Frances Knorr, like many other women in depression-hit 1800s Melbourne, ran an early form of childcare. But instead of visiting a loving home, the infants she was trusted with met a much darker fate.
It was “the most dangerous life” for a person, and at the British Empire’s first juvenile jail in Australia, it ended in murder.
It may have been the worst mass killing in Victoria’s history — the Gunditjmara Aboriginal people and a group of whalers fighting over a beached whale. But exactly how much blood was spilt on the Portland beach could be lost in the mists of time.
Thousands of child convicts, some as young as eight, were sent to a children’s version of the notorious Port Arthur for minor offences. But were two boys really guilty of a more shocking crime? LISTEN NOW
WHEN Australia found itself at war, thousands of people were deemed security threats. They soon found themselves dwelling under brutal conditions in the swamp that was Torrens Island.
CARROTS rather than sticks was the mantra for rehabilitation inside SA prisons in the early 1970s — but many not only ate the carrot, they stole the stick and broke out of the cage. Here is how social upheaval sparked tensions inside our jails between guards and inmates with a rise in escapes and violence.
IT’S nearly 100 years since 13-year-old Chrissie Venn was raped, murdered and dumped half-naked in a tree stump, but events even more mysterious than her shocking death ensure she is never forgotten.
HE was dubbed ‘The Satanic Slayer’. A Gold Coast man who thought he would achieve immortality by shooting people and following Satan. This is how Rodney Dale turned a sleepy Saturday afternoon in Burleigh Heads into 15 minutes of terror.
SHE was a belle of Melbourne society, held some of the best parties, travelled the world and was even invited to Buckingham Palace. But its still a mystery how stinking rich ‘Swamp Lady’ socialite Margaret Clement died.
CONVICTED murderer and corrupt cop Roger Rogerson has written from behind bars to deny any wrongdoing after assisting Queensland police in the reinvestigation of the 1973 Whiskey Au Go Go firebombing.
SHE’D snared a rich husband, then claimed she was terrified of him despite flaunting an affair. The lure of his money would help persuade her lover and another man to kill.
THE battle of Enfield saw bullets flying, two out of the four jail escapees killed, and the 38 police officers awarded for bravery. Andrew Dowdell recounts the July 1930 firefight, which was unlike anything Adelaide has seen before or since.
IN 1973, more than a dozen inmates from Yatala prison — including murderers — were given day release to perform puppet shows for kids at the Royal Adelaide Show. Hard as it is to believe, this brilliant plan went seriously wrong.
HE was for a while one of the nation’s most promising politicians but Thomas Ley’s fall was dramatic and would end with him convicted of murder, sentenced to hang, and die alone in a lunatic asylum.
Original URL: https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/ourcriminalhistory/page/13