This book provides a lively and accessible account of Australia’s most prominent crimes and criminals of the nineteenth and twentieth century and offers an informative background for those seeking to understand crimes committed today.
A History of Crime in Australia examines the imposition of English law on this ancient continent, and how its operation affected both transported offenders from Great Britain and Ireland, and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples whose own systems of Law were overlaid. Drawing upon cutting-edge research in the field, original work by the author, and essays from leading crime history researchers, it addresses the question of whether there was an Australian underworld. In doing so, it provides background for well known offenders including bushranger Ned Kelly and the razor gangs of the 1920s and for sensational crimes like the Mount Rennie Outrage, the Pyjama Girl Mystery and the Shark Arm Murder and the miscarriage of justice following the disappearance of Azaria Chamberlain at Uluru in 1980. Through these case studies, the book draws out points of tension and cohesion within Australian society, exposing the enduring anxiety around those who were considered to be outsiders, and how the criminal justice system was used to manage these concerns. This book includes a guide to conducting research in the field of Australian crime history and sources for further study.
Designed as an introductory text for students, this book will be of interest to those studying criminology and crime history, and anyone who would like to deepen their understanding of crime’s place in Australia’s social and cultural history.
Introduction
Essay: Crime History for Criminologists
Victoria Nagy
1. Law in Aboriginal Societies
Essay: Indigenous Law and the Intrusion of the West
Tyson Yunkaporta and Michael Bryden
Primary Source: Wundanyuka kulu Jujuju
Yanyuwa Families
2. Australian Criminal Justice Systems
Essay: From military tribunals to trial by jury
Rachel Franks
Primary Source: Prisoners for Trial, Adelaide, 1846
3. The Criminal Class Theory and its Enemies
Essay: British and Irish convicts and the idea of a criminal class
Hamish Maxwell Stewart
Primary Source: Indents of Female Convicts for the ship Lloyds,1845
4. Aboriginal People and Settler Colonial Law
Essay: Entangled in the colonial justice system
Laurie Allen
Primary Source: "Proclamation to the Aborigines", c. 1828-30
5. The World of Ned Kelly
Essay: The other bushrangers
Meg Foster
Primary Source: Jerilderie Letter, 1880, excerpt
6. Identifying Underworlds
Essay: Underworld figures? Describing vagrants
Catharine Coleborne
Primary Source: "From the Police Gazette", 1901
7. Race, Class and Sexual Violence
Essay: Sexual violence, racism, and the death penalty
Andy Kaladelfos
Primary Source: Opposing Capital Punishment, the Bulletin, 1889
8. Husband Poisoners and Baby Killers: Women Criminals
Essay: The ordinary crimes of female offenders
Alana Piper
Primary Source: "Victoria Gaol" by Janet Dibben, 1904
9. Popular Crimes
Essay: "Unnatural" and unpopular crimes
Yorick Smaal
Primary Source: The "Pyjama Girl Conundrum", 1944
10. The Long History of Australian Gangs
Essay: What ever happened to the larrikin pushes?
Melissa Bellanta
Primary Source: Kate Leigh Prison Record, 1915
11. Innocent Criminals
Essay: The Media vs Lindy Chamberlain
Michelle Arrow
Primary Source: Azaria Chamberlain’s Matinée Jacket, 1986
12. Researching the History of Crime in Australia
Essay: Using digital archives of crimes and criminals
Michael Kilmister
Biography
Nancy Cushing is Associate Professor of History at the University of Newcastle, Australia. She is an environmental historian interested in human-other animal relations, most recently co editing Animals Count (Routledge 2018) with Jodi Frawley. This book is based on her undergraduate course Australian Underworlds which she has taught as an on-campus and massive open online course to over a thousand students since 2017.
