Razorhurst, Gunhurst, Bottlehurst, Dopehurst – it used to be Darlinghurst, one of the finest quarters of a rich and beautiful city; to-day it is a plague-spot, where the sporn of the gutter grow and fatten on official apathy. By day it shelters in its alleys, in its dens, the Underworld people. At night, it looses them to prey on property, decency & virtue, & to fight one another for division of spoils. (Truth, 23 September 1928)

In preparation for my talk, Blood on the streets, I’ve been taking a closer look at the dangerous razor era gangsters who ruled Sydney’s inner east during the 1920s and 30s.

In the 1920s drug and prostitution trades increased, criminals sold alcohol illegally and carried razors for protection and intimidation. At this time the Darlinghurst area was home to thieves, prostitutes, cocaine merchants, sly groggers and murderers. Vice trades were lucrative and often exploited legislation of the day. The newspapers reported sensational articles about the underworld of ‘Razorhurst’ and the limited police force of the day were all but powerless to stifle the gangland activities. ‘Snow Queen’ Kate Leigh and brothel madam Matilda ‘Tilly’ Divine headed the most notorious gangs and were each served by a team of loyal thugs who protected their turf with violence. The introduction of the consorting laws and creation of specialist investigative units finally gave police the upper hand and led to the gradual recoil of violent criminals and a lulling of vice activity on the streets of East Sydney. The Justice and Police Museum’s photography archive has proved a rich source for exploring the criminals and places of the period. These photographs read in conjunction with police records, newspaper reports and other references build a compelling account of this unique and confronting period in Sydney’s past.

I have uncovered never before seen mug shot photographs of prominent razor ear criminals Frank ‘The Little Gunman’ Green and James ‘Big Jim’ Devine. As a brazen gangster and violent husband (respectively), both men were an integral part of the brothel empire built and operated by madam Matilda ‘Tilly’ Devine. Frank Green and ‘Jim’ Devine were often involved in shoot-outs, vicious assaults and altercations with the police, subsequently appearing in court and serving time in gaol. The portraits were taken prior to 1927 – before the height of the razor wars – giving us an insight into the early criminal careers of these tough gangsters.

Hand signals for motorists. Photographer and location unknown, c1923. (FP08_0014_005)

This quirky photograph has been inscribed with the words “Traffic signals vehicle or car 472”. In 1921 the need to regulate traffic saw the introduction of hand signals for motorists when stopping or turning. By 1924 the use of these hand signals had became compulsory. Presumably police used this image for demonstrations or when instructing drivers.

Morton met author Peter Doyle at the museum this week and the two traded tales of con men and card sharps. Doyle relayed tricks on the Sydney scene while Morton brought the international perspective on Australian confidence men and women who operated in Europe in the 20th century.

One such criminal character was Sidney “Pretty Sid” Grant (above), who was photographed by Sydney police in 1921. Grant’s New South Wales Police Gazette entry from 1923 is captioned “Confidence man (notes for gold)”. He mastered the con trick known as “the hot-seat” during his travels in Europe.

From the late 19th century, Australia exported a series of high-class con men and card sharps who for the next 50 years swindled the gullible English, French and Germans with their tales of infallible betting systems, unbeatable horses, sudden inheritances and lost lucky rosaries. By their sleight of hand, and aided and abetted by their womenfolk – who posed as their sisters, daughters and wives – they extracted fortunes from foolish poker players and over-amorous gentlemen. By the end of World War II, Scotland Yard believed that, of the 216 international confidence men working the European capitals, 58 were Australian born. In the 1960s there was a new invasion. In place of the confidence men came teams of high-class thieves known collectively as the Kangaroo Gang, who stole to order anything from jewellery to a baby chimpanzee from a zoo.

Saturday’s talk will explore these enthralling stories that also feature in Morton’s latest book Kings Of Stings: The Greatest Swindles From Down Under. Visit the HHT Online Shop to get your copy

To win tickets for this event visit the Historic Houses Trust Facebook page

Speaker: James Morton
James Morton is a former defence lawyer in England and is one of Britain’s leading expert on crimes and the author of the Gangland Series.

This exhibition presents previously unseen traffic accident photographs taken by police between 1920 and 1964. Recent research on the archive reveals that after the mid-1940s the police approach to photographing accident sites becomes more comprehensive – expanding from one or two shots to a whole series of images. The resulting photographs helped investigators establish the cause of an incident and, if required, were presented in court.

One gallery wall also shows the ways police have been involved in traffic regulation and road safety. The photographs illustrate a range of police activity, from directing traffic at a bustling intersection to teaching children safe road skills. Also included in this selection is the demonstration of New South Wales first radar set, or speed camera, that operated in Sydney from November 1954.

The exhibition opens on Saturday 19 March 2011. Visit the Archive Gallery page for more details.

Matilda Devine aka Tilly DevinePhotographed 27 May 1925 at the State Reformatory for Women, Long Bay

Tilly Devine stares out from this image taken upon her entry to gaol. She was an incredibly successful villain who, along with her nemesis Kate Leigh, ruled the inner city vice trade for almost 20 years. Tilly began her criminal career as a teenage prostitute on the streets of London. She toughened up quickly in order to survive on the brutal streets of the metropolis. During the First World War she met an Australian soldier, James ‘Big Jim’ Devine, and they married. She arrived in Sydney on a war bride ship in 1920 and began working as a prostitute immediately.

Tilly had an entrepreneurial streak and worked her way up to owning a string of brothels in East Sydney. She defended her turf with razor, knife and colourful language and was know for her short temper and fast hands. She was a complex character who was happy to sit in the gutter and drink from a bottle with her ‘girls’ but upon returning to her marital home in Maroubra insisted on sipping from the finest crystal. Her home life was marred by incidents of domestic violence and she eventually divorced ‘Big Jim’ and married a sailor, Eric Parsons.

She often appeared before the courts and her criminal record reveals convictions for consorting, malicious wounding, indecent language, vagrancy, assault and soliciting. She vigorously defended all charges and was suspected of intimidating witnesses who chose to give evidence against her.

The photograph was taken after her arrest for slashing a man with a razor as he sat in a barber’s shop on Crown Street, Surry Hills. The events leading up to the attack are disputed but what isn’t is that Tilly used a razor to punish a man she felt hadn’t shown her enough respect. It is interesting that although she had a tall, well built and violent husband who was her ‘protector’ she chose to deal with the victim herself.

Jean McDonald, 26 June 1924, Central Police Station, Sydney. FP07_0104_004.

Jean McDonald was a fraudster and confidence trickster. She looks drab and resentful here but her sob stories were ambitious, florid and well-told. Through 1923-24 she methodically extracted money and favours from a gullible Randwick benefactress with tales of heroic war service, sick children and missing husbands. When she needed to up the narrative ante she started killing off the fictitious children (and asking the benefactress for funeral expenses). When eventaully hauled before the court, she claimed that her larcenous industry was conducted, at least in part, to support a layabout ex-policeman de facto husband, Sylvester Feld. Because she had acted “under the influence of a man” the judge suspended her twelve month sentence and put her instead on a good behaviour bond. Within a year though McDonald was arrested for swindling a suburban grocer, which triggered her call-up on the earlier conviction. She failed to show up for sentencing, at which point she drops out of the records. At least, that’s how I report it in Crooks like us, (pages 26-29). I based that claim on a fruitless search for her in the Police Gazette for the subsequent five years.

Photo Supplement to the Victoria Police Gazette, Thursday May 4, 1933, p5. Courtesy of the Victoria Police Historical Services.

Recently I came across Jean McDonald in the Victorian Police Gazette Photo Supplement of 1933 — she had apparently skipped out to Melbourne, where she continued her trickery. Listed there among her aliases is “Jean Doyle”. I’d turned up an archive mug shot of a “Jean Doyle” years ago, but never made the connection with Jean McDonald.

'Jean Doyle', 30 April 1930, Central Police Station, Sydney. FP07_0137_005.

It’s obviously the same woman (and I kick myself for not having spotted it). She’s put on a little heft, but the same flat, despairing look is there. This second portrait is dated 30 April 1930 and, like the 1924 one, was taken in the gloomy muster room at Central Police Station. We don’t know what led to her arrest then, as no new charges are recorded against her. My guess is that she had been busted running yet another scam, but police chose not to waste resources prosecuting, since she was up for automatic gaoling anyway over the 1924 business. A week later she was sent away to do her twelve months sentence. Her release is noted a year later, on 7 May 1931. No remission was granted.

Sydney clearly wasn’t working out for her. So on to Melbourne. A little over a year later, the Victorian Gazette records, she was convicted of fraud and sent to gaol for three months. What became of her after that, we don’t know.

You’ve got to wonder about crims like Jean: she was easily smart enough to charm the money out of a mug’s pocket, but not, apparently, able to elude police and the courts. How unspeakably tedious each arrest, trial and inevitable gaoling must have been. You can see it there in her portrait. My guess: Jean McDonald loved the very early stages of the scam — making up the story, improvising, embellishing, winning the mark’s sympathy, making a new friend. The golden period during which the inevitable consequences can be ignored. Like a drunk who’s fallen off the wagon, relishing those first few delicious, uncomplicated sips.

Throughout the tour the museum’s negative archive was employed to great advantage allowing participants a face-to-face encounter with the criminals and streetscapes of the past. The revealing portraits and street views photographed by police in the 1920s and 30s document the troubled area and its tough inhabitants. The tour draws on a variety of records, including news stories, documents and published histories, and presents a gripping yet informative view of Razorhurst’s underworld.

The razor became the weapon of choice for intimidation, and if necessary enforcement, after the enactment of The Pistol Licencing Act (1927) made it illegal to carry a firearm without a license. The razor was a persuasive ally and if used to full effect would leave the victim with a deep and recognizable scar, as this image of Edward Dalton testifies.

Prior to its recent incarnation as a jazz venue, serving tapas with a trendy roof top bar the Tradesman’s Arms Hotel was a popular meeting place for many members of Sydney’s underworld. The hotel was commonly known as the “Bloodhouse” due to the countless scenes of violence that played out within its walls. Tilly Devine along with Nellie Cameron and Guido Caletti frequented the establishment and no doubt brought with them a swathe of associates and enemies. Devine’s main brothel was located just across the way at 253 Liverpool Street. Cameron was often referred to as Sydney’s most desirable prostitute who spent much of her working life at Tilly’s address. Meanwhile, across the street, her beau (thug and leader of the Darlinghurst Push), Calleti may have waited for his moll with a Tooths Ale in hand and a concealed razor.

The Tradesman’s Arms Hotel has since been renamed the East Village Hotel and is a popular pub and restaurant in East Sydney. There is little evidence left in the slick interiors to indicate its notorious and bloody history. Yet for all this, the building still proudly boasts “Tradesman’s Arms Hotel” and “1918” on its facade.

The Walk the razor’s edge tour reveals many signs of the past and the subtle remnants of the raging days of Razorhurst are bought to the fore. The unsavory, seductive and criminal history of this area is distilled and its essence presented from the safe distance of 50 years. In a final note I would like to share an extract published in Truth newspaper during September 1928. The passage conjures up vivid description of Darlinghurst during the razor gangs rule:

“Razorhurst, Gunhurst, Bottlehurst, Dopehurst – it used to be Darlinghurst, one of the finest quarters of a rich and beautiful city; today it is a plague spot where the spawn of the gutter grow and fatten on official apathy. By day it shelters in its alleys, in its dens, the Underworld people. At night it looses them to prey on prosperity, decency and virtue, and to fight one another for the division of the spoils……Recall the human beasts that, lurking cheek by jowl with decent people, live with no aim, purpose or occupation but crime – bottle men, dope pedlars, razor slashers, sneak thieves, confidence men, women of ill repute, pickpockets, burglars, spielers, gunmen and every brand of racecourse parasite.” Truth, September 1928