Madame Ghurka was a prominent and mysterious figure in early to mid-20th-century Melbourne. A medium by trade, she gained notoriety not only for her fortune-telling and palm reading but also for her controversial involvement in one of Melbourne’s most infamous miscarriages of justice—the wrongful conviction of Colin Ross.
Aside from the police, Madame Ghurka was arguably the most influential figure in bringing about Ross’s conviction for the 1921 murder of 12-year-old Alma Tirtschke in what became known as the Gun Alley Tragedy.
Possibly driven by a personal feud with Ross, Madame Ghurka was the first to name him as a suspect in the murder. She later went further, reportedly orchestrating the coming forward of key witnesses whose testimonies proved critical in securing his conviction.
Among them was a former employee of Ross – recently dismissed – who claimed Ross had privately confessed the murder to her. Several other witnesses of dubious character also took the stand to deliver testimony that sealed Ross’s fate and secured their share of reward money for a successful conviction.
Desperate to save him, Ross’s family managed to track down the key witness the day before his execution. She reportedly agreed to recant her story and admit the confession was fabricated—but she never appeared the next morning.
The family’s last minute appeals to the Attorney-General fell on deaf ears with one high ranking official later stating, “Your son had to die Mrs Ross. Had he lived the prestige of the police force would have been shattered”.
It would only be a short while after Colin Ross’s execution that doubt began to grow about the legitimacy of the case. Nearly a century later, in 2008, he was posthumously pardoned—which falls short of an exoneration, and leaves the guilty verdict intact.
As for Madame Ghurka, she briefly continued to dabble in criminal investigations, inserting her “psychic” talents into murder cases that drew public attention, with her notoriety destined to linger to her last days.
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