No information about E. Walker has been found. She may have been a vagrant: her clothes are dirty, she wears what appear to be army boots and her head has been shaved to eradicate lice.
Emily Hemsworth killed her three week old son but could not remember any details of the murder. She was found not guilty due to insanity. Hemsworth was to be detained in custody until judged fit to return to society- it is unknown if she was ever released. Aged 24.
'Charged with breaking and entering the dwelling-house of Edward Mulligan and stealing blinds (value 20 pounds), and with stealing clothing (value 26 pounds) in the dwelling-house of Earnest Leslie Mortimer'. Sentenced to six months hard labour.
Valerie Lowe and Joseph Messenger were arrested in 1921 for breaking into an army warehouse and stealing boots and overcoats to the value of 29 pounds 3 shillings.
Smith and Jones are listed in the NSW Police Gazette as charged with stealing seven packages of twine (value 14 pounds). Jones was further charged with stealing thirty horse rugs (value 15 pounds) and two bales of kapok (value 20 pounds). Smith was fined 20 pounds; Jones was sentenced to 18 months hard labour, suspended.
Harry Williams was sentenced to 12 months hard labour in March 1929 for breaking, entering, and stealing. Although he 'consorts with prostitutes' and 'frequents hotels and wine bars in the vicinity of the Haymarket', he is described as being of 'quiet disposition'.
Crime: murder. Eugenia Falleni spent most of her life masquerading as a man. In 1913 Falleni married a widow, Annie Birkett, whom she later murdered. The case whipped the public into a frenzy as they clamoured for details of the 'man-woman' murderer. Aged approximately 35.
Nellie Cameron was one of Sydney's best known, and most desired, prostitutes. Liilian Armfield, Australia's first policewoman, said Cameron had "an assured poise that set her apart from all the other women of the Australian underworld". Aged 21.
Fiori is described as a safebreaker.
William Stanley Moore, 1 May 1925
'Opium dealer. Operates with large quantities of faked opium and cocaine. A wharf labourer, associates with waterfront thieves and drug traders'.
Kong Lee - November 27th, 1922
Kong Lee makes numerous appearances in the NSW Police Gazette as a 'safe blower' and 'thief', and is noted in the issue of February 1929 as having recently been seen riding trains 'in the company of card sharpers and spielers'.
An entry in the Supplement to the NSW Police Gazette for Skukerman (alias Kukerman, alias Cecil Landan) is captioned 'obtained goods from warehousemen by falsely representing that he is in business'.
Thomas Bede - November 22, 1928
Alfred John (or Francis) West, 7 April 1922
Alfred John West is referred in the 1924 Photo Supplement to the NSW Gazette as a pickpocket. His name "Eurythmic" (an allusion to Rudolf Steiner's therapeutic system of movement performed to verse or music, or in its broader usage, the graceful combining of music and movement) hints at a higher order of larcenous expertise. West is mentioned again 10 years later in the NSW Criminal Register, now listed as a 'pickpocket and spieler'.
Convicted of bigamy and theft. By the age of 24 Alice Cooke had amassed an impressive number of aliases and at least two husbands. Described by police as "rather good looking", Cooke was a habitual thief and a convicted bigamist.
Convicted of murder. Mrs. Dorothy Mort was having an affair with dashing young doctor Claude Tozer. On 21 December 1920 Tozer visited her home with the intention of breaking off the relationship. Mort shot him dead before attempting to commit suicide. Aged 32.
Amy Lee was described in court as a 'good looking girl until she fell victim to the foul practise' of snorting cocaine. Her dry, blotchy skin is testament to the evils of addiction. Aged 41.
I love these photographs. If you go here - http://collection.hht.net.au/firsthhtpictures/resbyfield.jsp?term=mug+shots&field=SUBJECT&searchtable=CATALOGUE_SEARCH_P - you can see 130 of them, housed at the Historic Houses Trust, one of the major state museums of Australia. Apparently, approximately 2500 "special photographs" were taken by the New South Wales Police Department between 1910 and 1930. Ostensibly they are mug shots, but these are no ordinary mug shots. They are, as curator Peter Doyle explains, "of men and women recently plucked from the street, often still animated by the dramas surrounding their apprehension", and the subjects appear to have been allowed to present themselves as they wished. Because they are not posed in the traditional fashion, I find these people much easier to imagine living and breathing than I usually do with photos of this vintage. I find these photographs quite beautiful.
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