In part 1 of this three-part blog, The Murders that Changed Queensland Forever, we discussed the actual murders of Constable George
Doyle and Carnarvon Station Manager Albert Dahlke, by the brothers James and Patrick Kenniff. What appeared to be a relatively
straightforward case proved to have significant and far-reaching
political ramifications. In this edition of the blog we discuss the trial of the
Kenniff’s, and the events that unnerved Queenslanders.
Sir Samuel Griffith
In part 1 of this three-part blog, The Murders that Changed Queensland Forever, we discussed the actual murders of Constable George
Doyle and Carnarvon Station Manager Albert Dahlke, by the brothers James and Patrick Kenniff. What appeared to be a relatively
straightforward case proved to have significant and far-reaching political ramifications. In this edition of the blog we discuss the trial
of the Kenniff’s, and the events that unnerved Queenslanders.
The murders and subsequent search for the Kenniff’s had garnered much public attention and so after being remanded in custody to Boggo Road gaol the transfer of the alleged murders by police railway prison van resulted in curious onlookers gathering at stations along the route. Indeed a huge crowd had gathered at Roma Street station, but all was in vain, as fearing a possible riot, police had removed the Kenniff’s at Milton station.
James and Patrick Kenniff.
The public were every much divided between those who believed the Kenniff’s guilty and those who professed their innocence. It was because
of this sentiment that the prosecution sought leave to try the Kenniff’s in Brisbane and not Roma. To this end the trial of Patrick and
James Kenniff for the murder of Constable Doyle commenced on 3 November 1902, before the Chief Justice, Sir Samuel Griffith. Rather than a
jury of their peers chosen at random and running the risk of the inclusion of Irish working-class families, who would have identified with
the Kenniff’s, a ‘special jury’ of “prominent” people was convened to hear the case. The Kenniff’s lawyer, a young Thomas Joseph
Ryan challenged the special jury “which he knew to be a guard against a sympathetic local jury” (The Australian 2023). This combined, with
the fact that the evidence was wholly circumstantial, only served to exacerbate feelings of injustice among the Kenniff’s supporters.
Another key fact in the affair was the sectarian divide between Catholic and Protestant. The Kenniff’s were Catholic and served as a lightning rod for the grievances of the Catholic community – lack of opportunity, exclusion from the political arena and prejudicial treatment in the community. When the ‘special jury’ convicted the Kenniff’s in less than an hour, protest was immediate and forceful. An appeal was filed, but it could only be made to the Full Court. Sir Samuel Griffith was a member of this court as was Justice Sir Pope Cooper, Justice Patrick Real and Justice Charles Chubb. All were members of the Protestant elite and despite the dissent of Justice Real on the guilt of James (remember he was in custody at the time of the murders) upheld the original verdict.
Protest again was fierce with a public meeting in Toowoomba attended by over 800 people, including the cities mayor. The Queensland government was bombarded with letters protesting the verdict and pleading for clemency. The Governor, Sir Herbert Chermside, was asked to intervene and allow the appeal to go to the Privy Council. The public pressure had some success with James’s sentence of hanging being downgraded to life imprisonment (he ended up serving 12 years). However, Patrick Kenniff was executed in Boggo Road Jail on 12 January 1903. Over 4000 people held a vigil outside the walls of the gaol on the evening of the execution. Patrick was buried with full Catholic ritual, in South Brisbane Cemetery ( a fact that was unique in itself as the usual practice was to bury such prisoners in unmarked graves).
The remains of Dahlke and Doyle, in contrast, were buried in a common grave at Tamrookum near Beaudesert. Their murders having been pushed aside by the events of the trial and subsequent hanging.
One would think that once again that would be the end of the story but as we shall see in part 3 of The Murder that Changed Queensland, more was to come – much more.
References:
Capture and Trial of the Kenniff Brothers. Sunday Mail 22 July 1934, retrieved from https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/97787689
Cameron, K.T. The Hunting Down of the Kenniffs – Queensland Desperadoes of 1902. Royal Historical Society of Queensland 1964.
Howe, A. Politics swings for the crime: how the states came to the end of the rope. The Weekend Australian. 2023.
