General News
26 December, 2023
Fallen officer's tale is finally uncovered
Family members of a World War 1 hero who died tragically while on police duty at Nhill have paid tribute to their relative by presenting a photograph of him to the Blue Ribbon Foundation.
The photograph now hangs in Nhill Police Station.
Three grandchildren and partners were among family members to travel to Nhill to present the memorial.
The sorry tale of Edward "Ned" O'Neill's short life might never have been told without the research of former Horsham police superintendent Paul Margetts, Blue Ribbon Foundation Horsham branch president.
He uncovered O'Neill's story while researching information on police officers who died in the line of duty. O'Neill was the sole Victorian police officer to die on duty in 1922.
His sad but remarkable story led to Grampians Health naming a Wimmera Cancer Centre oncology unit after him.
Ned O'Neill was in the thick of some the worse battles of World War 1.
He survived the bloody battlefields of Gallipoli and the Middle East and was then transferred to the Western Front in France and Belgium only to return home to Australia to a country devastated by war losses and circumstances which led to high unemployment.
It was also a time when the Spanish Flu pandemic was rife and the Australian economy flagging.
Warrant Officer O'Neill who had served in the 28th Australian Army Service Corps overseeing the transport of essential items to the front, returned to his home area in Gippsland but struggled to find employment, as did many other returned soldiers.
Meanwhile he had a wife and young daughter to care for as well as two young half-siblings.
After trying farming he walked away from a soldier settler block but encountered failure at every job application.
Forced to take the humiliating step of accepting Red Cross and repatriation charity, after four rugged post-war years he finally landed a job with Victoria Police and was posted to Nhill.
Deciding to leave his family in Melbourne until he was settled, he moved to the Wimmera.
Just three months into his job and while out on patrol, his horse's hoof slipped down a rabbit hole and the experienced rider was thrown. He fractured his skull and died 16 days later. He was just 34 years old.
The following year Constable Edward O'Neill 6512 was posthumously awarded the Police Valour Medal. A century later a Victoria Police Star was awarded on O'Neill's behalf to grandson Ward O’Neill.
The Blue Ribbon Foundation is dedicated to perpetuating the memory of police officers who die in the line of duty. The foundation donated $100,000 to Wimmera Cancer Centre.