Robert Ronald Munro

   Cause of his death was Cancer of Liver.

  General Notes:

Robert Ronald Munro was born at Bullagreen on November 7 1905 the eleventh living child in a family of 14, there being 9 boys and 5 girls. Little is known today about his early childhood and schooling although it is known that most of his early education was obtained at a school in Gulargambone.

One fact that is known, is that at the age of 10 years he was left without his mother Annie, who passed away suddenly, leaving a husband and fourteen children. At this time the youngest child, called by all the family Bede, was only 10 months old. Of the other children, eight were under the age of fifteen, and the responsibility of raising them fell to an older sister, Myra, who was herself only eighteen years old. Perhaps this burden, which befell Myra at such an early age, had some bearing on the fact that she remained unmarried throughout the rest of her long life. At any rate it certainly did not embitter her as Myra was one of the nicest and most friendly persons you would ever wish to meet, and she remained so until her death at the age of 81.

Sometime during his early teen years the family moved to Krambach near Taree where his father became the licensee of the Krambach Hotel. Bob's first employment was apparently with the Manning River Dairy Company at Jones Island in the Manning River, first as a farm labourer, station hand and then in the factory itself as a factory hand, assistant engine driver and then what was known as a Herd Tester, which entailed going around the various district dairy's and testing the milk production for butter content.

In 1928 Bob moved to Sydney and enlisted in the Permanent Army as a Gunner in the Artillery, on an initial engagement period of 5 years, on 23 January 1928. On his enlistment he gave his trade as -butter maker-, as shown on his service record, a copy of which is attached. He told me during his later life that he did not like the army very much, and after a little over 2 years service he purchased his discharge, which took effect on 24 March 1930. This could be done in those days in a similar way to purchasing a bond from a trade or profession, if you left before your period of indenture had expired.

On obtaining his discharge from the Army, he then entered the service of the NSW Police Force (as it was then known) with the rank of Probationary Constable on 26 March 1930, and after successfully completing his probationary period, he was promoted to Ordinary Constable on 26 March 1930. Bob remained on the staff at the Police Depot in Redfern, until 1 July 1930 when he took up duty at the Metropolitan No. 1 Station in Sydney where he remained on general duties until May 1932 when (horror of horrors) he was transferred to Broken Hill, still on general duties. He returned to Sydney for his marriage to Connie Burland in November 1932.

After their honeymoon, the newly married couple returned to Broken Hill and set up home in rented premises. Now the world at that time was in the throes of what came to be known as “the Great Depression” but the Hill was not as badly affected as other parts of the country due to the full production in those years of the local silver mines. This of course made life a bit hard for anyone on non-miners wages such as public servants. But Bob every thrifty, was a good manager, and after a short time was able to buy an old touring car, and at the same time put a deposit on an old house, the address of which I have never forgotten: it was at 563 McGowan Street, and I am told it is still in existence and being lived in to this very day.

Now Bob always said in later years that the Hill had less crime per capita than any other place in Australia, due to the fact that the Union's controlled the town with an iron grip. But even so some incidents occurred that kept life interesting for a young police constable one slightly humourless happening occurred outside the local fight stadium one evening after the fights were over. Bob and another constable were standing to one side, watching the crowd come out of the stadium, just in case of any trouble, when two men began an altercation. Bob and his partner moved in to break it up and one of the antagonists took off up the street with Bob in hot pursuit. The runaway moved out on to the bitumen road, and was leaving Bob for dead, when he moved around a bank of parked cars and out of sight of the fight crowd, who of course were all standing around watching the fun. Whilst still out of the view of the interested crowd on the footpath the fleeing man ran onto a patch of oil which some jalopy had left on the road, and went flat on his face. Of course Bob (who by the way was bandy legged and could not run out of sight on a pitch black night) pounced on the offender, handcuffed him and frog-marched him back to the front of the stadium. The waiting onlookers were quite amazed, as the chap who Bob had arrested was known around Broken Hill as a runner of some repute. Bob never enlightened anyone around the Hill what had happened, and for years after was thought by many residents to be a foot runner of some ability.

Now, sometime in 1934, Bob was put in plainclothes and for a short while was acting Detective Constable and it was during this period that an arrest was made that became the crowing glory of his service in Broken Hill. For some time, a burglar of some ability who in police terms was known as a cat burglar had plagued the police and residents. I have never known whether it was by acting on a tip-off or a bit of brilliant deduction, but Bob and his partner, (another Bob) Const. R. Debney decided to keep watch on a local pawn shop. Sure enough one night they catch a local lad by the name of Kevin George Ford, coming out of a forced window of the pawnbroker's premises. They immediately arrested Ford, searched him found various objects and money on his person, placed him in the Police vehicle they were using and took him back to the station to charge him. During the charging procedure Ford was again searched and shock! Horror! Not one iota of the money or objects was to be found in Ford's possession. “Now how in hell do we prove this blankety blank case against this so and so without any evidence to connect him to the pawnshop”, says Bob M. But then he has a brainwave and dives out to the backyard of the station to search the police car they had brought Ford back to the station in. Ford had been handcuffed and placed in the back seat of the vehicle for the journey back to the station, and during the trip, even though firmly handcuffed, was able to poke the incriminating evidence down behind the back seat. Even though the evidence was now recovered their case against Ford was still weak, until Bob had another brainwave, and rang the owner of the pawn shop to see if he could identify any of the stolen objects. The owner was able to tell them that he had owned a rare coin, which he had kept in his till, and would be able to identify without any doubt. Sure enough the rare coin was amongst the money recovered from the space beneath the back seat. Case now in the bag. You little beaut! handshakes all round. The two Bobs' both received official commendations and endorsements on their service records for the good work performed on this night. Of course the Old Man (who was always good for spinning a yarn, even if you had heard it 10 times before, told this story many times over the next few years.

Life went along at a fairly mundane pace for the next few years, Bob carrying out his duties, especially the duties of forestry officer which he took very seriously, and many good trips into the barren countryside were taken in the old tourer by Mum and me, and baby Pam who came along in 1938. The only blot on the horizon was the weather, which was for the large part of the year stinking hot, interspersed with the dust storms, which Broken Hill in those years was quite famous for. The heat and dust storms got Mum down so much, that she prevailed on Bob to get a transfer and so in 1940 we left the Hill for the much colder climate of Mittagong in the Southern Highlands. Mum never had to put up with the worst dust storm in the history of Broken Hill and I doubt if she even knew about the killer dust storm that hit the Hill on Tuesday 30th. January 1945, but if she did I am sure she was truly grateful that she had got away from the area. Anyone who has read Ion Idriess's “The Silver City”, and had at some stage lived in Broken Hill would know just how devastating an event, which came to be known as Black Tuesday, was.

And so in 1940 we got on the train, which in those days was known as the “Silver City Comet” and headed off for the Southern Highland town of Mittagong. What a culture shock, where the people of the Hill were open and friendly, in my opinion these mountain people were just the opposite. Bob always said that there was more crime in one year in Mittagong than all his many years in Broken Hill. Not only crime was to be put up with but many motor accidents; even though petrol rationing was in force, due to World War ll being in full swing; people being run down by trains, accidentally or otherwise. Bob's first major job after arriving in this small town was to pick up the remains of a chap who walked in front of the Melbourne Express.

Shortly after our arrival Bob and the other constable stationed in the town, namely a chap called Herb Morrow; were called to a domestic just a couple of miles out of town. A man by the name of Fawcett had threatened his wife and family with a rifle, they had fled the house and called the police. When Bob and Herb arrived they were met by a fusillade of shots. A gun battle then broke out as the boys in blue returned the fire, but after a short while the shooting from inside the house ceased. Shortly after this when no more shooting came from inside and everything had gone very quiet, Bob and Herb cautiously approached the house; still all quiet inside so they slipped inside. There a sight, which has been repeated only too many times down the years, greeted them. Fawcett had turned the gun on himself. He did a good job too; he was stone dead.
These were just a few of the many incidents which took place during our 7 years stay in Mittagong, many more incidents came along which have now faded from memory.

One crime which has not faded from memory and which Bob was the first member of the Police Force to be called to the scene was to become known as the Great Paycar Robbery. In those far off years the Railway Dept. used to operate small fast motorised vehicles called Paycars that ran on the rail system to pay their outdoor staff (known as fettlers) and also staff at some isolated country stations. The paycars were crewed by a driver, and two pay clerks and carried large amounts of cash. On this particular day back in 1942 Bob received a telephone call from someone in the Yerrinbool area who said that the paycar had blown up and derailed. Bob rushed out to the scene which was just on the Mittagong side of Yerrinbool. There a scene of utter devastation greeted him. Someone had placed a charge of some type of explosive, together with a detonator under the rail track just before the paycar was due to come along, and the weight of the car had detonated the explosive. Whoever had placed the charge evidently did not know a lot about explosives as they had used far too much for the job, and instead of just derailing the car it had blown it for about 300 yards through the air and killed the driver and 2 pay clerks. Bob said the scene was horrific, the men had been virtually blown apart and the money also was damaged considerably. Bits of paper money were up in the tops of trees and scattered around for hundreds of yards.

The robbers would not have obtained much fro their effort as they had certainly botched the job. After the proper authorities were notified a large team of Detectives from the C.I.B. descended on the scene and made Mittagong Police Station the Headquarters for their investigation. For some weeks thereafter the Station was a hive of activity, but a long investigation failed to find any of the culprits and the crime is unsolved to this day, although a very strong suspicion fell on a well-known Sydney underworld enforcer “Chow” Hayes
but, no strong evidence was forthcoming and so the whole thing petered out in spite of a large reward being offered for the apprehension of the perpetrators by the NSW Government.

Bob was always active in all lay aspects of the Catholic Church, being a staunch member of the Holy Name Society, the St. Vincent de Paul and the Knights of the Southern Cross, which in those days was a highly secret organization, quite similar to the non-catholic organization known as the Masonic Lodge. He was also quite friendly with and in some ways quite devoted to the local parish priest Monsignor Giles, a man I was always a bit suspicious of as he always seemed a bit too good to be true, and also he was the subject of quite a few schoolyard rumors; as to his liking for girls; which quite often contain a smidgeon of truth.

Another event, which caused great excitement in the town, was of course the ending of World ll. The population of the town together with the rest of the nation went quite mad for a few days and certainly kept the local Bobbies on their toes for a while. The end of the war in 1945 seemed to cause Bob to become tired of cold and busy little Mittagong. There was only three men, a Sergeant and two Constables, and he seemed to be more interested in obtaining a position at a larger station and better climate and surroundings.

And so in 1947 he obtained a transfer as lockup keeper at Penrith, a much larger town and having a force of about 29 Police. Life settled down to a fairly mundane existence at the new station, most of the local work was of a petty nature, such as running in drunks and attending to motor accidents. And so life continued on in like manner, with Bob continuing along life's trail carrying out his work efficiently and progressing slowly up the promotion ladder (promotion was very slow in those years as it was strictly on seniority and Bob had joined up at the end of a large recruiting drive during the depression), the family growing up and leaving school to join the workforce. The next big event in his life came in 1958 when daughter Pam was married to Kevin McCann at St. Nicholas of Myra church in Penrith.

On November 6th 1965 Bob officially retired from the NSW police force with the rank of 1st Class Sergeant, although he had actually left a couple of months earlier to cut out his annual and long service leaves. The family initially continued to live in Penrith and in 1962 I was married to Margaret Johnson and we went to live in Gilgandra. Terry was the next to marry; when in 1970 he married Carolyn Laxton. Shortly after this Bob sold the old home at 6 the Crescent Penrith and they moved to West Ryde moving into a rented unit whilst looking around to buy another house. Eventually they purchased a small home at 110 Constitution Rd Meadowbank, very close to the residence of Pam and Kevin.

On 26 July 1975, the last of the single members of the family, John, married Barbara Hawkins a lass from Canada, at St Michaels Meadowbank, and Bob and Connie were very happy to see the last of their brood married off.

Bob took a couple of part-time jobs during his retirement to help augment the Police pension which was not indexed to the CPI making life a little difficult to make ends meet, but apart from this he just seemed to drift along in life for the last 7 or 8 years of his life and carried on this way until his death in 1982.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Occupation: Buttermaker, Soldier, Police Officer. ⁹¹

• Religion: Roman Catholic. ⁹¹

• Retirement, 6 Nov 1965, 1st Class Sergeant At Penrith, NSW. ⁹²

Robert married Constance Mildred Burland, daughter of James Henry Burland and Annie Maria Green, on 5 Nov 1932 in St. Marys, Concord NSW.⁸⁹ (Constance Mildred Burland was born on 29 Feb 1904 in Boulder, WA,⁹³ died on 10 Mar 1994 in Putney, NSW ¹³ and was buried on 14 Mar 1994 in Northern Suburbs Cemetary, Lane Cove, NSW ⁹¹.) The cause of her death was Cardio Vascular Accident.

  Marriage Notes:

Reference Number:1583