20 year old Henry Serpell was the accountant at the Boxhill branch of the E.S. & A. bank. Serpell slept on the premises, and on May 17 1904 he was woken by three men; one was holding a flashlight and another was aiming a revolver at his
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After making his fortune through a wine and spirit business in Sydney’s Pitt Street, Archibald Thompson J.P. bought a harbourside mansion at Potts Point called Clopee. The home had been built by John Solomon in 1858. At the time of the events in this story, Archibald and
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‘The Shadow’ was Francis (Frank) Maurice Fahy (1897-1978) one of Sydney’s first and most successful undercover police officers. He operated from the 1920s until his retirement thirty years later. Access to his scrapbook at the Library of NSW is still heavily restricted due to the sensitive nature
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Irish born 62 year old Miss Mary Fahy owned a two storey property on the corner of The Corso and Marine Parade in Sydney’s Maroubra. She ran a successful mixed business, and lived in a flat behind the shop. Her upstairs tenants were the Potter family; 47
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In 1922, shortly after the following photos were taken, Italy’s first female racing driver, Baroness Maria ‘Antoinette’ Avanzo (1889-1977), arrived in Sydney with her husband, son and daughter. The reason she came is a bit of a mystery, but it appears she was recovering from an accident
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Parramatta Gaol has a history dating back to 1798, when the first building was described as, ‘a strong, logged gaol of 100 feet in length, with separate cells for the prisoners…and paled around with very high fences.’ By the early twentieth century it looked very different. James
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Wealthy Queensland grazier Alfred Hill and his beautiful wife Edith were among the first to purchase a flat in The Astor, Sydney’s first ‘skyscraper’ residential block at 123 Macquarie Street. Built in the 1920s, it offered expansive harbour views, a maid service, staffed lifts and an internal
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In November 1931 Mr A. Laurie was employed as sole officer at the Broadmeadow (Newcastle) branch of the Bank of New South Wales. The bank was located at Belford Street, by the Nine Ways commercial centre. As a sub-branch it was only open between the hours of
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Mrs Margaret Roche was a hard working, shrewd business woman. She rose from the position of barmaid to become the owner of considerable property. Included were two hotels in Queensland; the Telegraph Hotel at Charleville and the property she lived in, the Claren Hotel, in the small
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York Street runs parallel to George Street in the centre of Sydney. Just after World War II it was the scene of a brutal murder. The victim, Jeanette Wicks. In 1935, Jeanette Wicks divorced her husband of seven years on the grounds of desertion. She subsequently supported
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