A spur-of-the-moment decision by Constable Peter "Wombat" McDonald to stop for toilet break in the remote south of the ACT almost certainly saved the life of a man who had been trapped for hours under heavy machinery.
It was more than 50 years ago when one of the ACT's first dedicated rural patrol officers had been driving along a lonely gravel road in Tidbinbilla and had stopped to relieve himself against a tree near the now-famous "mineshaft", just off the gravel of the Cotter Road.
And he heard a faint cry for help.
The resourceful constable scrambled through the bush and tracked the cry to a driver who had rolled his heavy front-end loader off the mineshaft and into the deep scrub. The man had been driving the loader for the construction of the Bendora to Cotter pipeline.
"The bloke was in a shocking way; he was pinned down with broken legs and a broken pelvis and he had battery acid dripping down on him," the former police officer said.
"If I hadn't stopped in that place at that particular time well, I don't think it would have worked out for him."
Constable McDonald, police badge number 133, had been raised on a Victorian sheep and cattle station so when he became a Commonwealth officer - well before the Australian Federal Police was created - he was an obvious choice to take on the relatively new and challenging rural patrol role which encompassed over 1700 square kilometres of the most remote areas of the ACT.
However, it was a shock to him when he was handed the keys to his new patrol vehicle: a bog standard Volkswagen Beetle with chunky winter tread tyres on the back.
"I wasn't impressed," the veteran officer recalled.
Every workday morning, he would pack his sandwiches and head off from City Police Station on Northbourne Avenue - as the Tuggeranong police station wasn't to exist until decades later - and drive the Beetle to the farthest points of the compass within the ACT, mostly on gravel roads and equipped with only an axe, a shovel, a high frequency radio, and his trusty Browning revolver in a shoulder holster.
In the south of the territory at the time, only the Monaro Highway was bitumen. His "beat" went from Hall in the north, to Hole Creek in the far south, and west to the Scabby Ranges.
"Once you left the city, there was no radio communication to speak of, and telephone landlines were few and far between out in the bush," he said.
"In rural patrol, working on your own, you had to be pretty resourceful and capable of getting yourself out of trouble. If I got bogged I usually managed to dig myself out but occasionally I had to walk to the nearest farm and get towed by a tractor."
There were over 250 rural landholders in the ACT at the time, and he got to know them all. Common offences at the time included theft from properties including livestock. There were no on-the-spot fines, and he had to serve all court summons by hand.
Gate access to some properties was locked off but Constable McDonald had a special issue skeleton key which opened them all.
The Beetle didn't last long; within 12 months it had mechanically failed and "Wombat" was pleased to be upgraded to a Holden ute.
The role of the ACT Rural Patrol - one of the most sought-after positions in ACT police - hasn't changed significantly in 60 years but the equipment and the resources available to the officers, who now patrol in pairs, most certainly has. Canberra's suburbs have now spread well into the areas once considered rural.
The Beetle is long gone, replaced by a hulking, turbo-diesel V8 Toyota LandCruiser with every imaginable form of recovery equipment, twin spare tyres, UHF radio, police digital radios and satellite phone, GPS, chainsaw, snow chains, onboard fridge and even a drone.
Road quality has improved significantly which makes the job easier but the rural patrol are still called out in all weathers, with lost bushwalkers, stolen and burnt-out cars, theft, hooning and trespass among the most common calls for service. When snow falls in the Brindabellas, there's almost certain to be calls for assistance as a result of collisions, blocked traffic, cars run off the road, or a combination of all three.
Superintendent Rod Anderson, who served in the rural patrol 30 years ago and is now in charge of the entire South District in the ACT, said that particular police duty was one he really enjoyed. Stopping off to visit farmers, having a yarn and a cup of tea was all part of the job
"It's different to patrolling in suburbia; it's not your regular report crime, investigate, prosecute and put before court role," he said.
"There's a lot of building trust with the rural community, talking to people; it's a genuine grassroots policing role."
He said the role, now based out of Tuggeranong station, was attractive to ACT police who had come to the territory from a rural or country area and the strategy now was to give more officers a knowledge of the basic skillsets required to perform the role, including how to recover a vehicle or use a "snatch" strap to pull out a bogged vehicle, so there was always an inbuilt redundancy.
A number of requests and queries from landholders and land managers now come to the patrol on a dedicated email address so this helps them to plan their weekly patrol activities.
We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.
