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party to investigate a report that two white women were living with Aboriginal people in northeast Arnhem Land,
possible survivors of the wreck of the boat Douglas Mawson that had disappeared sometime earlier. The search
party undertook extensive travel by boat and foot and interviewed Aboriginal groups in the Cape Arnhem area and
missionaries who had heard the rumours. These were finally believed to be unfounded.
In January 1919, he had been at Roper River for some time when he indicated he wished to resign due to ill
health having suffered prolonged bouts of fever—probably malaria or dengue that was rife in the Top End in those
days. His application was approved to be effective in early May when a relief constable would be sent to Roper
River on the ration boat Sir John Forrest. In May, he received advice from Inspector Waters that he could not be
relieved as formerly proposed and he agreed to stay until relief arrived in August. On 24 July, Mounted Constable
Sheriden, who rode over for that purpose from Anthony’s Lagoon, relieved him. Lovegrove then travelled by horse
to Mataranka and then continued to Katherine, travelling via Maranboy. From Katherine he telegraphed Darwin
‘Will start tracker and plant back to Roper’. He travelled by train to Darwin, arriving about 19 August 1919.
The resignation process in the Police Force in those days was obviously not a ‘down tools and take off’
affair. Lovegrove took four months accumulated leave and advised Inspector Waters that he would withdraw his
resignation in the event of him being transferred from Roper River. This met with the agreement of his senior
officer.
On his return from leave, he was evidently posted to Newcastle Waters where he advised Inspector Waters
on 23 May 1921 of a serious problem he was having with abscesses in his ear. He sought permission to travel to
Darwin for medical treatment with Acting Sergeant Stretton. On 25 September 1922, Inspector Waters sent a
telegram to the police at Newcastle Waters, ‘Constable Lovegrove instructed to take charge of all police searching
for Condren’s murderers. Obey his orders. Tanami should be advised as soon as possible’. Wave Hill police station
was used as the headquarters for the search and the party consisted of Constables Lovegrove, Heathcock, Hood
and Hemming. The party searched into the Tanami Desert and familiar place names such as Halls Creek, Inverway,
Hooker Creek, Catfish Waterhole, as well as Tanami appear in the police journal to indicate the extent and location
of the search that apparently found no murderers.
In later years, Lovegrove talked to his family about his days at Newcastle Waters. He became a close friend of
Bullwaddy Bates (Harry Bathern) who with his mate, Bostock, settled and owned Beetaloo and OT stations on the
upper Newcastle Waters Creek. He also talked about his horse patrols to the southern end of his district at Hatches
Creek that took as long as three months to complete.
On 19 November 1924, he travelled by train to Emungalen en route to Rankine River to take charge of
that district. He was accompanied by Mounted Constable Allen, who was on his way to Lake Nash to relieve
Mounted Constable Murray.
It is interesting to note a series of exchanges between the Minister’s office in Melbourne and the Commissioner
of Police in Darwin, Major Dudley. The Minister’s office questioned a recommendation that the Commissioner
had made that Lovegrove be promoted to Sergeant. This sort of practice would be familiar to many more recent
Commonwealth public servants. The Commissioner’s reply was cool and terse. It reads, ‘Had there been a senior
constable as capable as Lovegrove, he (Lovegrove) would not have been recommended. I certify that in my
opinion there is no senior constable to equal Lovegrove’s capabilities of filling the position of sergeant to the
satisfaction of the authorities’. In another communication he went on to say that of the three constables senior to
Lovegrove, one was a splendid man but not sufficiently educated to carry out the duties; another’s character was
not good; and the third was a splendid man but his knowledge is not on a par with Lovegrove’s. The Minister then
approved his promotion in an acting capacity with the question of permanency to be held in abeyance until the
conclusion of his relieving period.
On 10 December 1924, Sergeant Lovegrove informed the authorities of his intention to marry and drew attention
to the state of police accommodation at Rankine River, saying ‘I do not think the quarters here are suitable for a
married man... ’ and suggesting that the government provide some money to upgrade the quarters.
In August 1925, John Creed Lovegrove married Lilian Eleanor Styles, the eldest daughter of Tom Styles and
the late Eleanor (nee Tuckwell). The bride was a granddaughter of one of Darwin’s earliest pioneering families,
Ned and Eliza Tuckwell. The bride’s mother born in 1873 was amongst the first white children born in Darwin.
The wedding was written up in the local paper of 4 August 1925 and was apparently quite a grand affair.
The bridesmaid was the bride’s sister, Gertrude, who was later to marry the Surveyor General, Bill Easton. The
best man was Sergeant Alf Stretton, a Borroloola born Territorian who later became Superintendent of Police.
An elegant touch at the reception was described in the article as follows, ‘A large wedding bell hung from the
centre and when the happy couple were immediately beneath it a stream of confetti poured upon them and a pure
white bird was released which flew and rested on the bride’s shoulder’. The paper went on to say, ‘The bride by
her charming manner and gentle disposition endeared herself to all’.
Lilian Lovegrove had had responsibility thrust upon her at an early age. With her father, Tom Styles away
prospecting in the Tanami desert, she had, at the age of 14, nursed her mother through a terminal illness. Her
mother died at a young 36 years of age. Lilian lost her only surviving brother when he died of wounds sustained in
action in the Dardanelles during the First World War. The whole responsibility for her younger sisters, Gertrude,
Eileen (Fitzer) and Myrtle (Fawcett) fell on her shoulders. Eileen Fitzer, the last surviving child of Tom and
Eleanor Styles recently said of her sister, ‘Lil never had a girlhood. We depended on her so much and when she
married I wept inconsolably as I thought the bottom had dropped out of my world’. The couple were allocated a
house at Myilly Point.
On 26 February 1926, the Commissioner, supported by the Chief Clerk and Accountant, L H A Giles,
recommended that Lovegrove’s promotion to Sergeant be confirmed and backdated to 8 July 1925. The wheels