Need a good honest - Queensland Police Union

A Police Legacy - The Johnson Family
A Police Legacy
The Johnson Family
By Andrea Appleton
Lily Farmer holds a small, square photo in her hand, the corners
curved and the colours faded. ‘This was the very first Queensland
Police Legacy holiday in 1979,’ she says, smiling at the picture of a
small child being carried through a rocky walkway. ‘This is Renae
when she was 18 months old; she was carried through the
Jenolan caves by Ron Youles and Jim Crooks.’
A few months earlier, Lily had
received a letter from Police Legacy,
her introduction to an organisation
that was to have a great influence on
her life, and on the lives of her two
young children, James and Renae.
Lily’s husband, Senior Constable
Donald Johnson, died in March 1978
after a battle with Hodgkin’s disease.
In our care
“The Queensland
Police Legacy Scheme
is an independent
charitable organisation
that was established
in 1971 to assist
dependent families of
deceased Queensland
police officers.”
He had been a member of the QPS
for seven years, and he was also a
Vietnam veteran.
Though it was never formally
recognised during his lifetime, it is
thought that Snr Const Johnson’s
Hodgkin’s disease developed as a
result of his exposure to Agent Orange
in Vietnam.
Snr Const Donald Johnson.
‘I didn’t know anything about Policy
Legacy,’ Lily admits, ‘and when I got
the letter, I didn’t know if my husband
had paid into the scheme, or what it
was all about.
‘I later found out that he had
supported Legacy, and even though
that didn’t seem to matter, I wondered
if we were entitled to it.’
Renae is carried through the Jenolan caves.
Lily discovered that the Queensland
Police Legacy Scheme is an
independent charitable organisation
that was established in 1971 to assist
dependent families of deceased
Queensland police officers.
As of July this year, Police Legacy
supports 43 families, including
meeting the educational expenses for
42 Queensland Police Union Journal October 2012