The 'Apache' Thief

Join Nerida Campbell, curator of the Underworld exhibition as she continues to uncover interesting stories from Sydney’s seedy underworld.

During research for the Underworld exhibition staff scanned all of the ‘Special’ mugshots held in the NSW Police Forensic Photography archive. The images that did not make it into the exhibition continue to reveal interesting stories of Sydney’s underworld.

The Apaches were French street gangsters renowned for their violence and during the 1920s a series of films and books featuring Apache characters led to a craze for their clothing and dancing style. The glamourisation of their criminal lifestyle in popular culture proved fascinating to romantic and naïve youths like Dennison.

In 1925 Sydney police were mystified by a series of break-ins at which taunting notes were left signed ‘Apache’. Although he had adopted the name of Paris’ toughest street gangsters ‘Apache’ proved to be a gormless South African eighteen-year-old, Jack Dennison, who was not particular skilled at his chosen profession of thief. It seems he failed to ‘crack’ every safe he tried to open and only succeed in stealing items left lying around the city warehouses and shops he targeted in Washington Street.

He hocked some of the tools he stole from an engineers’ workshop at a pawnbroker’s shop and the staff were able to provide a description of Dennison. Police traced him to Haymarket and officers found a note in his pocket signed ‘Apache’.

He received a sentence of 12 months hard labour for breaking and entering and the Magistrate said he would allow him to be deported instead of going to jail if the Prisoners’ Aid Association paid for his ticket to South Africa.