How Collingwood’s baddest crime family ruled the streets
The Collis family caused mayhem for decades with their sly grog shops and gang violence until authorities were finally forced to declare their homes condemned to run them out of town. LISTEN TO THE PODCAST
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Collingwood had a bad reputation for sly grog and crime in the late 1800s, and much of the blame fell squarely on the shoulders of just one family.
The notorious Collis family became such a headache for Collingwood police that desperate authorities eventually resorted to having their houses condemned to run them out of town.
The Collis family is the subject of Episode 2 of the five-part “larrikins and laneways” series in the free In Black and White podcast on Australia’s forgotten characters.
Historian Michael Shelford, the creator and guide for Melbourne Historical Crime Tours, says the girls of the family helped run the sly grog business, while the boys caused havoc as members of street gangs known as “larrikin pushes”.
One of the gangs the Collis boys joined did not start out as a gang at all, but rather a football team, called Fernside.
“They played similar teams from other suburbs,” Shelford says.
“The problem was they caused all sorts of havoc.
“There was vandalism happening, language, gang fights during the actual football games, and they ended up being banned.”
So the Fernside footy team transformed into the Fernside larrikin push.
Shelford says the gang would sit on a wall every night behind Collingwood Town Hall, talking footy – and then “number up” to decide how many policemen they could take on that night.
“There’d be a headcount of the gang. ‘How many police can we attack? There’s 30 of us. I reckon we can take 10.’”
The family, who lived in Perry St, also ran illegal two-up games at Dights Falls and were loosely connected to bookmaker John Wren’s infamous Collingwood Tote.
But it was when the family’s sly grog business really kicked off during World War I, when six o’clock closing was introduced for pubs, that authorities were forced to act.
Fed-up ratepayers flooded police with complaint letters about all-night partying, drunkenness, violence and foul language.
Police used a female undercover sly grog detective to catch the Collis family in the act, and the operation was shut down soon after.
The council had the houses condemned and demolished, and the Collises were forced to leave.
Listen now to the interview in today’s new free episode of the In Black and White podcast on Australia’s forgotten characters on Apple/iTunes, Spotify, web or your favourite platform.
The In Black and White podcast is shifting to Thursdays from this week, so tune in again this Thursday to hear Episode 3 in the “larrikins and laneways” series with Michael Shelford.
Listen to Episode 1 on Ann Shiell, Melbourne’s slumlord queen who was a powerful crime boss, brothel madam and controller of gangs of thieves in Melbourne in the late 1800s.
And listen to some of our previous episodes with Michael Shelford including the story of South Yarra’s mysterious Madame Reprah, who showed up a police chief, and the champion Collingwood footballer who was a hero cop.
See In Black & White in the Herald Sun newspaper Monday to Friday for more stories and photos from Victoria’s past.