McCaffrey Lecture Series
The title of the lecture series - The McCaffrey Lectures - was chosen to mark the contributions of the first Principal of the former Australian Police College (now the AIPM), in establishing this important facility. Furthermore, by selecting the name of the first Principal to mark an important and ongoing lecture series, the current staff of the AIPM also hope to highlight the excellent work completed by all the staff at the AIPM over its nearly 50 year history.
Transcripts of the McCaffrey lectures will be made available in the News section of this web site.
Lieutenant Colonel McCaffrey
By way of background, the Australian Police College was officially created in 1960: on 15 June 1960, Lieutenant Colonel John McCaffrey, Australian Army, was appointed as the first Principal.
Colonel McCaffrey graduated from RMC Duntroon in 1932. An infantryman, Colonel McCaffrey’s early appointments in the Army included instructing in Japanese at Duntroon and service in India with British Army units. He served as Adjutant of the Sydney University Regiment and later as Adjutant (1938-39) of the Darwin Mobile Force, the Army’s first regular field force unit. In the AIF in the Second World War he was in the Middle East with 2/1st Machine Gun Battalion and as Brigade Major of 20th Brigade, and later served in senior training appointments. As a wartime temporary promotion he was the Lieutenant Colonel Instructor at the Infantry Regimental Commanders School from 1942 to 1944. Post-War service in Morotai and Japan followed, where he was Second-in-Command of 65th Infantry Battalion (later retitled 1RAR) from 1945 to 1946, and was promoted Lieutenant Colonel in 1947. He was the inaugural Commanding Officer of 4th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (4RAR) in 1952 and was a senior staff officer (GSO1) at Northern Command (Queensland) in the 1950s.
In the late 1950s Colonel McCaffrey (or “Black Jack” as he was affectionately known) had provided professional liaison between Army Headquarters, the Police Commissioner’s Conference and the Police Minister’s Conference. He was subsequently seconded to the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department. The role of Principal of the Australian Police College involved both education and administration and Colonel McCaffrey was a capable leader in both fields.
Colonel McCaffrey had excellent knowledge of strategic, operational and tactical planning which equipped him well for the task of establishing a new training facility. He also had broad experience in administration and a thorough knowledge of contemporary training approaches. He was ably supported by a number of experienced Police officers. Together, they successfully achieved the goals and standards established by the Australian Police Commissioners of the day. Colonel McCaffrey retired from his position as Principal in December 1964.
