John Marlow

In a month long "warlike operation", Marlow and his troopers tracked the group toward the Warrego River where they made a stand and showed fight, but after a "smart action", they were dispersed.

[11] Marlow was commissioned in January 1864 to provide the armed escort for George Elphinstone Dalrymple's expedition to Rockingham Bay to establish a settlement there, which was later named Cardwell.

[12] In April of the same year, Marlow with Acting Sub-Inspector Kennedy and 8 troopers, provided the armed escort for Andrew Ball's initial expedition to survey the future town of Townsville.

Marlow's detachment was later augmented to twenty troopers which were utilised in scattering a number of Aboriginal people with "hostile demonstrations" near the Inkerman Downs and Jarvisfield pastoral stations under the ownership of Robert Towns.

[13][14] Marlow dispatched sub-Inspectors John Bacey Isley and Ferdinand Macquarie Tompson to the south of Bowen which resulted in dispersals at Strathdon station, Proserpine, Goorganga, Bloomsbury, St Helens and in the mountainous region behind the coastal plains.

[15][16] Marlow's zeal in performing his duties was rewarded by the Government of Queensland with a promotion to a chief-inspector, but he declined the position and stayed with the Native Police detachment at Bowen.

[18][19] With the opening of the Cape River goldfields in 1868 the authorities decided to move the Native Police barracks from Bowen to the new settlement of Dalrymple about 80 km west of Townsville.

Marlow was placed in charge of this new barracks and accompanied by his troopers and Queensland Police Commissioner, David Thompson Seymour, he provided the first Gold Escort from the goldfields to Townsville.

[21] Pastoralists in the Bowen region were unhappy with the lack of protection, with some seeking to embarrass Marlow publicly with complaints of inappropriate interactions between Aboriginal women and his troopers.

[23] For the remainder of his placement at Dalrymple, Marlow took on a more administrative role managing the gold escort duties of the native police and investigating cases of murder, missing persons and riotous behaviour on the goldfields.