A team of archaeologists and museum curators have commenced a search at the former Mount Larcom police station in Queensland for a buried cache of documents believed to have been hidden nearly 40 years ago by a local police officer. The effort aims to uncover materials reportedly saved from destruction during a period marked by widespread police corruption in the state.
The search stems from an account shared last December by a retired officer with the Queensland Police Museum in Brisbane. According to the retired officer, the late Constable Edward Robb, who served alone at Mount Larcom in the 1980s, disobeyed orders to incinerate files older than a decade and instead buried them beneath the police station’s backyard. Museum collections manager Katherine Figueiredo said Robb faced a “moral quandary” about destroying the records, suggesting the documents could contain sensitive information related to police misconduct during the era of then-Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen.
Bjelke-Petersen’s administration ended after the 1987-1989 Fitzgerald Inquiry, which exposed significant corruption within Queensland’s police force and government, leading to the imprisonment of several ministers and the police commissioner. Whether Robb’s cache relates directly to those events remains unknown.
Mount Larcom, a small central Queensland town situated between Rockhampton and Gladstone, holds a broader historical significance. Initially established as a railway settlement with a substantial German immigrant population from 1910, the town was affected by wartime policies that required German-Australians to register as “enemy aliens,” some being interned during both world wars. There is speculation that Robb’s buried files might include records related to these internments.
More distant history also looms over the site. In 1855, the region witnessed violent clashes known as the frontier wars, including attacks between Indigenous people and settlers, followed by retaliatory killings involving settlers and mounted police. While these events predate the founding of the police station in 1916, historians have expressed interest in any documents that might shed light on that period or its aftermath.
The excavation team, which includes University of Queensland lecturer and archaeologist Dr. Caitlin D'Gluyas, has been conducting trenches in the police station’s grounds despite lacking precise information about the cache’s location. Local metal detector readings have so far been inconclusive, leaving the team to search more broadly for disturbed soil and metal remnants that might indicate buried materials.
Initial digging has uncovered common artefacts such as porcelain shards, old belt buckles, and discarded consumer items rather than the anticipated files. The effort is limited by time and volunteer manpower, intensifying the urgency of the search.
Local resident Alice Major, an 87-year-old lifelong resident of Mount Larcom, expressed support for Robb’s alleged decision to preserve the documents. She emphasized the value of retaining historical records rather than destroying them without consideration. Major also recalled the impacts of wartime internment on members of the community and lamented the loss of local council archives during administrative amalgamations.
As the excavation continues, investigators acknowledge the uncertainty surrounding what, if anything, remains buried beneath the station’s yard. The findings may contribute to understanding a contested chapter in Queensland’s police history and shed light on broader historical issues affecting the region.