Australia - Dark Stories True Crime Tours

1789: The Birth of Policing in New South Wales

On 8 August 1789, Governor Arthur Phillip authorised the formation of a nightwatch at Sydney Cove, drawing eight of the best-behaved convicts from the colony’s population. The Royal Marines, originally tasked with policing duties, had proved unwilling to discipline their fellow convicts, forcing Phillip’s hand. A free settler named John Smith had earlier been appointed as the colony’s first constable, becoming the first recorded police officer in Australia.

The Night Watch was joined by a Row Boat Guard, also composed of selected convicts. The Night Watch was replaced by the Sydney Foot Police in 1790 and evolved into an organised force that endured until the amalgamation of all New South Wales colonial police forces in 1862.

NSW Police Force recruits training with horses revolvers drill and gear

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Australia Colonial History NSW Police Prison Sydney

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1796: First Fleet Convict John Finlow Hanged in Sydney for Murder

John Fendlow (c.1768-1796), a tinsmith convicted at the Old Bailey in 1783 for highway robbery, arrived in Sydney with the First Fleet in January 1788. After time on Norfolk Island, he received a 30-acre land grant at Mulgrave Place in November 1794 and worked as a settler in the Hawkesbury region with his partner Eleanor Byrnes.

On 4 July 1796, Fendlow shot dead his servant David Lane after Lane attempted to assault Byrnes. Byrnes testified that all three had been drinking on a boat that evening, and that Lane had come after her in the house. Fendlow was hanged in Sydney on 8 August 1796.

HMS Mercury after 1809. By William Huggins. National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London

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Australia Convict History Execution Hawkesbury Murder NSW Sydney

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1867: George Searle Hanged at Ballarat for the Piggoreet Murder

Thomas Ulick Burke, manager of the Bank of Australasia at Smythesdale, was ambushed and shot dead on 10 May 1867 while travelling alone by buggy after buying gold along the road toward Bulldog. His body was found the following day in the bush near the Coach and Horses Hotel, slumped in the buggy with his valise emptied of all gold and notes. Evidence placed George Searle and his associate Joseph Ballan near the scene that afternoon, with a witness confirming Ballan had been scouting goldfield yields in the days before the murder.

At the Ballarat Circuit Court, before Judge Barry, both men were tried for wilful murder. Searle, keeper of the Cosmopolitan Hotel, and Ballan, a lodger there, had been seen together at key locations along the murder route on the day of the killing. Horseshoe markings provided further physical evidence linking the pair to the crime. Searle was convicted and hanged at Ballarat on 7 August 1867.

Murder of Mr Burke native trackers finding the pistols

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Australia Ballarat Execution Goldfields Murder Robbery Trial VIC

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1867: Joseph Ballam Hanged at Ballarat for the Piggoreet Road Murder

Thomas Ulick Burke, manager of the Bank of Australasia at Smythesdale, was shot and killed on 10 May 1867 while travelling alone by buggy through the bush near the Coach and Horses Hotel after purchasing gold from claims along the Break-o’-Day road. His valise was found empty, all gold and banknotes taken. Joseph Ballam, an unemployed lodger at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Piggoreet, had spent the days before the murder quietly canvassing the local claims for yield information, noting that the Break-o’-Day Company would have a good haul that fortnight.

At the Ballarat Circuit Court, before Judge Barry, Ballam and co-accused George Searle, keeper of the Cosmopolitan Hotel, were charged with the wilful murder. Witnesses placed both men on horseback near the route Burke had taken on the afternoon of the killing, their horses shod with shoes of distinctive shape that a farrier could identify. Ballam was convicted and hanged at Ballarat on 7 August 1867.

Piggoreet murder prisoners Ballan and Searle Smythesdale police court

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Australia Ballarat Execution Murder Piggoreet Robbery Trial VIC

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