Assumed names to be given to Agents Assumed names to be given to Agents

Public Record Office Victoria

Public Record Office Victoria (State Archives of Victoria, Australia)
North Melbourne, Australia

These memorandums, from ACP Chomley and dated the 12.04.188, were sent to various towns within the North Eastern District with instructions that the identities of all the secret agents working for the police were to be kept confidential. Code names were given to all those agents and police officers were asked to refer to them only by these names. In the period the Kellys went into hiding, the police employed secret agents and search parties to track down the outlaws. By late 1879 & early 1880, disputes over Secret Service monies started to arise. ACP Nicolson argued that search parties were ineffective and costly: he believed that the agents, the majority of whom belonged to the same social class as the outlaws, were a far more effective way of procuring information.

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Details

Title: Assumed names to be given to Agents Assumed names to be given to Agents
Creator: Public Record Office Victoria, Public Record Office Victoria
Date Created: 1881-04-12
Provenance: VPRS 4965 P0 UNIT 2 ITEM 7 RECORD 1, VPRS 4965 P0 UNIT 2 ITEM 7 RECORD 1
Transcript:
Sergt Whelan Benalla. Police Department, CHIEF COMMISSIONERS OFFICE, Melbourne, 12 April 1881Memo, With a view to protect the interest of those persons who were paid by this Department for secret services in connection with the search for the Kelly gang, it is most desirable that when they be hereafter mentioned, or referred to in any way, names be used differing from those which they have hitherto borne. Assist Commr Nicolson, and Superints Hare and Sadleir, desire that in hereafter alluding to the undermentioned police agents, all persons connected with the Force give him the name indicated below. They regard the matter as one of much importance, and I beg that Sergeant Whelan will be careful to comply with their wish. A M Chomley Acting Chf Commr Police Agent to be known as Cherry Sherrington Ferguson Finlay Hines Hewson Kennedy Denny Kirwan Renwick Quin Foote West Watts
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