John McKenna
1852, Perth, Western Australia - 1933, Perth, Western Australia
[For and with thanks to Joan Heenan nee McKenna, Gerry McKenna & Viotti Gray nee Martin (Grand-children of John McKenna)]
John was baptised on 18 July 1852 at St Mary's Catholic Church, Perth, the son of James McKENNA and Catherine Bridget nee STANTON
He was educated at the State School for Boys in St George's Terrace, Perth and was a butcher and age 20 at the time of his marriage in 1873. He joined the Police Force in July of 1874 as a mounted policeman at Fremantle. He was transferred to Toodyay in 1875, to Williams and Bannister in 1879, returned to Fremantle as 1st Class Constable in 1881 and was promoted to Detective in 1884 prior to being transferred to Derby in 1887. John returned to Perth in 1888, he was once again at Toodyay in 1889 and was stationed at Coolgardie during the "roaring 90's". By 1914 he was 1st Inspector and he retired as Chief Inspector in 1916 after more than fifty years of continuous service.The following article was published in the West Australian in 1933 at the time of his death:
LONG AND DISTINGUISHED SERVICE
"Mr. John McKenna, for a number of years Chief Inspector of Police in Western Australia, died at the age of 80 years yesterday, after a long illness.
The late Mr. McKenna was born in Perth in 1853 (sic). He joined the Mounted Police on his twenty-first birthday and continued in the service for exactly half a century, rising from the ranks through all grades and ultimately attaining to the chief inspectorship. This position he held until his retirement to private life. In his time Mr. McKenna served in one capacity or another in practically every police district in the State, and, whether as trooper, non-commissioned or commissioned officer with marked distinction. In his noviciate, within only a few weeks of donning the uniform, he had to his credit the capture of that elusive bushranger, best known as "Moondyne Joe". The arrest was made at Mandurah. "Moondyne," who was vain of the cleverness which he had frequently displayed in effecting numerous escapes from custody, boastingly intimated to his captor that he would be in Fremantle before him. If he seriously contemplated such an escapade he counted without his host, who retorted. "If you do you will take me with you," and chained the prisoner to himself. The pair spent the night linked together.
This adventure, which gave the young trooper's superiors' some indication of his mettle and resource, was a trifling episode compared with many others in which he played a conspicuous role, and into which more than once there entered the element of tragedy. It was Mr. McKenna's lot to be stationed in Kimberley during the disastrous gold rush to that district, and at Coolgardie in the roaring nineties.
While Mr. McKenna was stationed at Derby serious native troubles were constantly demanding the police services. On one of these occasions the duty was assigned to Mr. McKenna of leading a party of six against certain wild and savage aboriginals who were wanted for the murder of a white man, one Captain Poyten. The party had to travel 100 miles over country where they were in hourly peril of sharing Poyten's fate. However, they succeeded in finding the body of the murdered man and in tracking the murderers, who were not easily taken, to their lair. The police were attacked with spears and stones, but there were no casualties and the four natives who were wanted were, arrested after a struggle, brought to trial and sentenced to death. None, however, was hanged. Their sentences were commuted and they were interned in the native prison at Rottnest.
Earlier in his career, Mr. McKenna in association with Constable [afterwards Inspector] Farley, unravelled a murder case in the southern part of the colony. A sandalwood cutter had been brutally butchered near Kojonup, and his remains burned. For two months the constables worked on this case, and in the end were successful in securing the identification of the remains and in sheeting home the murder to two men, Moroney and Watkins, who paid with their lives for their atrocious crime.
But by far the most memorable of Mr. McKenna's exploits in the force had for its theatre the country bordering the Dale River, he being then a corporal in the Criminal Investigation branch of the service. A horrible murder of which a police constable, Patrick Hackett, was the victim, had been perpetrated at Beverley. The murderers, Carberry and Miller, after shooting Hackett, who was seeking to arrest them for several burglaries, were joined by another desperado, a ticket-of-leave man named miller, the trio then taking to the bush. During the ensuing week they waylaid and robbed settlers on the country roads after the manner of highwaymen and terrorised a wide district. Detective McKenna, as he then was, was despatched to Beverley alone to essay the dangerous task of capturing the murderers.
Fortunately three civilian volunteers gallantly joined him and the party thus constituted and armed with rifles and revolvers set out on its hazardous enterprise. The fugitives, who were well armed, were overtaken on the banks of the Dale river, where a pitched battle ensued, the shooting being initiated by one of the murderers. Mr. McKenna and his three civilian comrades came out of the fray scatheless. Not so two of the desperados. Brown was shot dead and Miller was mortally wounded. Carberry, who made his escape, was later easily captured near the lakes on the York road, was tried, convicted and hanged. In recognition of their heroic services in connection with this affair, McKenna and his three volunteer companions were each presented with a gold watch by the West Australian Government and their conduct having been brought before the Imperial Government, Mr. McKenna had the gratification of receiving a copy of a despatch from the Secretary of State for the Colonies expressing the highest appreciation of his gallant conduct and the gallant conduct of the three civilians on the Dale River.
Although the Beverley case won him the most distinction, Mr. McKenna's long police career was studded with perilous adventures. On several occasions he was in peril of losing his life both from hunger and thirst in the bush and from attacks of criminals, white and black, whom it was his duty to bring to justice."
The following account, from the "Journal of the WA Historical Society", of the pursuit of the murderers of Patrick Hackett gives a more vivid description of the dangerous nature of the situation:
The Murder of Constable Hackett (Extract)
"We saw blood and broken branches', wrote Farley, and surmised we had been done out of our quarry.
On that same Tuesday morning, the three wanted men had been seen by William Smith of Beverley. He reported immediately to the police station that they were around and were going in the direction of the Dale River (19) . Detective McKenna was alone at the station at the time, but Smith and David Kilpatrick of Bally Bally volunteered to accompany him in pursuit of the men and, if necessary, to bring, reinforcements and rifles. McKenna had been the resident constable at Beverley prior to his promotion a few months earlier.
He had been sent from Perth because he knew the district and was a good bushman. He would also have known Smith and Kilpatrick as respected and reliable settlers. He accepted their offer and immediately advised Lawrence in Perth; as he said in his report, it would have been useless for him to have gone after three armed men alone (20).
They left the station at 2 pm, McKenna providing a police horse and revolver for William Smith's brother Horace. The other two men had their own horses, and they called at the Smith s for a Snider rifle and a double-barrelled shotgun. As they approached the Dale, McKenna gave instructions to his party. If the wanted men were in the bed of the river, as seemed likely, the first man to see them was to hold his hand up. 'We would all dismount and would call on them to surrender'. His report of the encounter continued, 'We then went towards the river in silence looking for tracks and as I got to the bed of the river 1 saw the three men. Andrew Miller was lying on the ground, William Brown was standing near a tree and Thomas Carbury was standing on the bank looking as though watching for the police. I jumped off my horse. Mr W. Smith said, "Here they are", and then Miller jumped up. They all ran together. I ran towards them and called on Miller to stand, and he at once turned round and fired; the ball struck in some dry jam trees just above my head, and the branches fell around my face. Miller then fired at me again and I threw myself down behind a jam tree and called Mr William Smith to come with his rifle. Carbury and Brown also started firing at us. I fired at Miller, and Mr Smith and Mr Kilpatrick on the other two. I struck Miller in the groin. Carbury got away after about a dozen shots and we lost sight of him. Miller fell after the loss of blood. Brown continued firing at us ... he kept close to a tree. I shot at him and grazed him; he then got up and ran up the gully. Mr Smith and I followed - I came within 8 yards of him when he saw me and got on his knees behind a tree taking aim at me with his revolver and I called out to Mr Smith to shoot as my gun was empty, and he did so and Brown fell dead.
I ran up to Brown and took from him, two revolvers and a bag of cartridges . . . We returned to Miller who was bleeding badly. I asked why he had murdered Hackett and he said, "How do you know we murdered him?" I said, "I know you did", and asked him if it was him or Carbury and he said it was both. This was in front of Mr Smith and Mr Kilpatrick. I asked him why Brown had joined them and he said he did not know.
Miller asked McKenna to put another bullet through him, as his pain was far greater than Hackett's had been. He cursed Carbury as a coward for running away. McKenna then sent Horace Smith to Beverley to despatch telegrams to the police in York and Perth, and Kilpatrick to Mrs Hancock's property for a conveyance for Brown's body. Miller lived an hour after the shooting; just before he died, McKenna asked him why they had killed Hackett, but he only answered, 'Don't bother me. Leave me alone'. Mrs Hancock's team arrived at 5 pm and the bodies of Brown and Miller were taken into Beverley. On the way, the procession met Farley and Eaton and their parties.
The following day, on Resident Magistrate Cowan's orders, the bodies were taken to York. The police recorded in their Occurrence Book:
17th September L.C. Detective McKenna at 2 pm arrived at York from Beverley with the bodies of Andrew Miller T/L 5850 and William Brown T/L 7932 who were shott (sic) in resisting their arrest at Beverley on the 16th instant. The bodies were left at York dead-house waiting for an inquest to be held on them.'
As was customary, a full list was given of the property taken from their bodies and brought in from their camp:
1 memo book, 1 wooden and 3 clay pipes, 1 pr. socks, 1 bottle Wizard Oil, pair of scissors, 1 razor case, 2 pocket knives, 1 compass, 2 small packages of gunpowder, 82 Smith and Wesson cartridges, 23 lead bullets, 2 six-chambered revolvers partly loaded, 1 towel, 1 monkey jacket, 1 bed rug, 1 o'possum skin rug, 2 hats, 1 billy, 2 panecans (sic), 1 leather belt, 1 elastic belt, some tea, flour, sugar and pork, tweed coat, butcher knife, cotton shirt, 2 combs, 2 handkerchiefs, 2 ration bags and another bag containing 1/2 lb. gunpowder, large box of gun caps, 14 carbine bullets and 70 pistol bullets.'(21)
The inquest was held the same afternoon before the Resident Magistrate and a jury of three - Messrs W. Hoops, W. Eaton and W. Dinsdale. The evidence given by the two Smiths and Kilpatrick confirmed that given by Detective McKenna. The jury brought in a verdict that the two men met their deaths by gunshot wounds, inflicted by police endeavouring to arrest them on a coroner's warrant for the murder of Patrick Hackett at Beverley.' Comment was made on the considerable amount of ammunition found on the men, and at the scene of the shooting. The report of the inquest stated, 'The jurors highly commend and approve of the public spirit and courage shown by Messrs W. & H. Smith and David Kilpatrick in thus risking their lives to assist Detective McKenna."
REFERENCES
- 19.*Ibid., McKenna's report.
- 20.*Ibid., McKenna's evidence.
- 21.*York, Occurrence Book, 17 September 1884.
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John's position in the Police Force made him very much a public figure. "Truthful Thomas", a well known social commentator of the time, published the following about Inspector McKenna in a book of caricatures of gentlemen of note in the community, entitled "Through the Spy-glass" (1905).
"If you want to get the right side of Inspector McKenna tell him you admire - his feet. He is inordinately proud of them, and every three or four minutes has a look to see if they are still there. He cannot buy boots small enough to fit him, so duplicates his eldest daughter's order. He was once transferred to the Goldfields, but he pined so for his old home at the Port that the authorities had to let him go back. Is a fairly good administrator, of undoubted personal courage, and has had a long and varied experience in nearly every part of the State, including the Nor' West. 'Nuggety' in build, with a full face and trim brown beard, with a symptom of the snow of years, is a credit to the 'foorce', and enjoys a well earned reputation."
There is a great deal on record concerning John's long and illustrious career with the Police Force. However it should also be remembered that as a husband, father and grandfather, he was greatly loved and respected as the head of his family, the pivot upon which it revolved.
Joan Heenan, John's grand-daughter remembers her Grandfather as a man of short stature who always wore a moustache. He had a habit of carrying silk handkerchiefs and in the latter part of his career his daily routine became more of a ritual. He would leave for work at the same time each day in uniform, his daughters Monica and Paddy would stand at the door with his jacket and a clothes brush ready to send him off. At midday he would return home and change into civilian clothes to eat his main meal of the day and then return to work. In the evening, while the rest of the family (which often included some of his grand-children) sat up to table for dinner, John would sit in an armchair in the corner and smoke a large cigar. There he would remain quite sedately amongst the chatter and activity of the evening until he retired at about 9.30pm.
That John had many dangerous and interesting experiences during his career is certain, the stories he told, however, usually involved the family. On one occasion he came very near to shooting his daughter Monica. As a policeman it was not uncommon for him to be the subject of threats and he was constantly aware of the danger those threats presented to his family. One evening whilst the family was living at 51 Swanbourne Street in Fremantle, John heard noises in the hallway downstairs and, convinced there was an intruder in the house, proceeded quietly down the stairs armed with his revolver. He by-passed the hallway and entered the dining room. The noises persisted and John crept silently into the hallway and bailed up a figure behind a red velvet curtain with his revolver. Pushing the weapon sharply into the ribs of the intruder, he ordered them to surrender themselves or be shot. At that announcement, poor Auntie Monnie fainted at his feet.
Joan expressed the view that the family, and in particular her grandmother Ellen, felt that it was their duty to protect people from their "dear brave" father and husband. On another occasion, when there was in fact a trespasser on his front verandah in Swanbourne Street, John tackled the man after approaching him from the bedroom, barefoot and dressed only in his pyjamas. A scuffle ensued and the man fell from the verandah, picked himself up and took flight across the road and through a paddock opposite the house - with John in hot pursuit. Realising that he was at a disadvantage in his bare feet and on rough ground, John picked up a large rock and took aim. His throw connected with the man's head, bringing him to the ground. By this time, great-grandmother was an interested spectator on the verandah and she shouted to the culprit "For God's sake man, run or he'll kill you!". John caught up with his victim after picking his way through stones and "double-gees". He then stood in the square of the man's back to protect his own feet and called to Ellen to fetch his slippers.
Incidents of unwelcome visitors sometimes had a more serious outcome. In July of 1882, while John was stationed at the 36 Mile Police Station and their family consisted of three young children, Ellen had been left alone with the children while John travelled to Perth, where he was to stay overnight. Edward McComish, a neighbour and an ex-policeman who had been dismissed from the force, wrongly blamed John for the dismissal and had made threats. In John's absence McComish came to the house and spoke to Ellen in such a manner as to make her uneasy. Ellen locked up the house and sat the children in the fireplace, soon after which McComish, who had positioned himself outside the house with a rifle, began firing shots at the house. Ellen armed herself with a rifle, opened one of the windows an inch or so, poked the rifle through the gap and prepared herself to sit through the night.
Fortunately, John had not been able to see his way clear to remain in Perth overnight with McComish's threats in mind. He decided instead to ride through the night in order to return home as soon as possible. As he arrived, he noticed McComish at the rear of the house by the stables and questioned his presence there. McComish claimed he meant no harm, but as John warned him off McComish pulled a knife. John struck him on the forearm with his riding whip forcing him to drop the knife and then tackled McComish, eventually securing him. The knife hung for some time in a silver case on the wall of the living room.
McComish was charged with shooting with intent to murder Ellen McKenna and a number of minor counts. He appeared in the Supreme Court of WA on 4 October 1882, Ellen appeared as a witness. The jury, after an hour's deliberation, found McComish guilty on the minor count of shooting with intent to do grievous bodily harm. He was sentenced to two years imprisonment with hard labour. It is interesting to note that there is no mention of the knife in the court proceedings as reported in the West Australian newspaper.
McComish is understood to have returned to the house at another time and found his way inside. He spoke to one of John's daughters and made a comment about the knife. John had been alerted to the man's presence and once again returned home before anyone was harmed.
Joan's pride in and respect for her grandfather is evident. She recalls the occasion when she was about nine or ten years old when the Prince of Wales, afterwards the Duke of Windsor, visited Perth and during a parade through the city streets the royal car had a mounted police escort. John was then Chief Inspector of Police.
The mounted police were before and behind the motor car, but John was on a large black horse right by the side of the car with his sword at attention and a peaked helmet with black plumes and a silver band. For the ten year old Joan, her grandfather outshone the Duke. When the entourage arrived at Government House, the Duke inspected the Guard of Honour and the Police Force and remarked to John, "I would give anything to be able to sit a horse like you".
John was not a tall man, but Joan recalls that he rode a "great big black horse", and was always very mettlesome. On State occasions when he was required to be on a horse, the police would bring the horse to his Mount Lawley house for him. He had a mounting block that stood about three feet high, which he used to get up onto the horse while somebody held the horse's head. He was a great horseman and on one occasion rode from Coolgardie to Esperance to arrest a man for murder, then returned to Coolgardie with the prisoner, both of them on horse back. The journey took several days.
The impression I have of my great-grandfather John, is that of a man of obvious courage, but not one to consider his actions as being anything other than in the course of his duty as a policeman. John's love of the "Force" was illustrated when he declined the office of Commissioner of Police to accept that of Chief Inspector, to avoid early retirement. He eventually retired at the age of 70 after having served with the police force in Western Australia for 50 years. He achieved the respect of many and a reputation shared by few.
Police Escort, HRH Prince of Wales, visit to Perth, 1 Jun 1920.
(John McKenna centre front in helmet)
DERBY; ZEKE; WALTER; JOHN; JACK; GERALD & CARL McKENNA
(Circa 1902)
John & sons Carl & Derby (Circa 1918)
Copyright © Christine Uphill 2000-2006
