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Crime

Detective at foot of Argyle Steps, The Rocks (Sydney), late 1930s. Details unknown.
Tour

Sin City: Sydney Crime Stories

Visit real crime scenes from the past and hear the stories behind the crimes

Sunday 23 March 10.30am–12.30pm
Supreme Court of NSW

Criminal court records index 1788–1833

A valuable resource relating to the NSW colonial justice system and for research into criminals, convicts and crimes during the early years of the Colony

Government Printing Office; NRS 4481, Parramatta [Gaol] [Department of Public Works] [no date]

Tracing NSW gaol inmates

This webinar shows you how to use the State Archives collection to trace your ancestors through the NSW prison system, uncovering their crimes and incarcerations

Gaol photograph of A. G. Scott, alias Captain Moonlight

Gaol inmates & prisoners photos index 1870-1930

Search over 52,000 mugshots from NSW prisons. Alongside the photos are details such as name, aliases, native place, year of birth, details of arrival in the colony, occupation, physical description, marks or special features, where and when tried, offence, and sentence

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Come in spinner!

Gambling in Australia is regulated by the state and some types of gambling are illegal. The game Two-up, with its catch cry of ‘Come in Spinner!’, is legal only on Anzac Day and only in some states

Black and white image of a sandstone building. A man can be seen in the foreground.
Museum stories

Gritty business

Immerse yourself in Sydney's chilling criminal past in this unique water-front museum of policing, law and disorder – with its grizzly collection of underworld weapons along with tales of mayhem and lawlessness, aptly described as an educational resource befitting a 'professor in crime'

Mugshot of Lottie May Little, 1917

Gaol photographs

We have indexed and digitised this collection of photographs of men, women and children who were incarcerated in the NSW prison system c1870–c1930

Mugshot of an elderly woman on a gaol admission form

Margaret Greenwood: a life of crime

This 1875 record contains a rare and revealing photograph of a former Imperial convict, a prisoner again in her old age

Gaol photo of Arthur Astill

Captured: Portraits of Crime, Arthur Astill

Arthur Astill, a 16 year old labourer from Orange in central west NSW, was photographed at Dubbo Gaol on 24 January 1893 while awaiting trial for murder