At separation on 10 December, 1859, the state of Queensland stretched over 400 square miles, or over a thousand square kilometres, with the majority of usable land taken up by squatters and pastoralists. Stock killing and cattle stealing were endemic. Considerably more offences occurred than the subsequent arrests as police found it difficult to contain the stock stealing situation in a vast and sparsely settled countryside. An added difficulty was obtaining a guilty verdict from juries. One explanation was that many of the jury members would not shy away from a bit of cattle duffing on the side themselves. The situation did not improve significantly even after formation of the Queensland Police Force in 1864.
In 1872 Queensland Parliament passed the Brands Act, which instituted a system of registered brands. Inspectors of slaughter-houses were required to furnish weekly lists of brands in respect of cattle that had been slaughtered. Re-branding stolen stock was a commonplace practice at the time. Stealing cattle was a felonious offence with a significant sentence of multiple years’ imprisonment with hard labour.
Between 1886 and 1887, a rash of arrests for cattle stealing followed by successful convictions were made in Eton, a rural town 25 km south-west of Mackay. Situated in the heart of cane growing country, the small town with a population of 28 residents had a considerable catchment of farming stations, a large meat preserving and extract place, and a dairy factory. Despite the small scale of the settlement, “the place was infested with a gang of cattle stealers.” The chief of one of gang was a woman.
The Queenslander, Saturday 12th March 1887, Page 401.
Sarah Ann Kennedy was born in Victoria, her father Israel Lowe, came to Australia from England. It is unknown if Sarah was an only child, but she had eight children herself. A single glance told you that Sarah was no shrinking violet; she had a scar over right eye and a scar over left. It was said she broke her own stock horses. For some time, her seven strong gang, was successful in evading prosecution. On several occasions, the marauders stole the cattle from a local station and sold it to the local butcher by producing false stock receipts.
In 1886, Constable Michael Carmody received his transfer to Eton. At first he was judged to be a ‘rather sleepy sort of man’. PC Carmody bid his time and after months of arduous pursuit put together a ‘good convicting evidence’ which resulted in a guilty verdict at the Mackay District Court sittings in March, 1887. Sarah Kennedy and her father, Israel Lowe, were found guilty of stealing and killing a heifer. The prisoners were recommended for mercy, and at the sitting of the court were sentenced to twelve months penal servitude with hard labour. Israel Lowe was sent to serve his sentence at her majesty’s penal establishment at St Helena, while Sarah’s sentence was changed to imprisonment with hard labour at Toowoomba Gaol.
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This information has been supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available. The article was written by Museum Volunteer and Crime and Policing Historian Dr Anastasia Dukova. The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Friday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane.
Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au
“FROM the VAULT – Cattle Stealing” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence.
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