John Ahern
Profile:
Earliest/Latest known date
1864 - 1890
Date of Birth:
Unknown
Date of death
16-Sep-1893
Place of birth
Donickmore, County Cork, Ireland
Officer’s reason for departure
Retired
Location of grave
Toowong (Brisbane General) cemetery.
Marriage
Mary Thynne (m. May 1882)
Rank/Position:
Constable: 1864 - 1867.
Senior Constable: 1867 - 1868.
Acting Sergeant: 1868 - 1877.
2/C Sub-Inspector: 1877 - 1881.
2/C Inspector: 1881 - 1881.
1/C Sub-Inspector: 1881 - 1890.
1/C Inspector: 1890
Travelling Inspector: 1890
“I was glad to see Inspector John Aherne turn up, for he was amongst the best known and most efficient police officers in Western Queensland, who had secured to that district its meed of safety to person and property and had grown with the district, thereby knowing the ins-and-outs of stockman and boundary rider, shearer and teamster, and with an insight into the inner thoughts of cattle or horse stealers. ... Like most Irishmen he loved a good horse and kept a few good ones.”
Biography:
John Ahern was of a kindly disposition and a pleasant companion outside his official work. He was always a welcome visitor at the station homestead. He was a splendid judge of horses and cattle, and at many a race meeting he had a well-bred youngster, who won him a trifle from the bookmakers. Although he had the reputation of being penurious, he was generosity itself to those he considered deserving of help, and many a struggling business man has had to thank John Ahern for the use of his name when money was required. In connection with his profession he had studied criminal law, and it was seldom he made any mistake in conducting a case or sheeting home a charge. Certainly he often put the professional lawyers right, and would not scruple to speak his mind to magistrates whom he knew to be wrong in their interpretation of the law. ... Sergeant Ahern gained great praise for his clever detection and capture of the notorious criminals who mustered Mount Cornish cattle on Wellshot country and drove the stolen animals to the auction yards at Adelaide. The incident, romantically coloured, is familiar to all readers of Boldrewood's historical novel "Robbery under Arms”.
POSTINGS:
1864: Springsure
1867: Barcoo River (aka Victoria)
1886 - 1887: Charleville
1875 - 1880: Blackall
1876: Diamantina River