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Crime

Type - Crime
Assassination attempt on Prince Alfred 1868
Bank of Australia robbery 1828
Bridge Street Affray
Eveleigh Railway Workshop robbery
Glenfield siege 1968
Graeme Thorne kidnapping 1960
Hilton hotel bombing 1978
Mount Rennie Rape Case
Razor Gang wars
Shark Arm murder 1935

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Crime

Assassination attempt on Prince Alfred 1868

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Crime committed by Henry O'Farrell on 12 March 1868, when he shot and injured the visiting prince at the Clontarf picnic grounds during a function.

Bank of Australia robbery 1828

Australia's first bank robbery which occurred in The Bank of Australia in Underwood's Building on lower George Street on the evening of Sunday 14 September 1828 after the thieves had spent several weeks tunnelling into the vault underneath the bank. The thieves were not identified and charged until 1831, and much of the loot was never recovered.

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Bridge Street Affray

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Incident on Bridge Street in the early hours of Friday 2 February 1894 in which three men, who had tried to rob the Union Steamship Company's offices, attacked and injured several police officers in the pursuit. Five police officers were seriously injured and two of the robbers were subsequently hanged. As a result of the incident, police in New South Wales were authorised to carry firearms in the line of duty.

Eveleigh Railway Workshop robbery

Audacious robbery of the workshop payroll. Occurring in broad daylight, it was the first robbery to use a getaway car in the history of Australian crime.

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Glenfield siege 1968

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

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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.

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Hilton hotel bombing 1978

Explosion in the early hours of 13 February 1978 that occurred when a bomb, hidden in a bin outside the Hilton hotel on George Street, was collected by a council garbage truck. Three men were killed, garbage collectors Alec Carter, 37, and William Favell, 36, and police officer Paul Burmistriw, 31, who died from his injuries nine days later. The target was believed to be the Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, and other heads of state who were at the hotel for a Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOGM). 

 

 

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Mount Rennie Rape Case

Gang rape of Mary Jane Hicks at Moore Park in September 1886 which resulted in the hanging of four men and outrage at the use of the death penalty.

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Razor Gang wars

Vicious gang wars between competing groups in Darlinghurst, Kings Cross and Woolloomooloo battling for control of the criminal underworld. So called because of the cut throat razor (a straight shaving blade) that was the weapon of choice, especially after the Pistol Licensing Act of 1927 meant automatic gaol time for anyone caught carrying an unlicensed firearm. They were led by Tilly Devine and her rival Kate Leigh.

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Shark Arm murder 1935

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

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