Victorian Mounted Police

Much like their northern counterparts in New South Wales, the Victorian Mounted Police force was founded as a mounted police unit to deal with policing duties in the Australian state of Victoria. It has continuously operated as a mounted police unit for more than 170 years. It is the mounted branch of the Victoria Police.

Victoria Mounted Police 1875

History

The Victorian Mounted Police was founded sometime before the 1850s, already existing as a distinct unit before the formation of the Victorian Police in 1853, and there are early newspaper reports of the unit dating to 1848.[1] The Victorian Police was formed in 1853 from distinct police units that existed at that time, including the border police, the gold escorts, the tracker unit, the metropolitan police and the Victorian Mounted Police.[2] The unit used the Dandenong Police Paddocks for their horses from 1851.[3]

The early history of the unit saw the mounted police work on the Goldfields, relieving the British 40th Infantry, who were using horses to provide escorts to gold transports in 1857. Early police workforce social makeup was split in the Victorian Colonies. The foot police tended to be of Irish extraction, whereas the mounted police were ex military, from British Cavalry units. In the 1850s the mounted police were armed with both a sword and a carbine.[4]

The unit later was later involved in activity against bush rangers of the period in Victoria including Frank McCallum ("Captain Melville"), Power and Ned Kelly and his gang. The service was seen as a sought after career by people at the time, with essential criteria for joining including that "one must be between 20 and 25 years of age, and at least 5 ft. 9 in. in height." Pay at the time, was "commencing at 6/6 per day, rises by gradation, to S/6 to 11/" [5][6] The size of the force has varied over time. In 1899 it was 350.[7]

In the early 1900s some of the unit were issued with bicycles instead of horses, as a cost saving measure.[8]

The Victorian Mounted Police moved out of their Melbourne city Southbank stables which had been used by them continuously since 1912, into new purpose built stables in Attwood near Melbourne Airport in 2016.[9]

The unit had its own breeding program for much of its history, which ended in 2006 when they started to source horses commercially.

Modern duties
Victoria Mounted Police patrolling Melbourne City centre near Federation Square, 2016

Victorian Mounted Police do a range of duties, including bush searches for lost people, crowd control, public relations and attending sports events.[10]

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References
  1. "Domestic Intelligence", The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.: 1848 - 1957) Fri 22 Dec 1848
  2. "Victoria Police", Museums Victoria, https://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/articles/2516
  3. Fels, MH. "The Dandenong Police Paddocks: land history and use" 1851-1988. Melbourne, 1988: 1 vol.
  4. G. Buckmaster. "Victorian Mounted Police: 50 years ago", Camperdown Chronicle (Vic.: 1877 - 1954), Tuesday, 2 February 1915
  5. Australia's Mounted Police, Leader (Melbourne, Vic.: 1862 - 1918, 1935), page 25, Saturday, 2 December 1911
  6. G. Buckmaster. "Victorian Mounted Police: 50 years ago", Camperdown Chronicle (Vic.: 1877 - 1954), 2 Feb 1915
  7. "Recruiting the Mounted Police: A day at the Depot", Geelong Advertiser (Vic.: 1859 - 1929), 30 Nov 1899, p. 6
  8. "Victorian Mounted Troopers", Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld.: 1878 - 1954), Friday, 17 July 1903
  9. Simon Leo Brown. "Victoria-police-horses-move-from-southbank-stables", ABC Radio, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-25/victoria-police-horses-move-from-southbank-stables/7198734?pfmredir=sm
  10. Carolyn Webb. "Police-stables-in-southbank-to-close-after-104-years", February 12, 2016 , The Age, https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/police-stables-in-southbank-to-close-after-104-years-20160210-gmqt1z.html
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