New book by Dr Anastasia Dukova

To Preserve and Protect: Policing Colonial Brisbane

Dr Anastasia Dukova has recently published a new book To Preserve and Protect: Policing Colonial Brisbane (University of Queensland Press, 2020). For more information, see the publisher's website: https://www.uqp.com.au/books/to-preserve-and-protect-policing-colonial-brisbane

Book description:

"This book is a study of the police of Brisbane from 1828 to the early 1900s. It examines the individuals and the institution, and traces the transition from convict police to the professional, centrally organised Queensland Police Force. Sociology demonstrates that individuals and society, biography and history are inextricably linked: an individual ‘lives out a biography, and lives it out within some historical sequence. By the fact of this living, [the individual] contributes, however minutely, to the shaping of this society and to the course of history, even as [they are] made by society and by its historical push and shove.’ (Mills) This book explores the inner life and external career of a variety of individuals, including colonial police officers Peter ‘Duff’ Murphy, Samuel Sneyd, Samuel Lloyd, Thomas Tyrrell and James Nethercote, as well as the criminals they policed, such as Susan McGowan and Charles Durant. By recreating the biographies of these individuals and placing them within the wider setting of the police organisation and the society it served, To Preserve and Protect: Policing Colonial Brisbane reveals how the colonial society both formed and was formed by the individuals within it. In its essence, this book is a history of interactions between the police and the policed."

Advance reviews:

‘These colonial stories are vitally important for our organisation to remember and celebrate as they map our heritage and journey over the past two centuries. This book also illustrates the crucial changes and developments that have shaped our organisation over the past 155 years. I am proud to reflect on the unique Brisbane policing history and acknowledge our journey.’ - Katarina Carroll, Commissioner of the Queensland Police Service

‘To Preserve and Protect is an example of criminal justice history at its best … incorporating the voices of both police and the policed to provide a unique perspective on Brisbane’s past.’ - Professor Dean Wilson, School of Law, Politics and Sociology, University of Sussex, UK