People Australia

William John Peterswald (1828–1896), soldier, farmer, and commissioner of police, was born in 1828 in Jamaica to William Peterswald (c. 1776–1848), a planter and slave-owner, and his wife Jane (Jean) née Gray (c. 1790–1868), the daughter of Captain Walter Gray of the Sutherland Fencibles.[1] By 1840 the family had moved to Edinburgh, the Advertiser later reporting: ‘the emancipation of slaves and other causes conspiring to make such a step advisable.’[2] Peterswald was educated at the Edinburgh Academy and the Military Academy in Edinburgh, then at Elizabeth College, Guernsey.[3] His father’s only legitimate child, he had several half-siblings born to Hellen Cunningham, a woman of colour in Jamaica.[4]

Peterswald had links to slavery through both parents. His father and uncle, John Peterswald, had owned Petersfield Pen, a sugar plantation in Jamaica.[5] Following John’s death, William Peterswald senior received compensation of £3,884 4s 8d for 191 enslaved people on Petersfield Pen and Carron Hall in 1836, and a further £214 12s 3d  for another nine enslaved people.[6] On the maternal side of the family, Jane’s uncle William Gray was provost marshal of Jamaica and owned the sugar plantation Richmond estate and enslaved people in Jamaica.[7] Her sisters Elizabeth and Wilhelmina Jemima had married plantation owners Charles Reynolds of Clermont, Jamaica, and Hugh Walker of Carron Hall, Jamaica, respectively.[8]

In 1851 Peterswald received two thirds of his father’s estate. The remaining one third was bequeathed to his mother.[9]After his father’s death, Peterswald travelled to Paris, returning to the Channel Islands in 1848, where he was made captain of the 1st Rifle Company of the militia in Jersey.[10] In 1852 he married Emily Mary, daughter of Charles de St. Croix, the ‘greffier’ or chief magistrate of Jersey.[11] In early 1853 they sailed for South Australia per the Charlotte Jane, along with his mother.[12] The family remained in South Australia where William and Emily had eight children together.[13]

Shortly after his arrival in the colony, Peterswald leased Tyeka, a 1,320-acre dairy farm at One Tree Hill in the district of Munno Para, on Country belonging to the Kaurna people.[14] He spent seven years in the district and during that time raised a militia force, the Munno Para East Rifle Company. Peterswald not only captained the company but also trained and drilled the men personally.[15] He was later to complain that he had invested his money in dairy farming ‘on a large scale’ but, knowing nothing of farming, was ruined in seven years.[16]

The farm did not prosper and in 1860, having lost the money he invested in the farm and acquired debts, Peterswald was forced to sell his farming equipment and move to North Terrace, Adelaide.[17] Following the murder of police inspector Richard Pettinger in 1862,  Peterswald was appointed inspector of police, despite his lack of policing experience, and the family moved into the police barracks on North Terrace.[18] Four years later he resigned his post citing financial difficulties and appeared in the insolvency court.[19] Debts owed from his dairying venture had nearly doubled since that time due to his living expenses.[20]

Peterswald then held a number of government positions.[21] In April 1868 his mother Jane died at North Terrace.[22]Within six months he was appointed warden of the Barossa Goldfields.[23] In 1873 he successfully applied to regain his previous position as inspector of police.[24] He was promoted to superintendent in 1876 and to acting commissioner in 1881. In May 1882 he was made commissioner and remained in that role until his death in 1896.[25]

As commissioner, Peterswald made several changes to the police force. Officers were issued with Martini-Henry rifles in 1881.[26] He introduced new uniforms, mandated the uniform grey colour for horses used by the mounted police force on metropolitan duty, and is credited with the formation of the police band.[27]

At this time the Northern Territory was administered by South Australia. First Nations land in the Territory had been taken for pastoral stations and violent clashes took place on the pastoral frontier. Responding to petitions from station-owners in 1884, who were intent not only on protecting their investments, but also on protecting themselves and their stock from the spears of First Nations people, Peterswald raised the Native Police Force. The force was to operate as a unit, in a manner similar to the Native Police Force operating in Queensland. It was tasked with arresting those charged with offences in the Northern Territory and instructed that firearms were allowed to be used in the arrest of offenders or in self-defence. The Native Police Force developed a violent reputation but was disarmed in 1891, when it became used purely for tracking purposes.[28]

Peterswald was a prominent Freemason. He helped establish the first Royal Arch Chapter in South Australia and was a member of the United Service Lodge.[29] He was a councillor on the Munno Para East Council and played cricket for the Munno Para East cricket team.[30] He was a member of the Mutual Improvement Association of Gawler and a member of the Adelaide Fencing and Gymnastic Society.[31] Peterswald died on 31 August 1896 at his home, ‘St Heliers,’ on the corner of Ward and Jeffcott Streets, North Adelaide, from complications associated with diabetes.[32]He was buried in the North Road cemetery during a ceremony said to be ‘the largest ever held in the colony,’ and a memorial was erected on the gravesite by members of the South Australian Police Force.[33] Mount Peterswald in the Northern Territory is named after him.[34] Peterswald’s wealth, inherited from his slave-owning father, was used to contribute to the colonisation of South Australia, when he used it to rent land on Kaurna Country. His actions as commissioner of police, especially in regard to the formation of the Native Police Force, continued the colonisation of First Nations peoples’ lands by protecting pastoral expansion at the cost of First Nations’ lives.

[1] William John Peterswald, Find A Grave, accessed 17 December 2025, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/173953653/william_john-peterswald/photo#view-photo=182968209; ‘Character Sketches,’ Quiz and the Lantern (Adelaide), 4 July 1895, 4; ‘Died,’ Liverpool Mercury, 1 September 1848, 7; ‘Family Notices,’ Express and Telegraph (Adelaide), 9 April 1868, 2; John Bernard Burke, ‘Peterswald of Adelaide,’ Burkes Colonial Gentry (Harrison and Sons, 1891), 195, https://dn721908.ca.archive.org/0/items/genealogicalhera01burk/genealogicalhera01burk.pdf.

[2] ‘Advertisements & Notices,’ Caledonian Mercury (Edinburgh), 9 January 1840, 1; ‘Death of  Commissioner Peterswald,’ Advertiser (Adelaide), 31 August 1896, 5.

[3] ‘Character Sketches,’ Quiz and the Lantern (Adelaide), 4 July 1895, 4; ‘Death of Commissioner Peterswald,’ Advertiser (Adelaide), 31 August 1896, 5.

[4] Will of William Peterswald, 21 September 1848, PROB 11/2082/155, The National Archive, Kew (TNA).

[5] Burke, ‘Peterswald of Adelaide,’ 195.

[6] William Peterswald, Legacies of British Slavery, accessed 17 December 2025, https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/12689/; Jamaica St Mary 434, Legacies of British Slavery, accessed 17 December 2025, https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/claim/view/12630; Burke, ‘Peterswald of Adelaide,’ 195.

[7] William Gray of Jamaica and Skibo, Scotland, Legacies of British Slavery, accessed 17 December 2025, https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146648743.

[8] Charles Reynolds, Legacies of British Slavery, accessed 20 January 2026, https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/1439433651; David Dobson, Directory of Scottish Settlers in North America, 1625 – 1825, V. 3 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1984), 74.

[9] Will of William Peterswald, 21 September 1848, PROB 11/2082/155, TNA.

[10] ‘Death of Commissioner Peterswald,’ Advertiser (Adelaide), 31 August 1896, 5; ‘Character Sketches,’ Quiz and the Lantern (Adelaide), 4 July 1895, 4.

[11] Marriage register, 11 March 1852, G/C/09/A3/5, Jersey Heritage, via Ancestry; Burke,‘Peterswald of Adelaide,’ 195.

[12] ‘Shipping Intelligence,’ South Australian Register (Adelaide), 26 April 1853, 2.

[13] Birth Registrations, Genealogy SA, https://www.genealogysa.org.au/index.php?option=com_gsa&view=gsa&layout=essearch&Itemid=193&collection_id=birth&page_no=1&sort_by=&sort_direction=asc&Surname=peterswald&GivenName=&year_from=&accuracy=&ShipName=.

[14] ‘Death of Commissioner Peterswald,’ Advertiser (Adelaide), 31 August 1896, 5; ‘Advertising,’ Adelaide Observer, 18 February 1854, 8; ‘Advertising,’ South Australian Weekly Chronicle (Adelaide), 3 November 1860, 1.

[15] George E. Loyau, ‘W. J. Peterswald,’ Notable South Australians (Adelaide: Carey, Page & Co.’ 1885), 155; ‘Gawler Hills,’ Adelaide Observer, 13 August 1859, 5.

[16] ‘Death of Commissioner Peterswald,’ Advertiser (Adelaide), 31 August 1896, 5.

[17] ‘Advertising,’ South Australian Register (Adelaide), 25 September 1860, 6; ‘Family Notices,’ South Australian Register (Adelaide), 12 February 1861, 2; ‘Family Notices,’ South Australian Register (Adelaide), 12 February 1861, 2.

[18] ‘Topics of the Day,’ South Australian Advertiser (Adelaide), 12 March 1862, 2; ‘The Weeks News,’ Adelaide Observer, 15 March 1862, 7; ‘Death of Commissioner Peterswald,’ Advertiser (Adelaide), 31 August 1896, 5; ‘Family Notices,’ South Australian Register (Adelaide) 25 April 1863, 2.

[19] ‘Telegraphic Summary for England,’ South Australian Register (Adelaide), 29 November 1866, 2.

[20] ‘Insolvency Court,’ Adelaide Observer, 15 December 1866, 3.

[21] ‘General News,’ Express and Telegraph (Adelaide), 31 December 1867, 2; ‘The Drought and the Pastoral Leases,’ South Australian Weekly Chronicle (Adelaide), 22 June 1867, 4.

[22] ‘Family Notices,’ Express and Telegraph (Adelaide), 9 April 1868, 2.

[23] ‘The Barossa Gold-Field,’ South Australian Register (Adelaide), 8 October 1868, 2.

[24] ‘Open Column,’ Yorke’s Peninsula Advertiser and Miners’ News (South Australia), 12 August 1873, 3.

[25] ‘Death of Commissioner Peterswald,’ The Advertiser (Adelaide), 31 August 1896, 5.

[26] Justin O’Brien, Report to National Museum of Australia on Material Culture in Relation to 1928 Coniston Killings (2005), 18, https://static1.squarespace.com/static/6594f1bdaf3be00d2c22415b/t/65edc4e365b3366a4c7b15a6/1710081313190/NMA+report+July05+complete.pdf.

[27] ‘General News,’ Express and Telegraph (Adelaide), 4 January 1882, 2; William Peterswald Arms Police for North Territory Frontier Wars: Brings Band and Greys to South Australia Force, AdelaideAZ, accessed 7 January 2026, https://adelaideaz.com/articles/william-peterswald-arms-police-for-north-territory-frontier-wars--brings-band-and-greys-to-south-australia-force_copy.

[28] Amanda Nettelbeck and Robert Foster, In the Name of the Law: William Willshire and the Policing of the Australian Frontier (Kent Town, SA: Wakefield Press, 2007), 25; Bill Wilson, ‘The Establishment of, and Operations by the Northern Territory Native Police between 1884 and 1992,’ Journal of Northern Territory History (1996): 65-73; William Willshire and Paul Foelsche Blots on South Australian Rule in the Territory with 3,000 Aboriginals Killed, AdelaideAZ, accessed 7 January 2026, https://adelaideaz.com/articles/william-willshire-and-paul-foelsche-figure-in-sorry-chapter-of-south-australian-rule-in-territory--3-000-aboriginals-killed; Colonial Frontier Massacres in Australia, 1788-1930, The University of Newcastle Australia, accessed 7 January 2026, https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=749.

[29] ‘Death of Commissioner Peterswald,’ Chronicle (Adelaide), 5 September 1896, 20.

[30] ‘District Councils,’ Adelaide Observer, 22 March 1856, 1; ‘Cricketing,’ South Australian Advertiser (Adelaide), 6 January 1859, 3.

[31] ‘Gawler,’ South Australian Register (Adelaide), 27 January 1859, 3; ‘Adelaide Fencing and Gymnastic Society,’ South Australian Register (Adelaide), 31 March 1863, 2.

[32] Will of William Peterswald, 21 September 1848, PROB 11/2082/155, TNA; ‘Death of Commissioner Peterswald,’ Chronicle (Adelaide), 5 September 1896, 20; ‘Advertising,’ Express and Telegraph (Adelaide), 10 January 1893, 1.

[33] ‘Personalities,’ Quiz and the Lantern (Adelaide), 11 February 1897, 6; ‘Funeral of the Late Commissioner Peterswald,’ Narracoorte Herald, 4 September 1896, 2; William John Peterswald, Find A Grave, accessed 7 January 2026, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/173953653/william-john-peterswald.

[34] Mount Peterswald, NT Place names Register, accessed 7 January 2026, https://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/placenames/view.jsp?id=15704.