Podcast: Locked up with History

The One Eyed Tiger of Little Bourke Street

Cecilia Curtain is one our prisoners at Geelong Gaol, being incarcerated there in 1893 as part of one of her many sentences. She has always fascinated me with her eye patch over her right eye, wondering what had happened to her to cause such an injury. I will tell you what I think during the…

Read More

The Body in the Window

At the height of the Victorian Gold Rush, a bold plan was made by a group of bushrangers to hold up the Private Gold Escort carrying its bounty to the Melbourne Treasury from the McIvor goldfields in 1853. The robbery and subsequent trial ended in the sentence of death for three men and caused another…

Read More

Escape and Execution of Angus Murray

Angus Murray was the last man to be executed on the gallows of Old Melbourne Goal in 1924. His life began in Adelaide and would see him incarcerated in 4 states – South Australia, Western Australia NSW and Victoria. He became a master thief, a conman and a bigamist. Murray’s last job after his audacious…

Read More

The Season of Murder

Christmas is supposed to be the season of giving and family and presents. But it is not everyone’s favourite time of year. A quick look through the newspapers of the day revealed no less than 16 murders and 2 attempted murders here in Victoria, Australia. And I am sure there are many more interstate and…

Read More

Generations of Hassett’s in Geelong Gaol

The Hassett family have their origins in Birdhill, Ireland and is just one of the families with links to the Geelong Gaol. Over a period of 40 years, at least 4 members of the family have been prisoners of the Geelong Gaol. It was initially thought this story was of one prisoner who took his…

Read More

The Great Escape from Geelong Gaol

In 1889, two wily old convicts named Frederick Clarke and Christopher Farrell made the most infamous escape in Geelong Gaol history. Overpowering a warder in the middle of the night they used a skeleton key to make good their escape over the wall. Join Deb from the Geelong Gaol Museum and Twisted History to hear…

Read More

Murder of Mary Lucas

In this episode we head back to earlier and perhaps simpler times to 1854 and Little Bourke street in Melbourne. Luke and Mary Lucas had immigrated to Australia in 1849 with hopes of a better life. But by November 1854, both Mary and Luke would be dead leaving three children as orphans. What happened to…

Read More

The Execution of James Ross

What drove a man to murder his neighbours wife and his very own son and leave his wife in a pool of blood clinging to life. James Ross would be executed for his crimes at the Geelong Gaol, becoming the first regional execution following the passing of the Private Executions Bill, taking executions from the…

Read More

The Fuller Family and Geelong Gaol

The story of Edward Fuller and his sister in law Ellen is one of jealousy, infedility and murder. The events of May 1869 in a small house in Noble Street, Chilwell led to the death of one man and set in play a series of events that led to the entire Fuller family ending up…

Read More

The 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 More