The Early Years

When John Roche arrived in Sydney from Ireland in 1877, he found a wild and reckless town. He was just twenty two years old.

He joined the Army for four years and worked as a professional boxer to subsidise his meagre military pay, but his real ambition was to join the Police Force. With money he had earned boxing, he bought his way out of the Army and, in 1881, joined the NSW Police Department as a constable.

Although there was plenty of petty crime, the Police force’s main activity was against bushrangers, particularly in areas where gold from the goldfields was being shipped. In 1879 the Criminal Investigation Branch, the CIB, was formed and it was there that John Roche found himself.

Within this expanding Police Force, John Roche was a popular and diligent officer. Now rising in the ranks, he saw the introduction of bicycles in Sydney and into some country areas and, in 1894, the NSW Police were issued with firearms for general use. As a detective, Roche witnessed the formation of the Police Fingerprint Branch which opened in 1903.

Next: The Blue Mountains Murders (1896-1898)