Constables Norman Thomas Allan & Ernest AndrewsPrint Page

The monument over the grave, commemorates Police Constables Norman Thomas Allan and Ernest Andrews, who were killed in the line of duty, while trying to arrest a man of unsound mind in January 1931. The two policemen were buried side by side in the cemetery. 

"I am exercising the law and I will shoot you too." That, said Plainclothes Constable McGill, at the inquest yesterday, was what the Bondi maniac said to him when he asked Kennedy what he was doing. McGill took cover behind a car and was later handed dead Constable Allen's pistol, but it was jammed.  Constable Allen's tobacco pouch was pierced by bullets. Packets of ammunition and a rifle were displayed in court. The knife with which Kennedy attacked and mortally wounded Andrews also added a grim touch of realism as the story of last Saturday's swift and hideous drama was retold.

The City Coroner (Mr. E. A, May), found that Constables Allen and Andrews had been killed by Kennedy while he was of unsound mind and that Constable Johnson had justifiably shot Kennedy in the course of his duty. Mr. May said that he could hardly find words to express his appreciation of the great bravery of the constables. Some people might say that they were a little too brave, but there was no doubt that they took their lives in their hands in trying to arrest the madman without having to take his life. Mr. May then suggested that the Commissioner of Police might see his way clear to promote Allen and Andrews posthumously to the rank of sergeant and to present their next of kin with the King's Police Medal for meritorious service.
Telegraph (Brisbane),  9 January 1931.

Dignity and simplicity marked the ceremony of unveiling a monument to two police constables, Norman Thomas Allen and Ernest Andrews, at the Rookwood Cemetery yesterday. Allen and Andrews were shot at Waverley on January 3 last by a lunatic whom they tried to arrest. Armed with a repeating rifle, the man threatened a shopkeeper, and then walked down a street waving the weapon and endangering the lives of people who passed him. After shooting the two constables, he was himself shot dead. Impressed by the constables' high sense of duty, and by their conduct, which, as the Chief Secretary (Mr. Gosling) said at the ceremony yesterday, was an Inspiration to all men in public life, the Government of New South Wales ordered the erection of the monument at Rookwood where the two policemen were buried side by side. 

Surmounting a plain stone slab on which the names of the two constables are inscribed, the monument is of simple design in sandstone, about nine feet high, with a carved bronze plate on the front giving bare details of the incident in which they lost their lives. On each side of the monument is a brass urn, and at the base is a wreath in relief. Standing in a new section of the cemetery where there are few other stones, it is a conspicuous and an attractive object. Both constables were popular with their fellow-members of the police force, and 180 men, including officers, from all metropolitan police divisions were on parade at the monument yesterday to pay homage to their memory. The Commissioner of Police (Mr. Childs) was present, and other officers were the acting metropolitan superintendent (Mr. E. D. Irving), Inspectors Roberts, Weir, Winter, Duffell, Patinson, Robinson, Mortimer, O'Brien, Carman, Farley, White, and Walsh. Members of the Water Police were also present.

Mr. Gosling, in unveiling the monument, said that the occurrence which led to the two constables losing their lives was only one of the tragic happenings which showed the serious risks that were daily run by the police in protecting public life and property. In this case, the two men were in the prime of life, with promising careers of public service before thm. With the splendid sense of duty and spirit of self-sacrifice that characterised the police force generally, they did not hesitate when danger confronted them. They recognised that on them rested the responsibility of protecting the public, and they gave their lives in a gallant effort to do that. No greater tribute could be paid to any man than to say that he died in the fearless and conscientious discharge of a public duty. To the memory of the two brave men they humbly paid that tribute.
The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW), 8 October 1931.

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