In 19th-century East Gippsland, policing was defined by Victoria Police which was established in 1853.
The force had to operate across vast, remote and rugged country where colonial settlements came in many shapes and sizes.
Mounted police patrolled remote goldfields, squatting runs and timber camps, establishing isolated lockups and timber-slab stations in places like Bruthen, Omeo and Bairnsdale to try to maintain order.
This lockup was built during the Victorian gold rush and early settlement era, it was primarily used to hold the local drunk and disorderly or suspects awaiting transfer.
The lockup materials arrived in a tidy flatpack along with instructions on how to assemble the lockup.
The instructions were often embedded in the materials – like the markings on the floorboards.
Police lockups like this one were originally built in England and shipped to Australia.
This lockup is thought to have been erected in 1877 and last used in 1964.
It would likely have been provided to East Gippsland colonial settlement police via Melbourne and been dropped off as a nine square metre flat pack i.e. the same size as the lockup’s footprint.
Instructions described a concrete floor into which the four sides of a cage of steel bars would be inserted before the concrete set.
The timber cladding would have been added last.
Apart from the lockup’s door the iron bars made futile any attempt to escape by cutting through the timber of the walls.
The bars also created small barred windows (for fresh air) at the top of each wall.
This police lockup provides a vivid glimpse into one aspect of policing in the early days of colonial settlement in Bruthen.
During Victorian times, police officers were called constables or police constables.
They were however commonly nicknamed “Bobbies” or “Peelers” after Sir Robert Peel, the British Home Secretary who founded the modern Metropolitan Police in London in 1829.
The discovery of gold in various East Gippsland locations brought sudden population spikes, requiring the setup of justice precincts with lockups, court houses and police quarters.
Murder, rowdy railway camps, thievery, brawls, gold-digger disputes, encounters with bushrangers and sly grogging, kept the local police force busy across the 1800 and 1900s.
Troopers relied heavily on horses to cover large distances, managing law enforcement across remote and difficult bushland.
Beyond catching criminals, rural constables acted as gold receivers, agents for enquiries about missing persons, and registrars of births and deaths.
In the Bruthen fettlers hut a thoughtful exhibition provides visitors and locals alike with insights into the 19th Century history of the town.
The Bruthen hut would have accommodated fettlers in the early 1900s, keeping shelter close to where the railway lines were being built.
As the location of work was constantly moving, fettlers huts were designed to be easily transported by railway trucks.
A fettler’s job was to maintain railway tracks to ensure safe rail transportation and travel.
