DEATH. MALLALIEU. —On the 21st June, at Adelaide-street, Constance Mallalieu, aged 10 years, eldest daughter of Alfred and Henrietta Mallalieu. [Manchester papers please copy.] On 19 June 1873, a group of young girls played with a skipping rope after school, on a hillside at the corner of Edward and Adelaide Streets. Two girls held theContinue reading “Constance and Emily”
Category Archives: Courts
The brief but colourful criminal career of Jemima Smith.
In 1862, Queensland had been a separate Colony for two years. The streets of Brisbane were not paved, bullock-teams rested in the streets and ladies negotiated the subtropical climate and noisome streets wearing the unwieldy hoop skirts of the period. Some substantial buildings adjoined tin shacks and stores. Entertainment for those unable to affordContinue reading “The brief but colourful criminal career of Jemima Smith.”
Snippets: The Rise of Larrikinism.
CITY POLICE COURT. SATURDAY, JUNE 7, BEFORE the assistant police magistrate VAGRANCY. – Thomas Clarke, a man about 23 years of age, was charged with having no lawful means of support. Sergeant Burke prosecuted. From the evidence of constable Jessop, who arrested Clarke, and also that of Senior detective Anderson, it appears that the prisonerContinue reading “Snippets: The Rise of Larrikinism.”
Snippets: “You can hang me if you like.”
Snippets of news from the 19th century.
Highway Robbery – Podgy and Blake.
At 4 pm on 30 July 1868, four men were on the road to the new gold rush at Yabber (you can’t make these names up). They were Henry Redman, Robert Crothers, John Crothers, and Thomas Gill. The group was about 4 miles from Imbil, inland from Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, when two armed men onContinue reading “Highway Robbery – Podgy and Blake.”
The Forlorn Women Haunting Our Streets – The Murder of German Ada
German Ada could have been saved from a fatal beating at the hands of James Gardner on the night of 21 August 1883. A neighbour heard her screams as a stammering man threatened her, and went to find the nearest police officer. This constable, on being told that violence was occurring at an address inContinue reading “The Forlorn Women Haunting Our Streets – The Murder of German Ada”
Convict Runaways – Fagan and Bulbridge pay the ultimate price.
The Moreton Bay penal settlement was designed to be a place of punishment, but not execution. There was no Supreme Court at Brisbane until the 1850s, no scaffold and no executioner. The prisoners who committed capital offences at Brisbane were taken by sea to Sydney, where they were tried, and if found guilty, executed. TheContinue reading “Convict Runaways – Fagan and Bulbridge pay the ultimate price.”
The Northern Murderers – Gleeson and Moncaro.
George Gleeson and William Leonardo Moncado were executed together at the Brisbane Gaol on Monday, October 24, 1892. They had both been convicted and sentenced to death at the Supreme Court’s Cooktown sittings in north Queensland a mere month before. George Gleeson George Gleeson (pictured) was a cook at a pearling station on Prince of Wales Island, which was offContinue reading “The Northern Murderers – Gleeson and Moncaro.”
Charles McManus: Let my fate be a warning to you.
Charles McManus (per “James Pattison”) and John Norman (per “Atlas”) were quite alike. They were both about 30, both 5 feet 7 ½ inches tall, both had sallow complexions with brown hair and hazel eyes. Both were sentenced to Moreton Bay for reoffending in the Colony of New South Wales, and both travelled from SydneyContinue reading “Charles McManus: Let my fate be a warning to you.”
Murder at Mount Lindesay – the trial of Merridio and Nengavil.
On June 15 1840 Dr Ballow gave his report on oath to Commandant Gorman, and a week later, having reviewed the evidence thus far, Gorman issued an order to apprehend the men believed to be responsible for the deaths of Stapylton and Tuck, and the attempted murder of Dunlop. Colony of New South Wales, toContinue reading “Murder at Mount Lindesay – the trial of Merridio and Nengavil.”
Moreton Bay and More 