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1816: Constable Thomas Wright Killed After Removing an Illicit Still from the Army Barracks

Early morning, September 2nd 1816, Constable Thomas Wright was standing outside the Guard Room at the army barracks in Sydney‘s outer settlement of Windsor when he was assaulted with a cutlass. The attack is believed to have been motivated by his earlier removal of an illicit still from the barracks.

Three soldiers, were tried for his wilful murder and all three were acquitted owing to conflicting witness statements. According to the Sydney Gazette, the trial had excited considerable interest and ended in a manner gratifying to general feeling, but left the true circumstances of Wright’s death unresolved.

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Australia Murder NSW Police Trial Windsor

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1666: The Great Fire of London Begins on Pudding Lane

In the early hours of 2 September 1666, a fire broke out at the Pudding Lane bakery of Thomas Farriner in the City of London. Driven by strong winds, the blaze consumed around 80 percent of the old city before it was brought under control on 6 September. Though attributed to an accident at the bakery, the disaster ignited a desperate search for culprits.

Robert Hubert, a French watchmaker from Rouen, confessed to starting the fire. His confession was riddled with impossibilities: he had not arrived in England until two days after the fire broke out, and he described throwing a fire grenade through a window at the Farriner bakery, which had no windows. With nationalism inflamed by the Second Anglo-Dutch War, a scapegoat was needed, and Hubert, a foreigner in a hostile city, was hanged for a crime he almost certainly did not commit.

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Arson Disaster Europe Execution London Political Crime UK Wrongful Conviction

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1846: Explorer John Horrocks Shot Dead by His Own Camel in South Australia

On 1 September 1846, explorer John Horrocks was shot near Lake Dutton in the far north-west of South Australia. While reloading his shotgun during the expedition, a kneeling camel named Harry shifted its packload and tripped the weapon’s trigger.

Harry, the camel responsible for the accident and reputedly the first camel to arrive in Australia, was shot dead on Horrocks’s own orders before he died of his wounds on 23 September.

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Accident Australia Death Exploration Lake Dutton Lake Torrens Penwortham SA South Australia

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1934: The Pyjama Girl: A Body in a Culvert and a Mystery That Lasted Decades

On 1 September 1934, the body of a woman with a bullet through the neck was found in a culvert beneath near Albury, New South Wales.

Dressed in silk pyjamas, she remained unidentified for a decade, preserved in formalin and viewed by thousands before police named her as Florence Linda Agostini, an English-born woman who had lived on Darlinghurst Road in Kings Cross and later moved to Melbourne with her husband Tony Agostini.

Tony Agostini confessed to killing Linda and was convicted of manslaughter, sentenced to six years. He served just over three years before being deported to Italy.

Photograph of Linda Agostini(Linda Platt) - Pyjama Girl Mystery — Photograph of Linda Agostini(Linda Platt) – Pyjama Girl Mystery

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Albury Australia Cold Case Darlinghurst Kings Cross Manslaughter Melbourne Murder NSW Sydney Trial Unsolved VIC

1816: Constable Thomas Wright Killed After Removing an Illicit Still from the Army Barracks

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1666: The Great Fire of London Begins on Pudding Lane

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1846: Explorer John Horrocks Shot Dead by His Own Camel in South Australia

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1934: The Pyjama Girl: A Body in a Culvert and a Mystery That Lasted Decades

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