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turned slowly even in those days and it was not until January 1927 that there is evidence of Lovegrove signing his
correspondence as Sergeant without the ‘Acting’ appendage.
On 4 May 1926, a daughter, Yvonne Lilian, was born in Darwin. During the first half of 1927, Lilian was
again expecting a child. The family apparently took leave, for on 27 July 1927, Thomas Creed was born at Petone
Hospital on Goodwood Road in Millwood, a suburb of Adelaide. The part owner and matron of the hospital was
Sister Rita Campbell, a girlhood friend of Lil’s when the Styles lived at Brocks Creek and Rita Campbell’s parents
were at the Howley Siding where her father was a fettler.
It is interesting to note that in an application on 8 September 1927 for transfer to a vacant position pending in
Alice Springs, Jack Lovegrove said in respect of war service, ‘I am not a returned soldier but, as you will note from
my staff file, I applied to the then Administrator, Dr Gilruth for twelve months leave, or until the termination of the
war, for the purpose of enabling me to enlist for service abroad. A promise was given; but not kept’. After leave
that began in December 1929 the family returned to Alice Springs and where Jack Lovegrove was to take over as
Sergeant in charge there. At the time, the Territory was divided administratively into two so he was appointed to
the ‘Office of Police Branch, Department of Government Resident, Central Australia’.
Apart from normal policing duties he filled the following statutory positions for Central Australia: Mining
Warden; Licensing Inspector; Registrar of Motor Vehicles; Health Inspector, Receiver of Dingo Scalps; Keeper of
the Stuart Town Gaol; Pound Keeper; Chief Inspector of Stock; Clerk and Bailiff of the local court; Collector of
Public Monies; Deputy Chief Protector of Aboriginals; Authority for Aboriginal Marriages; Clerk of the Licensing
Branch, Central Australia. In addition to this he relieved as Deputy Administrator when V G Carrington, Deputy
Administrator was absent for which he was paid a higher duties allowance.
The extension of the railway line from Oodnadatta to Alice Springs added to the work load of the police in
Central Australia and this prompted the Administrator, R H Weddell, following a visit to The Centre to recommend
in October 1935, that Lovegrove merited an advancement to the commissioned rank of Sub-Inspector. In the
manner typical of ‘Absentee landlords’, the Minister or his underlings in Melbourne considered that they knew
better and refused to accede to the Administrator’s recommendation.
With her Territory background, her caring nature and her early introduction to serious responsibility,
Lil Lovegrove was an ideal partner for her husband in Alice Springs. Jack and Lil were very popular and their
house was always open to townsfolk and especially to the young constables who were being recruited and posted
to Central Australia and to the families of policemen out-posted from the Alice. Their three children attended the
Hartley Street School and later the Darwin Public School. Yvonne was later a boarder at St Margaret’s Church of
England Girls School in Brisbane and later Presbyterian Girls College in Adelaide and both Creed and Ian were
boarders at St Peters College in Adelaide. Lil Lovegrove was a dedicated Anglican churchgoer and she insisted her
children be given an active Christian upbringing. In her final years, she experienced some disappointment with the
Church of England and was more inclined to attend the John Flynn Memorial Church in Alice Springs.
In late 1937, Lovegrove was transferred to Darwin arriving there about 15 September 1937. He was
recommended by Superintendent A V Stretton for promotion to a position of Inspector, ‘which it is proposed to
create’. On 1 December 1937, he was formally appointed as Inspector. He was paid higher duties for a total of 78
days during 1938 as acting Superintendent.
Before going on leave in May, he had two short periods of illness necessitating sick leave, which flared up
again in December when he returned to Darwin. Things got worse by the middle of 1941 with longer periods of
absence due to illness. Finally, it was decided that he should be retired from the Force on medical grounds as he
had a heart condition.
The Territory was a harsh and unforgiving country in the early part of the twentieth century when John Creed
Lovegrove arrived there, as many lonely and not so lonely graves will testify. There were few buffers against a
sometimes-savage climate, medical aid was sparse and far away and there were few other amenities, either physical
or social. Over the years, this took its toll on Lovegrove and he was only 57 years of age when he retired.
The family moved back to The Alice, which they loved and had always considered as home and Jack Lovegrove
contributed to the War effort by becoming a censor. They later took over the management of the Barrow Creek Hotel
where they remained until mid 1948 when they bought a town block at Ti Tree where they built a home. They later
returned to Alice Springs where they lived in Hartley Street opposite Ly Underdown’s pub, until Jack Lovegrove’s
death on Christmas Eve, 1954.
Gilbert and Sullivan had their characters sing, ‘When constabulary duty’s to be done, the policeman’s lot is not
a happy one’. I doubt that Jack Lovegrove would have agreed with this. He experienced great adventure as a young
policeman in remote areas and found great mateship in the bush. He had close friends amongst his colleagues to
whom he was affectionately known as ‘Lovey’ and he was highly respected by fellow Territorians. He had a wife
and family who were committed to the Territory and who gave him great support. He never considered moving
away from the Territory. Despite loneliness in remote areas at times, privations, illness and a few other setbacks
including a small measure of bureaucratic bastardry, I am sure, that on balance he would have preferred to have
said, ‘My policeman’s lot was indeed a happy one’.
Family information.
T CREED LOVEGROVE, Vol 3.LOWE, BEULAH MADELINE (1927– ), missionary, linguist, teacher, musician, was born in Sydney on
12 December 1927, daughter of William Edward Lowe, and Evelyn Emily nee Strong. Her father was an English
merchant seaman from London. Her mother came to Australia with her sister in the early 1920s. Beulah was the