Adelaide city council alone in paying a moiety towards the cost of policing in its area from 1861 to 1938
The Adelaide police offices in King William Street, Adelaide, in 1850s/60s. This building was demolished to make way for the new general post office.
Image courtesy State Library of South Australi
From 1861 until 1938, the City of Adelaide was the only local council authority on the Australian continent to pay a moiety to the colonial/state government towards cover the cost of police duties in its area.
In 1861, the South Australian government imposed a police moiety on Adelaide city corporation for the protection of its citizens by reducing its annual grant to the corporation by £3,000. This increased yearly until in 1873 the corporation successfully petitioned parliament to make the amount equal to the cost of 10 constables working in the city.
Elsewhere, district constables were appointed by South Australian district councils for 12-month terms to maintain the law and protect life and property in rural districts where police officers weren’t available. From 1861, district constables, not members of the police force, were allowed in city districts.
The South Australian government put a price on other policing in the 19th Century, with theatres and other organisations needing crowd control for events paying a fee for one or more constables to attend.
Due to the colony’s early lack of funding, the Adelaide central police administration offices were housed with the court rooms on the former Queen’s Theatre in Gilles Arcade, between Currie and Waymouth streets, Adelaide.
These offices later moved next to the general post office in King William Street, Adelaide, in the early 1850s until the 1660s when they were demolished to make way for a new general post office. The police offices then took over the supreme court building in Angas Street on Victoria Square.
