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Guarding the Shrine
BY KATRINA NICOLSON
On a frosty August morning in 1935, the newly formed Victoria Police Shrine Guard started its first watch. Its members came from an elite group of highly decorated First World War veterans selected by Thomas Blamey, then Chief Commissioner of Police, to protect the Shrine of Remembrance and its environs from petty pilferers and vandals. Two were already police constables; 12 others especially volunteered to join Victoria Police for service at the Shrine.
Their appointment followed much debate as to how the Shrine should be guarded and by whom. Following a request from the State Government, in February 1933 Victoria Police tasked a three-man guard to provide temporary security while a permanent solution was decided.
The Premier, Sir Stanley Argyle, took the view that a military guard would be most appropriate as it would maintain the Shrine’s links with Defence forces and could be drawn from men who had seen active service during the war. The Federal Government advised, however, that as military guards held no powers of arrest such a deployment was inappropriate. It instead granted permission for suitably qualified members of the Victoria Police to wear the uniform and equipment of an Australian soldier while on guard duty.
The Shrine employed returned servicemen whenever possible and the Shrine Guard was to be no exception. In addition, the Guard must be experienced men of the highest calibre with military decorations. There were not enough serving police who met the requirements, and civilians who did were over the normal police recruitment age.
The Police Regulations were altered to allow for older recruits and to extend the retirement age to 60, specifically so the guard would be eligible for police pensions. On 14 December 1934, the following advertisement was placed in the Government Gazette and daily newspapers:
Applications are invited for Appointment to the Police Force from Returned Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen, who served with distinction in the late war. The distinguished nature of the service will be an important factor in the selection of candidates. Appointments will be made primarily for special guard duty, but successful applicants will be sworn in as members of the Police Force, and be subject to police discipline and general police duty as required …
More than 250 men applied. For some, such as George Ingram VC, it was the culmination of a long-held ambition to work at the Shrine, doing a ‘soldier’s job’. For others, such as George Blyth MM, it ‘looked like a good job’ and better than the ‘slave house’ (General Motors) where he had been employed. Fourteen men were finally selected and sworn in as Victoria Police on 8 April 1935. Following several months of training in their special responsibilities and police duties, they commenced guard on 21 August 1935.
Following police protocol, they were led by Senior Constable Herbert Leslie Newland, and James Joseph Brady MM, both veterans.
As it is today, protecting the Shrine was the guards’ primary task, but they also guarded Government House. They worked over three shifts to cover the monument and grounds 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, enforcing the Shrine Reserve’s regulations. They also provided ceremonial support for the increasing number of memorial services and pilgrimages to the Shrine.
The Shrine Guard maintained its service throughout the Second World War, with recruits replacing those who retired. By the mid-1950s, however, numbers began to dwindle, with only a few original guards left and few eligible men to replace them. In a stopgap measure, their retirement age was increased to 65. Enrolment was then opened to men who had served in British or other Allied forces. By the end of the 1960s, the rule requiring overseas service was relaxed, and in 1969 the first National Serviceman was recruited.
Melbourne was the site of some of the largest moratorium marches protesting the war in Vietnam. The marches had passed the Shrine on St Kilda Road, but until 23 April 1971 it remained inviolate. Shortly after midnight, Constable T. Wratten allegedly disturbed two men daubing the word ‘Peace’ and peace symbols on the Shrine’s northern columns. He alleged they and two co-offenders assaulted him before they ran off. Such instances are few in the history of the Shrine.
As Jim Penna, former Shrine Guard and later Shrine volunteer, put it in a 1999 interview: It is as if the Shrine has an aura. When people approach the Shrine, they seem to recognise this and respect it.
By the late 1980s, Victoria Police itself was experiencing staff shortages and the role of the Shrine Guard was questioned. Various options were canvassed, from disbanding the Guard to increasing its number to 25 personnel. In 1990, the Shrine Trustees accepted Victoria Police’s solution to transfer Shrine Guard personnel and duties to the newly formed Victoria Police Protective Services Unit (PSU). In a further major shift, the requirement for the new Protective Service Officers (PSOs) to be ex-service personnel was removed.
This change was not without difficulty, as PSOs were also tasked with guarding other significant government buildings such as Parliament and Treasury. Special arrangements were made to train new PSOs in ceremonial drill. It was agreed that trained personnel would wear the Shrine Guard uniform during the day and the PSU uniform at night.
The uniform has evolved, but has always paid homage to both military and police service. The first guards wore the uniform and equipment of a private from the First World War, with the addition of Victoria Police insignia. Their collars held their Registered Number, their buttons were police issue, and their slouch hats displayed a Victoria Police ‘VP’ badge surrounded by a laurel wreath. (This badge was a surplus Victoria Regina (VR) badge from Queen Victoria’s reign, with the leg of the R modified into a P.) They carried the Lee-Enfield 303 rifle with bayonet, which is still carried on ceremonial duty today.
A summer-weight Australian Army uniform was permitted in 1945, and over time puttees gave way to gaiters over breeches. In around 1959, the emu feather was added to slouch hats, lending the guard the look of the Australian Light Horse. At night, the guards wore standard Victoria Police uniform. There have been various modifications in the years since, but the essential flavour of a Light Horse uniform has been retained.
Maintaining the equipment and uniform is a challenge. In the 1980s, a shortage of emu feathers led to an Australia-wide call for assistance, with plumes arriving from as far away as Queensland. In the 2010s, the Guard was glad to accept donations of Lee-Enfield rifles—one formerly used by the King of Siam’s personal guard in the 1920s.
Dressing for ceremonies takes an experienced person 20 to 30 minutes, but applying the spit polish shine to boots and ensuring all accoutrements are in order is a lengthier task.
The Guard now has a dedicated space within the Shrine with lockers for changing. It is a far cry from the days when the Shrine Trustees paid to have the path between the Government House guardhouse and the Shrine paved to prevent mud splashing on the Guards’ boots and gaiters before arriving for ceremonies.
While policing activities—such as ensuring people behave respectfully at the Shrine and do not exercise on the steps or skateboard on the forecourt—are generally benign, the weather is less so. Foggy mornings when the Eternal Flame can’t be seen from the North Door, freezing Melbourne nights with rain and hail, or stifling 40-degree summer days are all part of the experience.
The ceremonial function of the Guard is the most obvious to the public. They have participated in thousands of ceremonies at the Shrine and elsewhere over the years. These range from small ceremonies at unit trees with only one or two Guards, to services in the Sanctuary to significant events such as Anzac Day and Remembrance Day.
Every day, regardless of the weather, they raise and lower the flags on the Shrine Forecourt and, each Sunday, they provide ceremonial support for the Last Post Service. They have travelled overseas to Montbrehain, France, the site of Ingram’s Victoria Cross and Blyth’s Military Medal, to commemorate the centenary of that battle, to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra as an honour guard for the Unknown Australian Soldier’s burial, to the MCG for the Victoria Police and Emergency Services Games, and to many other towns across Victoria in support of commemoration. Significantly, each year they mount guard at the Police Memorial on Blue Ribbon Day, in honour of all Victoria Police who have died in the line of duty.
For many members of the Shrine Guard, their positive interactions with the public are a highlight of their role. They sometimes develop bonds with people they meet at specific services year after year, fostering a sense of unity, and happily pose for photographs with the public.
The Shrine Guard has evolved over the years. Protective Services Officers from diverse backgrounds now fill the ranks and, as with other areas of policing, women are included in their number. No longer required to be veterans, they are trained in the military drill required to maintain their ceremonial function.
They demonstrate a sense of pride and commitment to their role. Perhaps PSO Marie-Anne Thomas, the first female Shrine Guard, said it best when interviewed in November 1995: No other place compares with the Shrine, the atmosphere is so serene. ...and my job is to make sure the peace of the Shrine is never jeopardised.
Operational requirements may mean they only don their iconic uniform for ceremonial occasions, but the Shrine Guard continues to protect the Shrine and its visitors 24 hours a day, every day of the year, just as those original men did in 1935.
Katrina Nicolson is the Exhibitions Coordinator at the Shrine of Remembrance.
