The plaque commemorates 50 years since the tragedy of the murder of a local Policeman and his family, and is rather understated to the awful reality of THAT night/morning, in July 1957 - just two years before I was born. The inscription of the plaque follows
This memorial is dedicated to the memory of :
Senior Constable (NSW Police Force) : Kenneth Desmond Coussens.
Wife : Elizabeth Mary Hamilton Coussens.
Baby son : Bruce James John Coussens.
At 2am on 29th July 1957, in Bega NSW,
Senior Constable Kenneth Coussens and his family
were murdered in their sleep by a bomb blast, which
completely destroyed their home.
Their eldest son Roger McCampbell survived the blast.
This tragedy is the only recorded murder of a police officer
& his family by a bomb blast in Australia.
And now, beyond the cares and worries of this world,
in calm and quiet they rest in peace.
This memorial was erected by the New South Wales Police Force
at Bega Police Station on the 50th anniversary of this tragedy.
The memorial was commissioned by Ken Moroney AO, APM
Commissioner of Police 29th July, 2007.
The cast bronze plaque (with textured black background) is fixed to the top of a black marble tablet at a slight angle to the larger square prism of marble beneath, with a stepped black marble base. It is surrounded with a black marble edging to the grass lawn, and succulents are growing at the base.
The 'Website pertaining to the memorial' link is to the Monuments Australia website, which is a sanitised recovering of the dedication of the plaque. Their text is:
"Senior Constable Ken Coussens, his wife and seven-month-old son were blown up by 240 sticks of gelignite. It was discovered that local man Myron Kelly had held a well-known grudge against the constable and in the absence of other leads this seemed worth following up. The offender had become incensed at being spoken to by the Constable regarding traffic offences and placed a metal dairy container loaded with the stolen gelignite outside the front door of the Constable's home.
"When Kelly's house was searched, four and half sticks of gelignite, 20 feet of safety fuse and 58 detonators were discovered. The offender was arrested after a major police investigation and later sentenced to life imprisonment. Myron Kelly was released from jail in 1980 and returned to the district. He died in Cooma in July 2007 aged 83." [Coussens]
What it doesn't tell you is:
* He was born on 2 July 1926, at Hastings, England
* Constable Coussens was a Returned Serviceman, being an Able Seaman, in the Australian Navy, enlisting in June 1944, Service Number: 32875
* His Police Service was: 18 October 1948 (from discharge from the Australian Navy) to 29 July 1957 (when he was murdered) = ~11 years (sic)
* The 9 year stepson survived the blast, as he was sleeping at the back of the house.
* Constable Ken, and his wife's body, were blown 50 metres from their bed.
* A hundred windows were blown out of the Bega Hospital - half a mile away!
* It was first thought that there had been a gas explosion. Ex-Police website: Constable Coussens
Address: 167 Auckland Street (corner of Upper Street), Bega, NSW, 2550, Australia
Visited: 1401-2, Saturday, 29 December, 2018