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The Escape of John McHenry
In September 1869, a prisoner boldly escaped the Geelong Gaol by changing clothes in a water closet and walking straight out past the Governor’s office. John McHenry or James Clark as he was originally known grew up in the streets of Shoreditch in London. Before coming to Australia he would see the inside of some…
Read MoreThe Escape of John McHenry
In this episode we have a look into the life and crimes of one of the more cheekier escapes from the Geelong Gaol. John McHenry or James Clark as he was originally known grew up in the streets of Shoreditch in London. Before coming to Australia he would see the inside of some of…
Read MoreMurder at Cherry Tree Flat
In October 1863, Elijah Dixon alias Charles Alfred Dives took an axe and murdered his wife and two small daughters just outside Ballarat. The couple’s two sons were left alive. What made a husband and father take this course of action – what is jealousy over his belief his wife was being intimate with other…
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Murder at Cherry Tree Flat
In October 1865, Elijah Dixon alias Charles Alfred Dives took an axe and murdered his wife, Elizabeth and their two small daughters, Julia aged 3 and Elizabeth aged 1. This all took place in the small bedroom of their hut at Cherry Tree Flat near Sebastopol, just outside Ballarat. The couple’s two sons, James and…
Read MoreThe Murder of Ginger Tommy
On August 21st, 1918 in a tenement in a low class area of Carlton, the body of Roma Smith was found brutally murdered with her throat cut so severly it broke one of her vertebrae. To this day, the perpertrator of this murder has not been found. Who was it that left this young woman…
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The Murder of Ginger Tommy
On the afternoon of August 21st, 1918, Norman Violet entered the front door of 28 Cumberland Place where his on again off again paramour Roma Smith lived. She was still laying in bed when he told her to get up. When there was no response, he pulled back the quilt to discover Roma had been…
Read MoreExecution at Gallows Flat
In this episode, we look at the first and only public execution in Geelong. Before the passing of the Act for the Execution of Criminals which took executions behind the Gaol walls, the judicial death of criminals were a public event seen to be a deterrent to those following a similar path. John Gunn and…
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Execution at Gallows Flat
In this episode, we look at the first and only public execution in Geelong. Before the passing of the Act for the Execution of Criminals which took executions behind the Gaol walls, the judicial death of criminals were a public event seen to be a deterrent to those following a similar path. John Gunn and…
Read MoreRide for Life – The Near Execution of John Goldman
In 1853, Trooper John Goldman shot his superior Corporal William Harvey in his tent at Buningyong following an altercation with a local shopkeeper over some boxes. Harvey died 24 hours later and Goldman disappeared for 9 months before being arrested. Goldman was convicted of wilful murder and was sentenced to death. It was to be…
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