Four generations of Police service honoured

As Police today remember the 81 officers who have courageously given their lives in the line of duty, the contribution of a civilian volunteer who paid the ultimate price while serving Police was also recently honoured.

With Police gathering to pay tribute to their fallen colleagues at the annual Australasian and South Pacific Police Remembrance Day today, they also last month paid tribute to the remarkable contribution of four generations of the Quirke family, who have served New Zealand Police during some of its darkest hours, in a ceremony at Mangatainoka Cemetery, near Pahiatua.

Police Commissioner Peter Marshall, Police Association President Greg O’Connor, members of the extended Quirke family and Police members, gathered at the cemetery to unveil the refurbished headstone of Michael Patrick (“Mick”) Quirke, believed to be the only civilian volunteer killed while assisting Police. Police, along with the Police Association, shared the cost of the headstone’s refurbishment.

“It’s an honour to pay tribute to Mick Quirke, killed while helping Police track down a dangerous armed fugitive in April 1910,” Mr Marshall said. “The case is no less poignant for the passage of time, with the same manhunt claiming the life of Palmerston North Police officer John McGuire, reflecting the risks that policing still presents today.”

Also unveiled was a plaque honouring Mick Quirke’s parents, Michael and Mary Anne Quirke. It was Michael who began the family’s connection with law enforcement in 1866, when he joined the Armed Constabulary, an early forerunner to Police. Including Mick, the couple had nine children, two of whom, Thomas and James, went on to become Police officers in Palmerston North and Wellington respectively. Following the death of Mick Quirke, Thomas named his newborn son Mick in honour of his fallen brother – with Mick Jnr becoming a Police officer too.

Mick Jnr’s cousin, James Darcy Quirke, also served Police. During the manhunt for gunman Stanley Graham on the West Coast in October 1941, he fired the fatal shot that put an end to Graham’s rampage.

Today, the connection continues with James’s son Terry Quirke, a Police armourer. Other extended family members continue to serve in both New Zealand and Australia.

“This is an opportunity to pay tribute to a family with an inter-generational ethic of service,” Mr Marshall said.  “Their courage and dedication is in the finest traditions of the New Zealand Police, and I’m proud that Police has been able to play a small part in helping honour that contribution. It typifies the sort of service that many Police families have given and continue to give to their country and communities.”

A video of the Quirke rededication service van be found at:
https://www.police.govt.nz/featured/four-generations-police-service-honoured