Geelong Gaol historian Deb Robinson probes Cecilia Curtain’s criminal history

Wearing a patch over one eye, Victorian street fighter Cecilia Curtain made her money robbing men on Melbourne’s seedy city streets.

Street fighter and criminal Cecilia Curtain, who wore a patch over one sightless eye and was known as the One-Eyed Tiger of Little Bourke St.

In a criminal world dominated by men, Cecilia Curtain earned a fearsome reputation as a champion street fighter dubbed “the One-Eyed Tiger of Little Bourke St”.

But Geelong Gaol historian Deb Robinson has probed her painful past and discovered a strange murder case and string of tragedies that undoubtedly led her to a life of crime.

The story is told in an episode of the free In Black and White podcast on Australia’s forgotten characters:

Born in 1858 near Daylesford, Cecilia endured a sad upbringing.

Her father was a gold miner who tried his luck on the goldfields, but evidently failed, and Cecilia and her two older sisters were sent to industrial schools.

“She was only 11 when she went in,” says Ms Robinson, the general manager of Geelong Gaol Museum and host of the Locked Up With History podcast.

“Dad had been arrested and was being charged with stealing some money from one of his neighbours, and Mum at the time had been placed in the immigrants’ home.

“And we know Mum passed away about four years after the girls went into care.”

Cecilia’s father, John Prior Barrett, lived in the Carlton area, and while she no longer retained a close relationship with him, her two older sisters did.

Like her sisters, Cecilia was licensed out to a family as a servant, but she absconded from her employer’s Carlton home in 1875 at the age of 16.

Earlier that year, Cecilia’s father murdered his second wife, Harriet, in a brutal stabbing.

Cecilia Curtain's father, John Prior Barrett, who murdered his second wife.

Historian Deb Robinson at Geelong Gaol Museum. Picture: Mark Wilson

“That was a very strange murder case,” Ms Robinson says.

“The two other sisters … actually went in and cleaned up the house before the police got there, and got rid of the evidence and got rid of the murder weapon. It wasn’t found for a long time.”

A few years later, Cecilia had a baby son, but any joy was short-lived.

“Unfortunately for young Cecilia, there is still more tragedy to come,” Ms Robinson says.

“And I think this had a bearing on where she ended up and why she ended up in the prison system a bit later on.

“Her son, Arthur, was killed when she had accidentally overlain on him in bed and he suffocated, which is a complete and utter tragedy.”

The Geelong Gaol, where Cecilia Curtain served time, pictured in the early 1900s. Picture: State Library Victoria

Cecilia turned to a life of prostitution and crime and was in and out of courts and prisons for most of her life.

She cut a striking figure wearing a patch over her sightless eye, and earned the menacing nickname “the One-Eyed Tiger of Little Bourke St” for her tenacity in robbing men.

To find out more, listen to the interview in the free In Black and White podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or web.

See In Black & White in the Herald Sun newspaper every Friday for more stories and photos from Victoria’s past.