“His retirement will be felt in the community,” the Isa rodeo’s manager Natalie Flecker declared, as she acknowledged all the work he had done for the major event.
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The Mount Isa Police Station’s officer-in-charge received his gifts and a hug from Ms Flecker, but without a word returned quietly to his wife Joy.
Senior Sergeant Henderson, 58, had been heavily involved in the rodeo, especially since last year when one of his police officers, Whitney Dickson, was involved and won the Queen Quest.
Watching this acknowledgement at the ball was Mount Isa District Inspector Trevor Kidd. Not only are they colleagues, but also neighbours.
“Just by Col’s very nature he will offer to help anybody out in any way he can, he’s that sort of person,” Inspector Kidd said.
“Col, he’s humble, but he is in my opinion an outstanding leader. He leads by example. Even though he might be a humble man who doesn’t seek praise or recognition, he is the example police officers can take on board to go about their business.”
“He goes where the staff is. He enjoys being in the community.”
Queensland Police Service’s (QPS) policy is that officers retire at 60. Although Senior Sergeant Henderson turns 59 in November, he plans to take long service leave and trek around the country with Mrs Henderson. His last day in the station is on August 26.
Senior Sergeant Henderson has been stationed in Mount Isa since 2012. He worked for QPS since 1997, in the Logan area. He considers himself a “late starter” in his career as a police officer, having joined the Victorian Police in 1991. Before that he was a structural draftsman, but when the building trade struggled he joined the prison service for three years.
“When he first told me he was going to join the prison service, I thought ‘oh no, he’s just so laid back and casual, they are going to walk all over him,’” Mrs Henderson recalled. “That was not the case at all.
“He just had them eating out of the palm of his hand every time he talked.
“But he’s not afraid to jump in and get his hands dirty and get in on the scrum, which he’s done many times as well.”
When asked what it was like as a wife watching her loved one in the police force, she said; “to be honest, this man has not changed one iota the minute I met him. He was fair and kind and generous when I met him and he’s that now.”
Senior Sergeant Henderson doesn’t intend on retiring once he leaves QPS. “No, I can’t retire, Joy would kill me,” he said. “I can’t stand still, I got to keep on moving, so I’m humming and harring which way to go...(maybe) see if I can get a job at Bunnings and hand out screws to people.”
