1976: Not Even on the List: Terry Lewis Leapfrogs 100 Officers as Queensland Police Chief Quits in Disgust
Terry Lewis was a Charleville inspector who was not even on Commissioner Ray Whitrod's shortlist for promotion, yet on this day in 1976 the Bjelke-Petersen Cabinet, sitting in Brisbane, rejected Whitrod's own candidates and jumped Lewis straight to Assistant Commissioner, over more than 100 officers senior to him.
Whitrod, who called the decision shattering, resigned that same day rather than accept it. The next morning's Courier-Mail front page summed up the fallout in four words: Shocks as police chief quits.
