Police sacrifice honoured

Kaye Brookes’ emotions are still raw when she remembers the day her late husband was murdered near a South Stirling farmhouse 33 years ago.

Mt Barker First Class Constable Bill Pense travelled with then Sergeant Jim Keelan to Donald Parre’s house to serve him a warrant on October 12, 1979, but died after Parre opened fire on officers, one bullet fatally hitting Const. Pense’s heart.

His memory lived on last Friday when, at the same time many Australian’s gathered to remember those tragically killed in the Bali bombings 10 years ago, a small group gathered at the Old Police Station Museum in Mt Barker to honour Const. Pense in a moving service attended by Mrs Brookes and her sons Alan and Clayton.

Despite the years since her late husband’s death, Mrs Brookes, who moved away from the town immediately after the tragedy, said the scars of her family’s loss remain close to the surface.

“It doesn’t matter how many years go past it gets very emotional,” she said.

And she believes the work of WA Police officers, especially those who make the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty, is under-recognised by the community.

“It’s disappointing because you don’t go out expecting to get killed but it’s happening more and more these days, there’s much less respect out there,” she said.

Friday’s service was well-attended by members of WA Police, the WA Police Union, WA Police Historical Society and hosts Plantagenet Historical Society.

The day also marked the unveiling of a new headstone plaque for First Class Constable Thomas Mulkerin, who died in 1942 after 27 years service at Mt Barker and whose grave at the Mt Barker Cemetery is one of several subject to rededication ceremonies as part of the WA Police Historical Society’s graves project.