The remembrance day is observed across Australia on September 29, but this year, in line with other states and jurisdictions, the Victorian march and service for National Police Remembrance Day was observed on Friday.
It honours and remembers the officers killed since Victoria Police was established in 1853, including three at Horsham and Nhill.
The first, in 1892, was Sub-Inspector Edward Hall, who was travelling back to Horsham from Warracknabeal with police magistrate James McLuckie when their police-issued horse-drawn buggy overturned when it hit a stump. He sustained chest injuries after he was thrown from the buggy and later died in hospital at the age of 56.
In 1912, Constable Edmund Crimmin was riding his horse along Horsham’s O’Callaghans Parade when he turned to pursue a cyclist who was riding on the footpath. The horse cantered and Const Crimmin was pulled from the saddle and ‘crashed headlong’ to the roadway. He died in hospital the same day.
In 1922, Constable Edward O’Neill was riding across the water reserve at Nhill, west of the golf links, when his horse caught its left fetlock in a hole. Const O’Neill was thrown to the ground, struck in the head by a hoof, and rendered unconscious. He was taken to hospital and operated on, but died more than two weeks later from septic meningitis caused by a compound fracture at the base of the skull.
National Police Remembrance Day coincides with Blue Ribbon Day, an initiative of the Blue Ribbon Foundation, which raises money for new and improved emergency facilities in Victorian public hospitals that are then named in memory of fallen officers.
“We will always value the bravery, service and commitment of members who have paid the ultimate sacrifice while protecting their community,” Comm Patton said.
“They will never be forgotten.”
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