Since I had mentioned Constable Fitzpatrick in the blog intro and seeing as how he is the main cause of all the Kelly trouble, it is only fitting that the first post is about him. On April 29, 2010 the Macedon Ranges Leader had an article
(here) about the history of Lancefield in which I found this tasty tidbit:
"Earlier, Constable Alexander Fitzpatrick was involved in a scandal at Irish hotel the Shamrock. “He was seen descending down the outside of the chimney of the Shamrock Hotel towards the ladies rooms...."
Sure would like some more details on that episode!
If you look at the archives you will notice that despite what you read he was considered a good policeman by the locals of Lancefield. There was a petition to try & keep him & it was signed by a wide group of professions. So whilst we may see him as the reason Ned went bad, at the time he was seen as a good bloke. Is also of interest that the local pub was robbed by a bogus Kelly Gang.
ReplyDeleteDave, remember what Sr Constable Mayes (who was Fitzpatrick's senior officer in Lancefield) said of Fitzpatrick?
ReplyDelete"..that he was not fit to be in the police force; that he associated with the lowest persons in Lancefield; that he could not be trusted out of sight, and that he never did his duty.”
Mayes was an excellent officer and Superintendent Hare had nothing but praise for him, calling him his right hand man during the cave parties.
It seems that no matter where FitzP went he made waves. Check this out from one of the Standish letters in the PROV:
"Constable Fitzpatrick while on special duty in Sydney conducted himself in a most unsatisfactory manner; he was lazy, neglectful of his duty and associated with improper characters.."
Sound familiar?
Re the petition got up in Lancefield for keeping Fitzpatrick, seems that the old adage is true: you can fool some of the people all of the time, can fool all of the people some of the time but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time! Fitzpatrick was like an accident looking for a place to happen!
Still, all in all, I can imagine that Fitzpatrick was quite charming when he wanted to be!
Yes, I recall about the Lancefield robbery, that was in August of 1879 and an incident occurred on the trip to investigate it that caused Sr Cons Tom King (who came down to Victoria in March of that year with O'Connor and the trackers) to be sent back to QLD. More's the pity, would have loved to have seen how he would have conducted himself at Glenrowan!
Sharon, Greg Y. has referred me to your site, very interesting indeed. I love reading about Lancefield as it is only a few K;s, up the road from my home and little town, I have taken some wonderful photos of the bank, hotels etc, still standing in Lancefield if you speeak to our mutual friend, he may send some on...
ReplyDeleteHello, and thanks for stopping by and for your approval of our little endeavour here, it means a great deal to me! (note to others: I know who this is, so I have relaxed the no anonymous comments rule!)
ReplyDeleteI will most certainly get Greg to fwd me some of the photos of you which you speak. Keep checking back there is more to come!