and Walter Compigne with Trooper Billy In 1860, Marlow was appointed to the
Native Police as a
secondlieutenant. The Native Police was a mounted paramilitary force utilised at this time by the
Government of Queensland to subdue Aboriginal resistance to British colonisation. The mode of operation of this force was indiscriminate massacre, usually described euphemistically as "dispersal".
Maranoa Region operations By 1861, Marlow was promoted to full Lieutenant and was stationed at the
Bungil Creek barracks near
Roma. He and his troopers were soon ordered to disperse a group of Aboriginals who were spearing stock to the south along the
Balonne River near Tootherang pastoral station. Once there, Marlow found a large group from whom he confiscated their spears and utensils, using the group's Aboriginal women to carry them. His troopers later burnt these. The remaining Aboriginal men were joined by another group and left. Marlow decided to follow them up and disperse them. 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. Later that year, Marlow was ordered to set up a new Native Police barracks on the
Maranoa River to the west. This he proceeded to do, and while his troopers were constructing the housing, they were approached by local Aboriginals intent on a corroboree, which was refused. An Aboriginal man then tried to wrestle Marlows rifle from him and then another hit him with a
waddy. The troopers then rushed out and fired on the assailants, killing and wounding thirteen people. A message was sent back to the Bungil Creek barracks for assistance.
Bowen operations In 1863, Marlow was transferred to
Bowen in the
Port Denison region of Queensland, where he replaced fellow
Native Police officer
Walter Powell. Not long after he arrived, his two-yearold daughter died of
diphtheria. In 1864, Marlow was dispatched, with three troopers under his command to McLellan's station near the
Burdekin River after two shepherds were killed, with the aim of clearing the Aboriginal people from the property. Marlow was commissioned in January1864 to provide the armed escort for
George Elphinstone Dalrymple's expedition to
Rockingham Bay to establish a settlement there, which was later named
Cardwell. The local Aboriginal people were advised to "clear out" and some were "set upon [...] and rather cut up" by the expeditionary force. 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. 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. 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. In 1867, Marlow was involved in an extensive search mission of coastal areas for several shipwreck survivors. Reports indicated that the castaways were living with Aboriginals and as a consequence Marlow in conjunction with Inspector
John Murray of the native police based at
Cardwell conducted searches of every Aboriginal camp they could find between
Townsville and
Hinchinbrook Island. The mission was unsuccessful in finding the shipwrecked sailors.
Dalrymple operations 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. However, with the removal of the barracks from Bowen, Aboriginal attacks in this region re-intensified, exemplified by prominent pastoralist
Sidney Yeates having to abandon his
sheep station. Both the Police Commissioner and Marlow advised that they were no longer able to provide adequate protection from the Dalrymple base. Marlow suggested collecting all the coastal Aborigines from Port Mackay to Townsville and confining them on an island off the coast where they could be ‘taught to be useful’. The Colonial Secretary was ‘unable to entertain’ Marlow’s proposition. 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. Further misfortune followed Marlow with an immense flood of the
Burdekin River destroying the town of Dalrymple, Marlow's house and the police barracks being washed away. 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. He retired from the native police in 1873. ==Later life==