In Black and White podcast: How a one-legged gang ruled Melbourne streets

They were feared on the streets of North Melbourne, turning to violence in pubs and outside footy matches. But they weren’t any ordinary gang — here’s how they turned their missing limbs into an advantage. NEW PODCAST LISTEN NOW

Valentine Keating was leader of Melbourne criminal gang the Crutchy Push.

Melbourne was home to several criminal gangs over a century ago, but the oddly named “Crutchy Push” had one distinct difference.

All but one member of the “push”, a slang name for gang, were missing a leg, and used their crutches with destructive force during countless brutal assaults and street fights.

The exception was a one-armed gang member, who kept half a brick in his sewn-up empty sleeve, and would swing it around his head before taking out a victim.

The Crutchy Push, who menaced Melbourne’s streets from 1895 to 1905, is the subject of the latest In Black and White podcast episode, out today.

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The “Crutchies”, who all hailed from North Melbourne, were known for being adept both at making a fast getaway on crutches, and using their crutches as weapons.

One police officer once told the Carlton Court he struggled to catch Crutchy Push leader Valentine Keating as he raced away “like a flying kangaroo” on his crutch.

Crutchies would use the tip of their crutch to jab an opponent in the midriff.

Then when the enemy was gasping for breath, the gang member would turn the crutch around and wield the armrest as a club.

The women in Keating’s life proved they had just as strong a taste for violence as he did.

His girlfriend, Harriet Adderley, was jailed for a year after repeatedly kicking the face of a policeman wrestling with Keating, in a brawl that left the officer seriously injured.

Harriet Adderley’s mugshot. She spent a year in jail. Picture source: Public Record Office of Victoria

In another astonishing incident, an all-in brawl broke out when police called around to the home of Keating and his parents in Arden St, and his mother, brother and sister all became involved.

Keating smashed a policeman’s head with his crutch, and when police tackled his sister, Keating got stuck into the officer.

The brawl only ended when Keating’s mother, while trying to clobber a policeman with a chair, accidentally smashed her son instead and knocked him out. All were arrested.

Sydney’s Evening Standard reported this Crutchy Push assault on November 9, 1901. Picture source: National Library of Australia Trove collection

Today’s podcast explores the history of the Crutchy Push with Herald Sun journalist and history buff Jamie Duncan, who has researched the fascinating tale.

Read more on the earlier episodes, from the slum boss and her relationship with a footy great, to the Melbourne mind-reader who fooled a police chief.

And you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes here, on Spotify here or on your favourite platform.