By ANNA USHER

Two retired NSW Police detectives who ended the 1984 Spit Bridge siege – one of the most dramatic hostage confrontations Sydney has ever seen – have been awarded the Commissioner’s Commendation for Courage, more than four decades after the event.

Retired Detective Senior Sergeant Donald Stephen Parker and Retired Detective Sergeant Charles John Nagle received the honour last week for their actions on the afternoon of Tuesday, 31 January 1984, when gunman Hakki Atahan brought a city to a standstill.

Who was Hakki Atahan?

Atahan, 35, was, according to police at the time, Sydney’s most prolific professional bank robber. He had carried out at least 18 hold-ups, often striking multiple times in the same area – sometimes returning to rob the same bank twice in a week.

On the last day of his life, he took $54,000 from three Sydney banks in a matter of minutes.

The siege

At 3.05pm on 31 January, Atahan ran into the Commonwealth Bank at 200 George Street in the CBD, smashed a glass partition and held nine staff members and one customer at gunpoint.

Branch manager Graham Stewart had a pistol held to his head.

He later told police it stayed there for four hours.

Several blocks away, Armed Hold-Up Squad head Detective Inspector Don Jackson took command of the operation. Jackson understood the terror inside that bank in a way few other officers could. Three years earlier, his own daughter – a bank teller – had a shotgun pointed down her throat during a hold-up.

“It had an extremely traumatic effect on her and I was very conscious of what those hostages were going through,” Jackson told The Sun-Herald four days later.

Snipers took up positions on nearby rooftops. Negotiations began. They went nowhere.

After two hours, Atahan forced Stewart and the other hostages into a blue Datsun 180B and drove out of the CBD.

The chase

Thirty-nine police vehicles fell into pursuit. Ambulances followed – at least one carrying snipers in bulletproof vests gripping Armalite rifles, riding undercover to avoid alerting the gunman.

Police ordered all ferries off Sydney Harbour to cut off any escape by sea.

The Datsun moved east through the Eastern Suburbs, looped through Bondi, crossed the Harbour Bridge, and headed north along Military Road through Cremorne.

Hundreds of thousands of Sydneysiders were watching on television.

At Queenscliff, Atahan pulled off one of the day’s most audacious moves – threading the Datsun through interlocking loops in suburban side streets, cutting back directly across the path of the police convoy following behind. He briefly, genuinely confused his pursuers.

But police had a helicopter overhead.

At Queenscliff Beach, one hostage was released outside the Queenscliff Surf Club and immediately replaced by a woman police identified as Atahan’s girlfriend. He told police he had a bomb. No bomb was ever found.

The Spit Bridge

When the Datsun turned onto Spit Road, police moved in. Unable to find the bridge operator in time, they raised the Spit Bridge themselves, sealing the road ahead. The time was around 6.40pm.

About 60 officers took up positions at the northern approach.

Four police launches held station in the water below.

About 20 members of the Special Weapons and Operations Squad lay flat on both sides of the road, rifles trained on the car.

Negotiators – including a police psychologist and Atahan’s own psychiatrist – worked a megaphone from behind a police car parked 100 metres away.

“Aren’t you getting hot in the car?” one negotiator called.

“Wouldn’t you like to get out, let the hostages out?”
Atahan did not answer.

At 7.55pm, two police cars moved in on the Datsun. Atahan fired.

Three shots rang out at two-second intervals. Atahan was killed.

Armed Hold-Up Squad Detective Steve Canelas was shot in the head and rushed to hospital for emergency surgery – later reported in a serious but stable condition. Two hostages were hurt by flying glass.

The Sydney Morning Herald ran one line above its masthead the following morning: Hostages … shoot-out … death.

Recognition, 42 years in the making

NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon APM said the bravery shown by Parker and Nagle that day was a defining example of policing at its finest.

“These two officers showed extraordinary courage on the day, while confronted with an armed offender, a hostage situation and an escalating threat to the public,” Commissioner Lanyon said.

“Their actions without doubt saved lives and were selfless and unwavering in their pursuit to protect others in a moment of great danger.

“It was an honour to award them the Commissioner’s Commendation for Courage and uphold them as an inspiring example of the very best in policing.”

The Commissioner’s Commendation for Courage is among NSW Police’s highest individual honours.
Mosman Collective has followed this story closely. Our “On This Day” account of the 1984 siege struck a chord with our readers. Every one of us who drives over the Spit Bridge crosses the place where it ended.

It took 42 years. For Donald Stephen Parker and Charles John Nagle, the record is now formally set straight.