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.
Author(s): Nancy Cushing
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 245
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
List of Contributors
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Essay: Crime History for Criminologists
1. Law in Aboriginal Societies
Essay: Indigenous Law and the Intrusionof the West
Primary Source: Wundanyuka kulu Jujuju
2. Australian Criminal Justice Systems
Essay: From Military Tribunals to Trial by Jury
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
Primary Source: Female Convict Indents, 1845
4. Aboriginal People and Settler Colonial Law
Essay: Entangled in the Colonial Justice System
Primary Source: “Proclamation to the Aborigines,” C. 1828–30
5. The World of Ned Kelly
Essay: The Other Bushrangers
Primary Source: The Jerilderie Letter, 1879, Excerpt
6. Identifying Underworlds
Essay: Underworld Figures? Describing Vagrants
Primary Source: From the Victoria Police Gazette, 1901
7. Race, Class and Sexual Violence
Essay: Sexual Violence, Racism, and the Death Penalty
Primary Source: Opposing Capital Punishment, the Bulletin, 1889
8. Husband Poisoners and Baby Killers: Women Criminals
Essay: The Ordinary Crimes of Female Offenders
Primary Source: Victoria Gaol by Janet Dibben, 1904
9. Popular Crimes
Essay: “Unnatural” and Unpopular Crimes
Primary Source: The “Pyjama Girl Conundrum,” 1944
10. The Long History of Australian Gangs
Essay: Whatever Happened to the Larrikin Pushes?
Primary Source: Kate Leigh Prison Record, 1915
11. Innocent Criminals
Essay: The Media Versus Lindy Chamberlain
Primary Source: Azaria Chamberlain's Matinée Jacket, 1980
12. Researching the History of Crime in Australia
Essay: Using Digital Archives of Crimes and Criminals
Index
