The Christmas Goose c.1923
Melbourne historical crime tours
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4y ago
Theresa Lacey c.1909 (Public Record Office, Victoria reference at end of article) On Christmas Eve, 1923, Kate Wiseman was stabbed, so she alleged, by her Fitzroy housemate -Theresa Lacey. They’d gotten into an argument as to when the Christmas goose should be killed, and Wiseman, taking the initiative, had begun chasing the reticent bird around the yard with a knife. As she flashed past the side door in pursuit of her quarry, she was felled by Lacey with a blow to the head. They’d then engaged in a fierce struggle for possession of the knife, the victory going to Lacey. Wiseman was ..read more
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Patricia and George (Part 3)
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4y ago
Patricia O'Brien. Photo taken after serving 12 months in Pentridge Female Prison for having Insufficient Lawful Means of Support. Photo is from Public Record Office Victoria: VPRS 516/ P2 item volume 14, record page 412 George Harper in February 1932, around 9 months after the razor attack. Photo is from Public Record Office Victoria: VPRS 515/ P1 item 82, record Page 173 By Michael Shelford © 2019 ​ On the 15th May 1933, Patricia O’Brien and George Harper entered Our Lady Help of Christians’ Catholic Church, in East Brunswick, and got themselves hitched. By this point, Patricia had ..read more
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Patricia and George (Part 2)
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4y ago
George Harper in February 1932, around 9 months after the razor attack. Photo is from Public Record Office Victoria: VPRS 515/ P1 item 82, record Page 173 By Michael Shelford © 2019 ​ In May 1930, a young man by the name of George Harper entered a lane near the corner of Bourke and Swanston St. George Harper wasn’t his only name, he was also known as George Ferguson, George Fraser, George Lewis, John Kite, Degen etc. He was a drinker, a brawler, and made his living as a thief, burglar, and pimp. As he entered the lane he met with an acquaintance called Thomas Brown. Brown suggested that h ..read more
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Patricia and George (Part 1)
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4y ago
Photo is of Patricia O’Brien c.1934 and is from Public Record Office Victoria: CITATION: VPRS 516/ P2 item volume 14, record page 412 by Michael Shelford © 2019 In April 1932, Constables Brown and North were patrolling St Kilda Rd, near the Victoria Barracks, when they came across Patricia O’Brien and Constance McNamara, On seeing the police officers, the two young women immediately began to run. They were captured, arrested, and later charged with having used insulting words. Patricia, when questioned in court, explained that she’d told Constable North that he belonged in a lunatic asylu ..read more
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Be careful who you burgle
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4y ago
Pierre Desire. Photo from Public Record Office, Victoria. Central Register of Male Prisoners VPRS 515/ P1 item 54, P347 © Michael Shelford 2019 The French sailor, Pierre Desire, didn’t have a very good time of it in Melbourne. In 1902 he was released from Pentridge Prison, after serving a 12 month sentence for burglary, and decided that he’d best get his finances sorted by breaking into another place. In fact, he thought he may as well start in the suburb in which he’d just been released: Coburg. He was rummaging through some drawers in the front bedroom of a house, when he was surpris ..read more
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The Woman In Black
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4y ago
Photograph of Mary Ann Smith alias The Woman in Black from her prison record c.1870. Courtesy of NSW State Archives © Michael Shelford 2019 Mary Ann Smith, alias ‘The Woman In Black’, was born at sea in 1826. NSW prison authorities were not sure which year she arrived in their colony, nor which ship brought her to them. She was, for long periods, a lone wolf pickpocket - but she also ran an all-female assault and robbery gang in Sydney in the early 1870’s. Her prison record is the only one that I’ve noticed, where ‘Thief’ is listed as the prisoner’s trade or occupation.   In October 187 ..read more
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The early bird c.1915
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4y ago
John 'Scotty' King. Photo courtesy of Public Record Office of Victoria, VPRS515, P0001, Unit 55, Item 29680 John King, Government Agency - Chief Secretary's Department by Michael Shelford © 2018 ​ About 2.30am on the morning of the 28th September 1915, Constable Preece was working his beat in the back streets of Fitzroy when he saw a lone man carrying a galah in a cage. Being an unusual hour of the morning for someone to be out walking their pet, he decided to stop the man and ask him his business. The man, it turns out, was a career criminal by the name of John ‘Scotty’ King. Scotty’s e ..read more
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Fat Mona, Barber Lils, and brothel visits from the boys in blue c.1918
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4y ago
Number 56 Lonsdale St, marked with an X. (Leichardt St is the laneway on the left.) Photo courtesy of State Library of Victoria c.1950. In 1918, several Melbourne Police Officers found themselves under investigation after they were discovered in a brothel by their supervisor during an internal investigation. By Michael Shelford © 2018 ​ In the years spent trawling through the historic police files at Public Record Office of Victoria, I’ve come across a lot of cases of alleged impropriety by police officers. Such occurrences are to be expected within any large organisation, but within an ..read more
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The 'Winner' c.1917
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4y ago
In July 1917, a girl was featured in a Melbourne newspaper as the lucky winner of a cash prize. The only problem was that she was next to her mother in the photo, and her mother was wanted by the law. by Michael Shelford © 2018 ​ In July 1917, the daughter of Gertrude Burns won a competition. She had been snapped in a crowd photo at the Moonee Valley Races by ‘The Winner’, sports newspaper, and the photo published with a circle around it. Beneath the photo were what would normally have been the welcome words: “Any person whose face is ringed in the picture is entitled to a reward of 5 ..read more
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Melbourne's Theatre Royal & the 'Bourke St Rats'
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4y ago
A wood engraving of the new Theatre Royal, Bourke St c.1872 from State Library of Victoria Collection. Melbourne’s Theatre Royal was a place of prestige for theatre goers - and a reliable source of income for the notorious ‘Bourke Street Rats' gang. ​By Michael Shelford © 2018 The new Theatre Royal, 234 Bourke St, was built by actor, entrepreneur and politician George Coppin, after the last one had burnt down in 1872. It was a place of prestige, the venue for many of Melbourne’s most popular theatre productions - and also contained a number of ornately furnished and ‘well attended’ dri ..read more
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