The 1910s and 1920s were a formative era for Australian law enforcement, as police began using photography to formally document those they arrested. These colorized mugshots capture the faces of some of Australia’s most notable female criminals of that period, women who were charged with offenses ranging from theft and fraud to murder. The images come largely from Sydney’s Central Police Station and the State Reformatory for Women at Long Bay, NSW, and together they form a rare visual record of women who lived on the margins of early 20th-century Australian society.
By the time she was 24, Alice Cooke had created an impressive number of aliases and at least two husbands, and was convicted of bigamy and theft.
Con woman Barbara Taylor Turner was known as one of the greatest swindlers of the early 20th century, conning thousands of pounds out of local solicitors using six aliases.
Valerie Lowe was arrested in 1921 for breaking into an army warehouse and stealing boots and overcoats which were worth 29 pounds 3 shillings.
