

Shortly after I initiated the Tennant Creek Advancement Society Inspector McKinnon called the members of the Force in Alice Springs together. I was told that he said to them: “Kelly has opened the Betting Shops in Tennant Creek so I am going to open them in Alice Springs.” To my knowledge they had never been closed.

There was no suggestion by the Inspector of the establishment of an “Alice Springs Advancement Society”, or an “Alice Springs Amenities Fund” or anything like it. Reg Harris, businessman of Alice Springs, subsequently advised me that Inspector McKinnon continued to be in receipt of substantial payments from the various S.P. Bookmakers.

Peter Lynch, who had run one of the Betting Shops in Tennant Creek, told me years later in Adelaide that he had told Lewis and Christensen, who ran one of the Betting Shops in Alice Springs, that it was costing him Ten Pounds a week to operate in Tennant Creek. This was the rate set by the Tennant Creek Advancement Committee. They told him he was lucky because it was costing them Thirty Pounds a week. There were at least two Betting Shops in Alice Springs so it could reasonably be assumed that it was costing other Betting Shops the same. Thirty Pounds was a significant sum in the 1950’s.

In April 1958 Administrative Inspector Stokes came to Tennant Creek. He said that. Neil Hargreave, MLC for Alice Springs, had mentioned the Tennant Creek scheme to the Minister for Territories, who had asked Inspector Stokes to investigate and report to the Minister. I explained my motives and actions and he appeared to be satisfied.

On 3^rd June 1958 the NT Administrator and ex-officio Police Commissioner, Mr. Archer, came to Tennant Creek to tell me I had been permanently appointed to Tennant Creek. He asked me to explain the operations of the Tennant Creek Advancement Society. I explained all that had occurred. He said: “this could cost me my job”. I said that I had no intention of embarrassing him and that if so instructed I would do all that was possible to stamp out gaming in the Town and at the Mines. He replied: “of course such matters are left to the local Sergeant’s discretion”.

Subsequently Mr. Marsh, then Acting Administrator and Commissioner of Police, came to Tennant Creek and asked about the scheme. He greeted the idea saying “this is excellent. Give me all the details and I will write them down.” I told him and he said “When I get back to Darwin I will give this to the Crown Law Office. I will have them draft a Bill to incorporate this in the Lotteries and Gaming Ordinance. I will give it to Len Purkiss MLC (Member for Tennant Creek) to present at the next sitting of the Legislative Council.” I then made some suggestions as to the wording of the Bill. None of my discussions with these officials involved Inspector McKinnon.

After the next sitting of the Council, Len Purkiss showed the draft Bill to me. I saw that it embodied my suggestions. He said he had not presented the Bill as he had shown the Draft to Neil Hargreaves, MLC for Alice Springs, who said he would oppose it as it only allowed Betting Shops in Tennant Creek and Katherine, and not in Alice Springs. I asked him to leave the Draft with me. I then prepared an amended draft Bill, which would allow Betting Shops to open in Alice Springs on days when there was no race meeting in or near the town. I also inserted a provision for the Police to have a say as to who could conduct a Betting Shop.

Not long after this Supt. Graham passed through Tennant Creek and I showed him the draft Bill. He asked for a copy. Some time later he contacted me about a complaint from the Secretary of the Wauchope Racing Club. There had been a Race Meeting at Wauchope that was not well attended, even though the Tennant Creek Betting Shops were closed on that day. Supt. Graham asked me if I had ever “raided” the Betting Shops in Tennant Creek. I replied that the shops would close if I told them to, and that I would not “raid” a shop that I had permitted to open. He asked for a written report on the situation, which I provided on 17^th November 1958. This report was as follows:

STARTING PRICE BETTING – TENNANT CREEK

I have to advise there are two S.P. Betting shops operating in Tennant Creek. Both of these opened with my sanction.

One shop is operated by Peter LYNCH, Agent of Tennant Creek and is situated in Patterson Street, adjacent to the Billiard Saloon. The entrance is screened from the street and persons do not congregate in the street outside.

The second shop is operated by Cecil Ivor BOURNE, in partnership with Leonard James PRATT. BOURNE is an investor and PRATT a miner. This shop is situated in a lane off Patterson Street adjacent to the Goldfields Hotel. Persons do not congregate in the vicinity.

No complaints have been received from local persons concerning the operation of the Betting shops. The operators of the shops close down whenever there is a race meeting within 100 miles of Tennant Creek, of their own volition.

It is normally the practice for the S.P. operators to field at any meeting in the vicinity. The only exception to this was the meeting recently held at Wauchope. This was because of a personal feud between the Secretary of the Race Club, who is the wife of the Publican at Wauchope, and Peter LYNCH. I have spoken to both parties and do not expect a recurrence of the incident.

No raids have been carried out on these premises. I do not intend to carry out any raids unless instructed to do so as I feel this would be unfair to persons who may be found in the shops, and would be inconsistent on my part.

The operators of the shops have no convictions for Gaming offences and I am certain that if the shops were to be raided they would close down and remain closed. They would not be willing to have stand-ins for the occasion as this would smack of collusion.

As I have previously intimated to yourself and to the Commissioner I will immediately close the shops if instructed to do so. Forwarded for your information.

(Signed) A.B. Kelly

Sgt 1/C

Officer in Charge

During this time there were still gambling games at the mines, which occasionally gave rise to trouble. There were suggestions of crooked dice being used in these games. One miner lost his pay, stole someone else’s and lost most of that. He was arrested and charged. Raiding games at the mines was difficult because of their variable locations around the Mine sites, and because there could be a number of games going at the one time.

After discussion with the Tennant Creek Advancement Society I decided to permit a single game in a quiet location in Tennant Creek on similar terms to those under which the Betting Shops were then operating. This had to be a clean game. Where there had previously been up to three games at Peko Mine, the number of games were reduced to one, in Tennant Creek. However after a fight at the town game I closed it down.

Peter Lynch then suggested that poker machines be made available at the Peko Mine Club, as an alternative to the type of games that could be rigged. The suspected rigging of games was generally the reason why fights had broken out at games.

I suggested to Peter Lynch he take the matter up directly with both the Tennant Creek Advancement Society and the Peko Club, as the system that I had initiated in Tennant Creek had worked well. This would be a further application of the principle that I had initially applied to maintain the Peace in permitting the Betting Shops to open.

A further consideration was that it was also impossible to police the unlawful games at the Mines with the resources available to me. It would also ensure a benefit to the relevant community. The profits from the Poker machines would go directly to the Peko Mine Club, a cooperative venture.

About 20^th August 1959 I drove from Alice Springs to Tennant Creek with Inspector McKinnon. I had driven down to Alice to visit my Wife and our new daughter in the Alice Springs Hospital. On the way back to Tennant Creek we discussed illegal gaming in Tennant Creek and Alice Springs. I told the Inspector that the gambling game at Alice Springs was so notorious that Delhunty, a Tennant Creek miner and gambler, had paid an overnight visit to the game in Alice Springs and boasted he had cleaned up there.

I told him I had suspected Delhunty of using crooked dice so with Constable Wilson I had stopped and searched Delhunty and his vehicle on the Queensland side of the Three Ways road junction, at about 2 a.m. a short time before. Delhunty was at that time on his way to Queensland. In his vehicle we found blank dice and engraving instruments, which we confiscated. As we had no evidence of the commission of a serious offence, and he was leaving the Territory, I told him he was not to return to the Territory. He agreed not to, and was allowed to continue on his way. I also advised the Queensland Police to expect him.

Inspector McKinnon denied all knowledge of the Alice Springs game. He said that he had instructed his men to be on the lookout for it. I said to him: “They don’t have to look too far. It is in Joe Lewis’ shed on the East Side. He has a table tennis there, and there is a frame leaning up against the wall that is put over the table tennis to play the dice game”. He made no further comment. This information had been given to me by one of my informants who kept me in the picture about gaming in Alice Springs. I did not disclose my informant to the Inspector.

Inspector McKinnon then suggested that we pull off the road to make a cup of tea. This was a bit odd as we had already driven past places where we could have got refreshment. While I was crouched over the fire boiling the Billy, I heard the crack of a gun and a bullet buzzed past my ear.

I turned and saw McKinnon holding his pistol. He was about ten feet away. He said: “It went off.” Nothing more was said about it. I was not armed and I assumed he was trying to intimidate me. There was no occasion for him to draw his pistol. We did not normally carry guns in those days. On reflection, and knowing now that McKinnon would by then have known of my proposed transfer as OIC Police Alice Springs, which he was determined to prevent, he may either have been trying to shoot me or more likely, to provoke a response from me which could justify his shooting me. There would be no independent witnesses. He used to boast about the number of Aborigines he had shot in the past. I visited Alice Springs to see my wife and children on two more occasions after this trip. I found there had been no attempt to close the Alice Springs games down. .

On 4^th December 1959 Inspector McKinnon arrived in Tennant Creek. He did not come to the Police Station but raided the Peko Club, seizing the Poker machines and arresting a person. He then suspended me from duty for allowing gambling at Peko.

He subsequently informed me he had lifted my suspension and asked me to prosecute the person he had charged with gaming at Peko. This person was not known to me or to any of the Police at Tennant Creek. He had no Police record at Tennant Creek. He pleaded guilty and was convicted.

After the hearing Inspector McKinnon reinstated my suspension. No reason was given. During the hearing I had advised the Bench that nothing was known of the offender as he had no record in Tennant Creek. Inspector McKinnon was in the Court, but he said nothing. I later discovered Inspector McKinnon knew this person, who had a record in Alice Springs, but he had failed to advise me of this fact. For all that I knew that person could have arrived from Alice Springs with the Inspector.

It was standard Police practice for a Prosecutor to advise the Court that nothing was known of an offender if the Prosecutor had no official record to produce. The Inspector suspended me again immediately after the hearing and further charged me with neglect of duty for not producing the offender’s record. It became clear to me that the Inspector was determined to “fit me up”. As I had accrued a further charge for not presenting a record of conviction which did not exist at Tennant Creek, I refused to cooperate further with Inspector McKinnon. I fully expected that I would be supported by Superintendent Graham and by the Northern Territory Administrator, not knowing that the Superintendent had gone South on leave.

The hearing of the charges filed by the Inspector against me in Alice Springs was a fiasco. During the hearing a Journalist, who had been drinking with the Chairman of the Discipline Board, told me that I was going to be found guilty whatever was said, as discipline had to be maintained. I said I would call him to give evidence. He said he would deny everything as he still had to live in Alice Springs and keep onside with Inspector McKinnon.

At the hearing by the Police Disciplinary Board in Alice Springs I was fined for not producing the defendant’s record, which apparently existed in Alice Springs, despite my having adhered to the normal practice of Police Prosecutors, a practice of which I had considerable experience.

I was also fined for “instructing an officer his command not to take action in respect of an unlawful game” despite the fact that no such instruction had ever been given, or would be given by me, for “failing to take action in respect of an unlawful game in a recreation hut at Peko Mine” and “for failing to perform his duty in respect of an unlawful game at the rear of the Tennant Creek Hotel”. These charges all defied the reality, which I have set out above, but they resulted in my being reduced to the rank of Constable. I realised I had no future in the Force while Inspector McKinnon was still in it, so I resigned from the Police Force.

In 1992 I got the opportunity to view my Darwin Police File in Alice Springs, thanks to the then O.I.C. Alice Springs Police, Sgt. Andy McNeil. I discovered that on the 4^th December 1959, while Superintendent Graham was on leave, Inspector McKinnon had sent Acting Superintendent Bowie a cryptic telegram: “Patrolling today as discussed”. This obviously referred to his visit to Peko Mine. A copy of this telegram had been placed on my file in Darwin.

The placing of this copy on my file clearly indicated that the Inspector’s visit to Tennant Creek was part of the conspiracy between McKinnon and Bowie to get rid of me. There could be no other reason for such a communication to be placed on my file. I also discovered that before going on leave Superintendent Graham had issued an order that after my forthcoming leave I was to return to Alice Springs as O.I.C Police at Alice Springs. This order had been sent to Inspector McKinnon for forwarding to me but he failed in his responsibility to forward it to me. He obviously had other plans for me.

When Superintendent Graham went South on leave Inspector Bowie became Acting Superintendent. I had not been notified of this change in command. Such changes in command were always formally notified but these notifications were sent through Inspector McKinnon, as O.I.C. Southern Division. Neither news of Superintendent Graham’s temporary replacement by Inspector Bowie, nor my impending transfer to Alice Springs, ever reached me. This was no mere oversight. It became clear to me then that McKinnon’s “raid” on the Peko Club and seizure of the Poker Machines was part of the conspiracy between him and Inspector Bowie to get rid of me, as I would not be a party to corruption. The note put on my file by acting Superintendent Bowie concerning Inspector McKinnon “patrolling as discussed” provided the evidence of that conspiracy.

What precipitated Inspector McKinnon’s action against me was my impending transfer as O.I.C. Alice Springs, and the effect that this would have had on his receipt of corrupt payments. As my actions in permitting controlled gambling in Tennant Creek had been explained and endorsed by both the Administrator and by Superintendent Graham, I reasonably expected that the Superintendent would intervene in the Kafkaesque situation in which I found myself, not being aware that the Superintendent had gone South on leave.

I was never corrupt as a Police Officer. The only corruption of which I was ever aware was that of Inspector McKinnon. This corruption was aided and abetted by Inspector Bowie when he became acting Superintendent. After Superintendent Graham died his widow phoned me in Adelaide to assure me that he had nothing to do with the actions that had been taken against me. I had by then discovered that the conspirators were Inspectors McKinnon and Bowie.

My family and I have carried the burden of this injustice for over 50 years, with “The Centralian Advocate” giving those charges and my convictions by the Board a front page re-run recently. The whole affair was particularly hard on my wife, recently deceased, who was a member of a highly respected Alice Springs family. She was a daughter of Jim McConville who received the Civilian Service Medal 1939-45 for his Wartime service in the Territory in relation to the construction of “The Bitumen” and the maintenance of Workshops throughout the Territory and in the North of West Australia during the War. I still have family in the Territory.

In fairness I should be publicly cleared by the N.T. Administration of the phoney charges on which I was convicted because Justice, while long delayed, should be done and be seen to be done. What I have set out above can be confirmed by the Territory authorities by reference to relevant files in the N.T. Archives.

I should also receive some recompense for the damage done to my reputation, and the effect that this corrupt action had on my potential Police career. My subsequent career took me no higher than a role as a Union Secretary.

I gained my Doctorate in Philosophy at Flinders University after the Industrial Laws were changed to make the position of Union Secretary subject to election, rather than re-appointment being based on effective action that benefited Union Members, which I had provided. The Left wing candidate for the position had an external organisation behind him to win the election.