[4] It was formed after Detective Sergeant Kavanagh,[3] in charge of the Kalgoorlie police, submitted a report in 1906 on the seriousness of gold theft in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia.

In April 1926, Inspector John Walsh[8] and Sergeant Alexander Pitman of the GSDS were murdered while investigating gold theft.

The lengthy investigation, eventual capture, and execution of the murderers, William Coulter and Phillip Trefene, was of considerable interest to the Perth press at the time.

[12] Walsh's and Pitman's funeral in Perth on 17 May 1926 was a procession watched by thousands, and attended by a large number of police officers.

[25] In October 2004, the GSDU arrested six men in Norseman and charged them with offences ranging from stealing to possession of unlicensed firearms.