A Grim Discovery It was a chilly Sunday morning on April 26, 1931, when Andrew Dearsley, a working-class man living in the grimy streets of Surry Hills, Sydney, made his routine stop at his neighbour’s home. Emma Philbrook, a widow in her fifties, had recently moved from her terrace at 5 Smith Street to a…
By ELLIOT LINDSAY The Narrabeen Kidnapping – Australia’s first kidnapping for ransom. Ronald Powles lived with his wife and son in their home on Pacific Parade, DeeWhy. He was a projectionist at the Narrabeen Roxy Theatre at 15 Waterloo Street. His wife was pregnant with their second child and was due to give birth any…
By Elliot Lindsay The Coogee Aquarium & Baths were full of young families and children on Anzac Day in 1935. The grand attraction was a fifteen-foot tiger shark caught alive in Gunnamatta Bay a few days earlier. Too big for the aquarium, they placed it in the 25-metre lap pool for viewing. A dozen mesmerized…