Thomas Slattery was born in Tipperary, Ireland in 1824 to Edmund Slattery and Mary Ann McMahon. He later immigrated to Australia and joined the Victoria Police on 21 November 1854. He was allocated registered number 1128. He served in numerous locations around Victoria until his resignation on 19 November 1863 after nine years of service. His rank at the time of his resignation was Detective First Class. It is likely that Slattery may have had previous police service, probably with the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) due to his mature age enlistment and the rise to detective in a short period of time.

Thomas Slattery then moved to Queensland, joining the Queensland Police on 3 May 1866. He provided details of his age as 35 years but he was probably older if his Victoria Police records are accurate. He was appointed Detective Constable on the same date. Slattery rose rapidly to the rank of Inspector of Detectives on 1 July 1876. In the absence of contrary information, he may well have been to first person to have held this position. Slattery took his policing responsibilities very seriously and over time was awarded numerous monetary sanctions under the hand of the Governor in Council, as well as attracting considerable newspaper coverage of his activities.

Thomas Slattery died of illness on 5 February 1878 and was interred at the North Brisbane General Cemetery (Toowong Cemetery) the following day. The information concerning Slattery’s Death Certificate details was provided by his cousin Robert Slattery who had also served with the RIC and retired as a Detective Sergeant with the Queensland Police.

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Brisbane Memorial Care+Repair poured a reinforced concrete base on the dirt in-fill and then constructed the formwork for the supportive plinth, including a narrow fin to hold the cross. This was also heavily reinforced with steel. The plinth was angled to allow water-runoff and to allow the lettering to be read comfortably from the foot of the grave. The plinth was designed as a recessive detail to make the marble the focus rather than a concrete slab. The slab was painted black to further minimize the concrete visual. 

New lettering was carved into the marble by architect and memorial stonemason Pete Macfarlane. Pete has 30+ years of stonemason experience and his initial training in Tasmanian heritage work allowed him to use traditional methods here to carve new lettering in the old-fashioned style. It is almost identical to the antique lettering.

The marble was cleaned and hand-sanded for hours to return it to a pale state. The two main pieces were carefully aligned on the new concrete plinth and jointed together. The marble cross, which had broken into three pieces, was restored. The original copper core was located in the dirt and re-attached the base and then core-drilled the other section with a stainless steel dowel so that it was a strong repair.

Finally, part of the original stone which had supported the marble was re-used in order to provide a place for the bronze plaque and the base of the grave finished with polished black Kashmiri pebbles.

This series of photographs depicts the restoration process.

The FQPM were alerted to the grave by the Friends of the Toowong Cemetery. The grave was in a state of considerable disrepair with its headstone lying in three broken pieces after having toppled some twenty-five years ago. His son, Edmund (who is buried in the same gravesite) remained unacknowledged on the headstone. The FQPM commenced a project to restore the gravesite.
Following preliminary costing of the project, it was accepted that assistance would need to be sought so as to be able to raise the funds required to restore the grave. Taking into account the last appointment held by Thomas Slattery (Inspector of Detectives), a meeting was held with Assistant Commissioner Mike Condon, State Crime Operations Command who was keen to undertake the project on behalf of State Crime Command.

State Crime Operations Command coordinated the restoration, fund raising and arranged the re-dedication ceremony. With the support and assistance of the Queensland Police Service, the Queensland Police Commissioned Officer’s Union and the Queensland Police Union of Employees, the grave has been fully restored.

At the Re-dedication ceremony Commissioner Ian Stewart said, “While this project is not about singling out any particular rank or role, it is certainly worth highlighting the importance of this find. Detectives certainly play an important role in investigating some of the state’s most serious and significant crimes.”

To ensure that the Slattery grave will be cared for and maintained in the future a serving Detective has been appointed as the Keeper of the Grave. Plain Clothes Constable Kent Ellis is the current appointee. Kent delivered the Police Ode at the ceremony.