Notable South Australians/W. J. Peterswald
W. J. Peterswald.
THIS well-known Commissioner of Police in South Australia was born in Jamaica, in 1830. His father was a West India planter, who, after the slave emancipation, sold out and settled in Edinburgh. Mr. Peterswald was educated at the Edinburgh and Military Academies, in that city. He came to this colony in the ship "Charlotte Jane," Captain Lawrence, in 1853, and he embarked considerable capital in farming pursuits, of which he had had no experience, and in consequence lost all in a few years. Whilst in the country he embodied and commanded the "Munno Para East Rifle Company," 100 strong, and, as drill instructors were scarce, drilled and trained them personally without assistance. They were considered the smartest company of volunteers in those days. He afterwards came to Adelaide, and became clerk-assistant to the House of Assembly, and in 1862, when Inspector Pettinger was murdered, he took his place in the Police Force; resigned in 1866, and became Warden of Gold Fields, which position he occupied until 1874, when he was re-appointed to the Police Force as Inspector and Superintendent. On Mr. Hamilton's retirement in 1881 Mr. Peterswald was appointed Acting-Commissioner, and in 1882, Commissioner. The South Australian Police Force will bear favourable comparison with that of any other part of Her Majesty's dominions, and there is little doubt that its present efficiency is mainly due to the energy and ability displayed by its representative head. Since taking office the Commissioner has made many important reforms, all being for the public weal; and the citizens of Adelaide, as well as the colony at large, may be congratulated in possessing in him a most active and zealous advocate for the maintenance of law and order. Many criminals who thought to pursue their nefarious calling in our midst have been promptly brought to justice, and the celerity with which the machinery of the law has been set in motion has doubtless had a deterring effect on their associates.