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Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney
Subjects
Law and Order
Crime
Victims of crime

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Victims of crime

Subject

Fishers Ghost Creek

Shark Arm murder 1935

Sydney’s Oldest Unsolved Murders

The murder of Constable Joseph Luker

Glenfield siege 1968

Graeme Thorne kidnapping 1960

Shark Arm murder 1935

Alford, John Ferris

Birkett, Annie

Bowden, Frederick Leopold

Breeze, Mary

Brooker, William

Burn, Simon

Cobby, Anita

Dean, Mary

Griffith, Arthur Barry

Griffith, Arthur Cosman

Hicks, Lucy Applewhaite

Huckstepp, Sallie-Anne

Jamieson, Ellen

Kennedy, Bridget

Kinder, Henry

Luker, Joseph

Lynch, Garry

Muddle, Beryl

Murray, David

Newman, John

Nielsen, Juanita

Smith, Jim

Watkins, Francis

1920s depiction of the murder of Joseph Luker in 1804

A murder committed near Parramatta 1794

Arthur Griffith c1954

Newspaper report of the massacre of Aboriginal people at Appin on 17 April 1816

Page from Collin's 'Account of the English colony in New South Wales' about the death of John Lewis 1794

Report of Joseph Luker's murder in the Sydney Gazette 28 August 1803

Tattooed arm disgorged by shark at Coogee Acquarium 1935

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Victims of crime

Fishers Ghost Creek

Murdered in 1826, Frederick Fisher is commemorated by Fisher's Ghost Creek, where legend has it that the ghost led the way to his own grave, thereby implicating his murderer, who was convicted and hanged.

Shark Arm murder 1935

One of Sydney's most sensational crimes, the Shark Arm murder was never solved.

Sydney’s Oldest Unsolved Murders

With colonisation came numerous acts of violence inflicted upon the First Nations people, including murder. It was several years, however, before murders were committed in Sydney by the colonists upon each other. Identifying Australia’s oldest case of unsolved murder in this context is not necessarily a straightforward task.

The murder of Constable Joseph Luker

Convict Joseph Luker placed his past firmly behind him when he decided to pursue a career as a police constable in colonial Sydney. This transition from law breaker to law enforcer would also see him become the first officer of the law killed in the line of duty in Australia.

Glenfield siege 1968

Beryl Muddle was held hostage for 8 days by her boyfriend Wally Mellish in his house at Glenfield.

full record »

Graeme Thorne kidnapping 1960

Kidnap and murder of 8-year-old Graeme Thorne, by Stephen Bradley, which led to anti-kidnapping laws in New South Wales.

full record »

Shark Arm murder 1935

Murder revealed when a captured shark regurgitated a severed arm with tattoos in Coogee Aquarium in 1935.

full record »

Alford, John Ferris

First Class Constable who was one of several police officers injured, and later commended for bravery, during the Bridge Street Affray in 1894. He had been on duty at the Colonial Secretary's office building nearby when he responded to calls for assistance. He was left an invalid from his injuries and was unable to return to work, eventually being retired as unfit for further duty on a sergeant's pension.

full record »

Birkett, Annie

Shopkeeper and murder victim.

full record »

Bowden, Frederick Leopold

Police constable who was one of several officers injured, and later commended for bravery, during the Bridge Street Affray in 1894.

full record »

Breeze, Mary

Woman who lived in Back Row (now known as Phillip Street) in early colonial Sydney. Her house was robbed in August 1803 and the investigating police officer, Joseph Luker, was murdered. In 1804 she sold her house prior to leaving the colony. It was described as a neat and commodious dwelling house on the corner of Back Row nearest to Farm Cove, with a good proportion of excellent garden ground and a well that was constantly supplied with pure water.

full record »

Brooker, William

Carpenter and sawyer in Campbelltown who was stabbed by Frederick Fisher in 1825 when he went to collect a debt from Fisher's lodger Charles Rennett.

full record »

Burn, Simon

Convict who arrived in Sydney on the Friendship in 1788. Described as a stocking weaver and timber getter, he was convicted in Exeter in 1783 of highway robbery and sentenced to transportation to America for seven years, but escaped before departure in the convict mutiny on the Mercury in 1784. Recaptured, he was transported to New South Wales. On 10 February 1788 he married fellow convict, Frances Anderson and given a land grant in Parramatta in July 1791. Accused in 1794 by Marsden of drunkenness on the Sabbath, a few weeks later he was murdered by drinking partner John Hill when he tried to defend a woman, Hill's partner, from an attack. He was the first emancipist in the colony to be murdered by another colonist.

full record »

Cobby, Anita

Nurse who was raped and murdered in 1986.

full record »

Dean, Mary

Victim of attempted murder by her husband in March 1895.

full record »

Griffith, Arthur Barry

full record »

Bookmaker's clerk who was shot and killed by his girlfriend Shirley Beiger outside Chequers nightclub in the city in 1954.

Griffith, Arthur Cosman

Trotting and greyhound bookmaker.

full record »

Hicks, Lucy Applewhaite

full record »

Matron of the Immigration Depot and Destitute Asylum at Hyde Park Barracks for over two decades.

Huckstepp, Sallie-Anne

Prostitute and drug addict who was murdered after she exposed police corruption in Sydney.

full record »

Jamieson, Ellen

Shopkeeper who was murdered by John Knatchbull in 1844.

full record »

Kennedy, Bridget

Servant at Bull and Mouth hotel who was attacked by her employer.

full record »

Kinder, Henry

Businessperson who was murdered by his wife's lover.

full record »

Luker, Joseph

Former convict who joined Sydney's early police force in 1796. He was murdered in 1803, the first police officer killed in the line of duty in New South Wales.

full record »

Lynch, Garry

Parent of a murder victim who formed the Homicide Victims Support Group.

full record »

Muddle, Beryl

Girlfriend of petty criminal Wally Mellish who in 1968 took her hostage for eight days in his house at Glenfield.

full record »

Murray, David

Homeless man murdered in The Domain.

full record »

Newman, John

Union organiser and Labor Party politician whose murder by a rival was the first political assassination in Australia.

full record »

Nielsen, Juanita

Australian publisher who disappeared whilst opposing development in Kings Cross where she lived.

full record »

Smith, Jim

Small-time criminal who was the victim of the Shark Arm murder in 1935.

full record »

Watkins, Francis

Clerk employed by a Mr Hutchinson in the Minchinbury area who was robbed on his way to Parramatta in1831.

full record »

1920s depiction of the murder of Joseph Luker in 1804

full record »

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[Smith’s Weekly, 28 February 1920, p17 via Trove]

A murder committed near Parramatta 1794

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[Dixson Library Q79/60 v.v. 1, p335]

(An account of the English colony in New South Wales : with remarks on the dispositions, customs, manners, &c. of the native inhabitants of that country. To which are added, some particulars of New Zealand / compiled, by permission, from the MSS. of Lieutenant-Governor King by David Collins ... (vol. 1) )

Arthur Griffith c1954

full record »

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[Truth (Brisbane), 14 Augusr 1954, p2 via Trove]

Newspaper report of the massacre of Aboriginal people at Appin on 17 April 1816

full record »

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[Sydney Gazette, 11 May 1816, p2 (via Trove)]

Page from Collin's 'Account of the English colony in New South Wales' about the death of John Lewis 1794

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[Dixson Library Q79/60 v. 1, p336]

(An account of the English colony in New South Wales : with remarks on the dispositions, customs, manners, &c. of the native inhabitants of that country. To which are added, some particulars of New Zealand / compiled, by permission, from the MSS. of Lieutenant-Governor King by David Collins ... (vol. 1) )

Report of Joseph Luker's murder in the Sydney Gazette 28 August 1803

full record »

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[Sydney Gazette, 28 August 1803, p4 (detail, from facsimile edition)]

Tattooed arm disgorged by shark at Coogee Acquarium 1935

full record »

Contributed By

Private collection

Crime