Read More at Brunswick Library, Thursday 5 November, 7.45 PM
Murder, mayhem and misdeeds
Meet Michael Winkler, editor of Grungewick: gritty and gruesome news stories of early
Brunswick.
[Image] The Kulin nation, which occupied the heart of current Victoria – the Woiworung
group; the Wurundjeri-Willam clan.
These are albumen silver prints taken by Antoine Fauchery and Richard Daintree
approximately 1859.
Culture Victoria website; State Library of Victoria catalogue: Aboriginal woman and child
That’s the last you’ll hear about the Wurundjeri or any other Indigenous people tonight –
because one of the shocking things I discovered was that they are virtually invisible in the
newspaper stories about 1800s Brunswick. By 1852 only 38 Wurundjeri-willam remained in
the environs of Melbourne.
I’d ask you to close your eyes for a minute. Imagine away the bitumen and the trams and
the powerlines and the modern shops on Sydney Road. Paint in a lot of horses, some towing
carts, some in paddocks, some tied up outside the Retreat Hotel, some being ridden. The
smell of horse manure is everywhere. You can also smell the slaughterhouse in union St
because the wind is from that quarter. You can hear goats and sheep from the paddocks of
West Brunswick. It’s dinner time, and you can hear men walking home in heavy work boots
from the brickworks. Smell the mutton and potatoes being cooked on wood fires. Hear
some children cackling over a game with a hoop, or throwing stones in the ponds that have
formed in the clay quarry-holes just west of here.
Brunswick in the 1800s looked, smelled, sounded different. But in terms of crime and public
discussions, there were certain themes that resonate today. Older people thought the youth
were badly behaved. There was racial and religious intolerance that sometimes spilled into
violence. Desperate people looked for criminal solutions to their poverty. Men with money
made decisions for everyone else.
Before we go further – a caution: some of the stories I’m going to share are pretty rough. It
is completely unsurprising that the victims of crime in the 1800s were often the most
vulnerable – women, children, infants, the poor, Chinese migrants. I am aware that some of
these stories are hard to take – but that’s part of what makes them worth remembering.
SEPTEMBER 1883 SUICIDE AT BRUNSWICK
Ralph Smith, was found dead in the stable at the rear of his brother-in-law’s premises, Mr
Joseph Clarke, a saddler and news agent, Sydney-road. Deceased was first discovered by a
young man, in Clarke’s employ, named Oaks, who, on going to the stables at six o’clock, on
Thursday morning, found Smith on the floor of the feed house, leaning against a partition
with his head on one side.
He tapped him and said, “Come, old man, this is a cold place for you to sleep in,” but
receiving no reply, he again tapped him, and on stooping down found he was dead, and
noticed a rope with a running noose round his neck
Constable Jackson, who was on duty, was called in, and the body was removed into the
house. Deceased was collector of dog fees for the borough of Brunswick, but so far as can
be ascertained, there is nothing wrong with his accounts.
MARCH 1887: FATAL ACCIDENT AT EAST BRUNSWICK
Quarry – frequently used for inquests
William Sergeant drinking in the Quarry Hotel. The licensee sent someone down to the
cellar to tap a hogshead of beer, left the cellar trapdoor open. William didn’t notice, fell
straight in, landed on his head and died.
Not long before this, Elizabeth Shannon, licensee of the Quarry Hotel, was fined for watering
down spirits.
Women – acceptance of violence towards women
JUNE 1858: BRUNSWICK
William H. Earl was charged with assaulting his wife. Mrs. Earl was sworn, but said
she forgave her husband.
John Rollo said: in a tent at Brunswick last night I heard a scuffle and cries of
“Murder!” Mrs Earl said her husband was trying to strangle her, and that he had threatened
to kill her several times.
Earl stated that his wife had attempted to throw a kettle of boiling water over him, and that
he was only trying to tie her hands behind her when Mr. Rollo called out to him.
‘ She was very aggravating in her temper – perhaps worse than he was.’
The Bench dismissed the case.
FEBRUARY 1883
Illegal detention.
Mary Speakman v. Charles Archer – Illegal detention of property. Mr. Croker who
appeared for the defence, submitted that the complainant being a married woman, and
having no separate estate could not sue in her own name, her husband should have been
made a party to the action. The bench coincided with that view and dismissed the
complainant.
Bad for children:
SEPTEMBER 1882
A Waif
Louisa Abraham, a pretty little girl of about 4 years of age, was brought before the bench
charged with being a neglected child. Remanded for a week.
JULY 1885: BRUNSWICK COURT
Patrick McNamara was charged will illtreating Elizabeth Egan, a child boarded out with him.
It was alleged that he sent the girl for some beer and because it was a little thick he beat her
unmercifully with a heavy strap. He was fined £5 with £2 14s costs.
Everyone will recognise Merri Creek
JANUARY 1884:
Henry Humphry was charged with bathing in the Merri Creek, contrary to the bye-laws of
the borough. Repeated complaints had been made to the police of the number of boys
bathing in the creek and disporting themselves on the bank in a nude condition in the view
of the residents of the vicinity. As this was the first case of the kind this summer a light
penalty was inflicted, and he was fined 5s.
It must have been a hot summer:
FEBRUARY 1884: BRUNSWICK POLICE COURT
Ann Simpson was charged The prosecutor stated that the defendant, while in a drunken
condition, stood at her door in a perfectly nude condition and used most filthy language in
the hearing and view of persons passing. Defendant did not appear, and a fine of £10 was
inflicted, or three months’ imprisonment.
Not all court cases were major (note that the men who sat in court hearing cases typically
also served on Council and were the major landowners and employers)
FEB 1872:
Joseph Hilton was charged with exposing in his shop window valentines cards with a
decidedly lewd tendency: 24 hours’ imprisonment,
John O’Keefe, found guilty of breaking a plum-tree, was fined 2s. 6d., or 24 hours’
imprisonment.
NOVEMBER 1879:
A man named Hegarty was charged by the Inspector with furious driving. It
transpired that this freak is a favourite pastime with Mr. Hegarty, who had to pay for this
latest exploit 10s and 2s 6d costs, or three days’ imprisonment.
JANUARY 1894:
A robbery was committed at the premises of Henry Wallis, a draper in Carnarvon-street,
amongst the articles stolen being a quantity of indiarubber hose and a cage containing three
canaries
APRIL 1887:
‘ a respectable-looking woman named Elizabeth Sampson and her daughter, a little girl aged
about 13 years, were charged with larceny.’ They examined the goods in front of the
drapery establishment of Mr. J. Hutchinson, then picked up a roll of flannel and placed it in a
perambulator and covered it up, ‘so as to convey the idea that a child was in the carriage’.
They were found guilty.
OH&S
Nanny-statism. Brunswick’s identity as a place of big quarry holes and brickworks.
1874: a youth named Stewart incautiously looked over the hopper of the pug-mill when in
full motion, and his head got jammed by the revolving beam, at the end of which a horse
was attached. The animal was stopped instantly, but not before the lad’s jaws were broken,
and it is reported his skull also.
1874: a labourer named Pettett by some means slipped from his work, falling over forty feet
on to loosened earth, and he was subsequently removed to the Melbourne Hospital in great
agony.
1875: Thomas Barry had a fit while standing upon a plank, repairing machinery at Hoffman’s
patent brick factory and was admitted to the Melbourne Hospital suffering from concussion
of the brain and bruises on the head
1891: Inquest at the Grandview Hotel on the death of Charles Andrews at Hoffman Brick
Company – blown up while preparing dynamite – the foreman theorised that a match might
have fallen through a hole in one of Andrews’ pockets and ignited it prematurely.
1885: A 16 year old, John Delahunty, at Hoffman’s. ‘The unfortunate lad was employed
clearing out the dirt from underneath one of the rolling tables, when he lost his hold of the
shovel, and, in endeavouring to regain it, became entangled in the powerful machinery, the
result being that his right leg was torn away above the knee joint.’ He died a few hours later.
‘There was no protection to prevent the laborers going too near the machinery.
Witnesses considered the occurrence accidental. Foreman said it was possible to protect the
machinery where the deceased was caught, but as no person had occasion to go near there,
it was not necessary.
FRANCES KNORR
Born Minnie Thwaites in England. Sent to home for wayward girls as a teenager, then family
sent her to Australia. She married a petty crim called Rudolph Knorr. He was sent to prison.
It was the 1890s depression. Probably worked in prostitution and on the fringes of the law.
Babies at that time – the City Health Officer, Dr Neild, told a Royal Commission in 1893 that
of 500 post-mortems he had conducted on infants, more than half indicated murder. Extra
mouths to feed…illegitimate offspring of domestic servants and their
employers…rape…children of prostitutes and their clients…
Orphanages were full.
Baby farming became profitable.
Knorr took in a number of babies – we don’t know how many – first in St Kilda, then in
Brunswick. At some point she started killing them, and burying them in her back yard –
probably shared with Moreland Road houses. A Moreland Road resident was digging in the
yard and discovered the first body. The police found two more.
Knorr fled to Sydney but was arrested in Surry Hills where she had just given birth to her
fourth child.
She tried to blame her lover, Edward Thompson – but at the same time wrote him a long
letter from prison giving detailed instructions for how he should manufacture evidence to
exonerate her.
She was found guilty, sentenced to death by hanging.
The hangman received a lot of grief about hanging a woman – and committed suicide
several days before she was due to die.
It didn’t’ save her. She left a letter for Mr. Patterson, the Premier, on baby-farming,
and suggestions for its better regulation; and a confession
“Jan 13, 1894.
I now desire to state that upon the two charges known in evidence as No. 1 and 2 babies I
confess to be guilty. Placed as I am now, within a few hours of my death, I express a strong
desire that this statement be made public with the hope that my fate will not only be a
warning to others but also act as a deterrent to those who are perhaps carrying on the same
practice.
FRANCES KNORR.”
CHINESE
1882: A Chinaman, named Long Fang, was charged with stealing water to the value of 5s for
his market garden…sentenced to one month’s imprisonment with hard labor.
1891: RIDING OVER A CHINESE
Ah Fong sued George McIntyre claiming that McIntyre deliberately rode over him while he
was walking along the footpath in Nicholson-street, East Brunswick. John Atchinson, a driver
in the employ of Ford Bros., stated that he had seen McIntyre ride over the Chinaman.
The court found that the act was not done wilfully. Defendant was fined 20s., with £2 2s.
costs.
CUMBERLAND ARMS
1891: FIRE
A night watchman, employed in the vicinity of the Cumberland Arms Hotel, Sydney-road,
Brunswick, discovered that a fire had broken out in a fruit shop… the fruit shop was totally
destroyed, and the adjoining building, also a fruit shop, was severely damaged…
Photo – fire watch tower and volounteers
Photo – James Leury and his daughters
1893: 3 GIRLS DROWNED
The fruit shop was owned by the Leury family. Death of Emily Victoria Leury, aged 12
years; Catherine Alice, her sister, aged 8; and Wilhelmina Kennedy, aged 10.
Quite a gloom was cast over our town when it became known that the three innocent little
children met their death by drowning in a disused clayhole, by them venturing to have a sail
on a frail raft.
…the surface of the water, some 70 or 80 feet below the level of the yard…
Wilhelmina Kennedy became frightened, and evidently not conscious of her risk,
wanted to jump ashore,.
Her movements for this purpose causing the timbers to sway uneasily, she lost her
balance, and in attempting to save herself she caught hold of Catherine Leury, and in a
moment the two girls were in the water struggling with each other for support. The eldest
of the three, Victoria Leury, was left alone on the plank, and seeing the other two come to
the surface of the water, she, with distinguished bravery, gallantly jumped into the water to
render assistance, at the same time giving a terrific scream.
…later…
as the bodies of the poor little children were being carried up to the top of the vast
embankment, the scene was far beyond description, the screams and bitter tears that were
shed was heart rending, and it was not without the aid of some kind neighbours that Mrs.
Leury was taken to her home, where that day a deep and very dark cloud of sorrow rested.
MARCH 1894: AN UNLUCKY FAMILY
A rather serious accident, and one which, it is feared, will have a fatal termination, occurred
at Brunswick, whereby a man named James Leury sustained very serious injuries.
It appears that Leury for some purpose at present unexplained, climbed to the top of an
unused brick kiln adjoining his house in Victoria-street, owned by Mr. Roche, and by some
means fell to the ground. His groans were heard by some passers by, and upon going to
[the] spot they found the man lying unconscious
he received an injury to the spine as well as the head, and his face was much cut about, and
he is now under medical treatment.
MARCH 1884: PHOENIX STREET BODY
A woman’s body found in a clayhole
some boys living in the vicinity, on returning from school, saw what they thought to be a
bundle of rags floating on the water.
a woman about 22 years of age. She was dressed in a light red-coloured print dress,
two cotton and one flannel petticoats, a pair of dark woollen stockings, and a pair of odd kid
boots. Several marks of violence were found on the body,
one of the woman’s cotton petticoats having been drawn up and twisted round her
throat.
The deceased is a perfect stranger in Brunswick, about one hundred persons having
viewed the body, none of whom can identity her. The body was removed to the Cumberland
Arms Hotel, where an inquest will be held.
….unsolved?
MAY 1892: DYNAMITE OUTRAGE IN WALTER STREET
One of the best known, most notorious stories – in Walter street, off Albion St – there were
four houses – don’t know which one.
Mary Ann Ryckman – a widow – a tailoress – a young son
The Chatfield family moved in next door – friction between one of their adopted children
and Ryckman’s son
Mr. and Mrs. Chatfield at last determined that as Mrs. Ryckman could not leave they would
do so. They found themselves in a difficulty, just as Mrs. Ryckman had done. They were
buying their house through a building society, and being unable to sell their acquired rights
owing to the depression, had either to forfeit all they had paid or remain where they were.
Ryckman hit Mrs Chatfield in the face with sticks – Chatfield went toe hpolice then sent to
stay with her mother-in-law.
The summons was to have been heard at the Brunswick Court to-day, and it would seem
that this fact so disturbed Mrs Ryckman that she determined to end her own life and that of
the Chatfields on the day before.
Mrs Ryckman sent her son Albert – Bertie – to stay with a Mr Barbour.
At about half-past 1 o’clock, not long after he went to sleep, he was awakened by a noise,
and looking towards the door of his room saw a bright light, and behind it the face of Mrs.
Ryckman.
Explosion – police called – knew it was Ryckman – went to her house, it exploded.
Chatfield – lost his left leg, one eye had to be removed, burns to a lot of his body
Ryckman – intended to put dynamite in her mouth but blew off her hand
Dr. Overend, who saw the prisoner on the morning of the outrage, stated that he
thought she was then suffering from melancholia and hallucinations. Such symptoms often
led to suicide or homicidal mania.
Dr. Dick, superintendent of lunatic asylums, said he had examined the prisoner twice
and he then thought she was sane.
The jury after retiring for about 10 minutes, returned into court with a verdict of not
guilty, on the ground that the prisoner was insane at the time she committed the act. HIS
HONOUR ordered that the prisoner should be detained in gaol until the pleasure of the
authorities respecting her was made known.
LARRIKINS AND BLACKGUARDS
You’ve probably heard people complain that the streets of Brunswick aren’t as safe as they
used to be. Not true.
There was a major problem with larrikins, street hooligans, hanging around Sydney Road.
Different corners were home base for different gangs. One of the worst corners was Sydney
Road and Victoria Street – Franco Cozzo.
1885: ‘half-a-dozen grown up larrikins of the most pronounced type – downright
unmitigated blackguards – were amusing themselves by throwing stones at houses,
windows, lamps, &c., and were varying the amusement by plastering peoples dwellings with
mud and rotten eggs. One thorough young vagabond ‘shied’ a stone at a lamp that cost £5.
The stone struck the lamp, smashing it in pieces.
1886; Four larrikin youths assaulting Chinese market gardeners, throwing stones at them,
punching them, hitting them in the face with a horse whip.
A decade later, letter to the editor from A RESPECTED YOUNG LADY
insolent fellows are allowed to molest every young lady that passes …Thinking themselves
manly in their actions the impudent boys crowd the footpaths smoking, and spitting over
people’s clothes.
1898 LETTER TO THE EDITOR BY J.E.G.:
, the most notorious are the Victoria street “push”, who go under the sobriquet of the “Piestallers.” no single person of either sex can, without being insulted, pass these foul-smelling
riff-raff
It wasn’t just larrikins fighting in the streets.
1896: ORANGE RIOT
The local Orange lodge held a service at the Wesleyan Church in commemoration of
the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne, a Catholic v Protestant fight in 1690, then
marched in orange regalia.
25,000 people in Sydney Road, wearing orange or green ribbons, many holding
shillelaghs or lumps of blue road metal.
the people were beginning to get restless, like animals when they smell blood … an
open buggy containing four men, who all showed orange rosettes. From the front of an
adjacent cab one could see a sudden attack by a party of men armed with stout sticks, a
momentary repulse, a renewed assault, a rearing horse, and a capsizing buggy. The sticks
were going with extraordinary rapidity as the four men standing up in the buggy dealt out
their blows, while the weapons of their assailants came upon their heads and shoulders with
a straight up and down chopping motion.
A buggy containing an old man and an old woman was wedged in the centre of the
throng, and the old lady, who was rapturously watching the progress of a distant scuffle,
drew a large orange-coloured handkerchief from the front of her dress, and waved it
contemptuously in the faces of the foe. Three men jumped on the buggy like wolves, and in
a second the old lady’s bonnet and handkerchief, not to mention a few wisps of her grey
hair, were down on the ground, and a lively battle was waged around them.
On all sides there were cut heads and bleeding faces, then a cry, that someone was
armed with a knife, and a scene of intense excitement, several voices crying out, “Lynch
him, lynch him.”
A pleasing feature amid the general disturbance was the behaviour of the Rev.
Father Luby, the popular parish priest of Brunswick, who endeavoured with all the force of
his eloquence to dissuade his unruly flock from continuing the disturbance.
A final item – we all know that there is competition between cyclists and non-cyclists in
modern Brunswick.
1897: VICTORY CYCLE CLUB
Mr W. C. Bones, Victory Cycle Club, asking for a fair go for cyclists. Thirty cyclists
training at Brunswick Reserve, with 50 footballers – some deliberately aiming their kicks at
the riders. “they wait until a rider comes between them and then kick two balls at the rider
as he passes. There have been several accidents; I got a nasty fall and broke my machine
and hurt my arm and head, and was greeted with the shout “here’s another over,” and a
laugh. The Victory Club has spent and collected more money than any club, and cyclists
should have their track to themselves, at least from 5 to 6 p.m. each day.”
All we want is for people to get along with each other. It wasn’t easy then. It isn’t easy now.
But at least we can try.