Captured: Portraits of Crime 1870-1930 - Flipbook - Page 38
18 8 8 - 1913
DA R L I N G H U R S T GAO L
PA R R A M AT TA GAO L
B E R R I M A GAO L
G O U L B U R N GAO L
B I L O E L A GAO L
G R A F T O N GAO L
T H E TAT T O O E D M A N
Ar t hur Riley
GA R R O T T I N G
Arthur Riley, a labourer born in NSW or England c.1865, was
photographed multiple times between 1888 and 1913 while serving
sentences at Darlinghurst, Parramatta, Berrima, Goulburn,
Biloela and Grafton gaols for a range of criminal offences.
Riley was a violent thief whose criminal career spanned nearly
thirty years.
As a young man, Riley was described as a well-known
larrikin. He was convicted of stealing boots, refusing to pay
for liquor, breaking and entering, stealing jewellery and
assaulting police. In the 1890s he became more violent. One
night in October 1890 in Glebe, he punched and held stonemason
Thomas Brown by the throat so an accomplice could rob the man.
Following his arrest, Riley was taken by prison van to Central
Criminal Court. With his wife following behind, he dropped out
a letter. In it Riley requested that she ‘ask some of the push
[to] come as witness’ for him in court to corroborate his
version of events of the night in question.
The ‘push’ was used to describe the territorial street
gangs that operated within working class neighbourhoods of
Sydney and Melbourne in the late 19th century. Gangs consisted
of young men, many of whom were under-employed or unemployed
during a time of economic depression. They fought turf wars
and engaged in behaviour that ranged from the anti-social to
the unlawful. These young men — and some women — wore a style of
clothing that projected a casualness and rejection of the
accepted social and moral order. Larrikins, as they were
called, caused moral panic amongst the respectable classes
and angst for authorities.
Riley’s ploy to have his fellow push members give evidence
in his defence was intercepted by police, and he was convicted
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