The photo taken in Brisbane Gaol on 24 May 1875 shows a well-built, slightly perplexed young man with a truly impressive set of whiskers. What could Joseph Arthur Viccars have done to bring him to Boggo Road?
Turned up on the doorstep of an old acquaintance from England, claiming to have been shipwrecked, and left with nothing but a cheque for £15? Been invited to stay by the kindly Samuel Roe, only to pilfer a cheque for £15, 12s. and some cash from them when Mrs Roe was distracted by her chickens?
Cashed the Roe’s cheque for gold sovereigns at the Union Bank, then visited the bar of the Australian Hotel? Fitted himself out like a gentleman at Finney Isles and Co? All of the above.
When arrested, Joseph Viccars protested his innocence, telling the shipwreck tale to anyone who would listen. Sure enough the £15 cheque was real – Mr Minogue, the watch-house keeper, discovered it, intact and uncashed, on Viccars’ person. Spending one’s own money would be rather vulgar, after all.
At the trial, Samuel Roe told the jury of his childhood friend turning up unexpectedly with a harrowing tale of surviving a shipwreck with nothing but the clothes on his back, and a cheque for £15. He added that Viccars had been present when they discussed a cheque they had received, and that the defendant knew where the cheque and their money was kept. Viccars had drawn Mrs Roe’s attention to the chickens running about in her back yard, and while she was attending to them, had been alone in the house. The cheque and cash were missed soon after.
Robert Windeatt, the teller who cashed the cheque belonging to Samuel Roe, didn’t recall much about the person he served, beyond the denominations given in exchange.
Emily Parrish, a barmaid at the Australian Hotel, recalled the flashy Englishman who asked her to hold on to ten gold sovereigns for him, and also noticed the amount of gold he had in his purse. An honest girl, Emily had given the sovereigns straight to her boss.
J.M. McCurdy and Thomas Tutty, salesman and draper’s assistant respectively, of Finney Isles & Co gave evidence about the three pound notes used to purchase the clothing. Mr Roe was missing three £1 pound notes, as well as his cheque.
In his defence, Joseph Viccars “addressed the jury at considerable length” – Victorian for rambled on and on – about monthly remittances from England that “placed him beyond the necessity of stealing.” He claimed to have been sent an envelope of £1 notes from Sydney, and that he had made a complicated arrangement with a person about to visit Sydney to exchange some of them for gold. And had he mentioned the monthly remittances from England? Oh yes, he had.
The jury didn’t believe him, but the Sir James Cockle, Chief Justice was inclined to be merciful in the light of Viccars’ previous good character, and merely sent him to gaol for two years, with hard labour.
After his time in Brisbane Gaol, Joseph Arthur Viccars appeared occasionally in Police Gazettes, as being missing, believed to be “employed in connection with the sporting press”. It didn’t pay to spend too much time in one place, apparently. He resurfaced in police reports 1906, back to old tricks.
Vide Police Gazette, 1906, page 9:
Joseph Arthur Viccars (53), charged on warrant with obtaining the sum of £10 from August Ernest Chisholm, by means of false pretences, has been arrested by Constable Woodland, Sydney Police. Further charged with obtaining the sum of £10 from Augustus Chisholm, by means of false pretences. Committed for trial on both charges at Quarter Sessions.
His colourful Colonial career ended in 1913, when he died in Sydney. He is buried in Rookwood Cemetery.
Queensland State Archives Series ID 3693, Photographic Records, Descriptions and Criminal Histories of Prisoners – (Males and Females) [HM Gaol, Brisbane, later HM Prison (Boggo Road), Brisbane].
South Australia Police Gazettes 1862-1947: 1883.
New South Wales Police Gazettes 1854-1930: 1883, 1906.
Sydney, Australia, Cemetery Headstone Transcriptions 1837-2003.
Brisbane Courier (Qld.: 1864 – 1933), Tuesday 18 May 1875, page 3.
Moreton Bay and More 