MEMORIES came flooding back yesterday in Perthville when a memorial was unveiled on the 21st anniversary of the killing of 25-year-old Bathurst policeman Paul Quinn.
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About 150 people, many of them serving or retired police, stood in a chilly wind near the bridge over Queen Charlottes Vale Creek to pay tribute to Sergeant Quinn.
Sgt Quinn's father and mother, Brian and Barbara Quinn, said the memory of how their son died "just never goes away".
"But this is a fitting tribute to our boy," Mrs Quinn said after the Anglican Bishop of Bathurst Richard Hurford dedicated the memorial which was officially unveiled by Retired Police Association of NSW Central Tablelands chairman, retired assistant inspector John Haynes.
Sgt Quinn's parents carried his cap to the dedication of the memory
They sat with their daughter Alex and her husband Vaios Alexias, and two of their three children – Nikolaos and six-week-old baby Paul, named in honour of Mrs Alexias's brother. Mrs Alexias, who came from Parramatta for the dedication of the memorial, said she and her brother shared the same birthday 14 years apart.
The fatal shooting of Sgt Quinn and the wounding of another officer, Ian Borland, was a tragedy felt by all of Bathurst's frontline emergency services.
For some, however, the pain of returning to Bridge Street, Perthville, was too much to bear. There were police whose faces were missing in the crowd, while several colleagues who were present kept their thoughts to themselves.
The circumstances surrounding the killing of Paul Quinn by a man armed with a .303 rifle who police had pursued to Perthville touched Bathurst in many ways.
Acting Chifley Local Area Commander, Superintendent Tony Bell, yesterday retold the events of the fateful day Sgt Quinn died.
Supt Bell said Sgt Quinn was just 17 when he joined the police force on July 4, 1977.
He had served in Sydney and Casino before coming to Bathurst on March 16, 1986 – only days before he was killed. The memorial plinth unveiled at Perthville yesterday, Supt Bell said, was one of three monuments carrying Sgt Quinn's name. The others are at Bathurst police station and the National Memorial in Canberra.
Regional police chaplain, the Reverend Wendy Dubojski, led prayers.The Catholic Bishop of Bathurst the Most Reverend Patrick Dougherty supported the Quinn family at the service.
