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Wild Women of Sydney
200 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1980
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 31, 2011
I am getting bored and frustrated that Channel 9 has delayed screening "Razor/Underbelly" tv series yet again.(was supposed to be tonight but put off now till the final of Masterchef yet another week or so.) From the promo adverts they have made everyone look glamorous, barely resembling the real people involved.
This book documents some some of the notorious women of Sydney during the so called Razor wars. (Razor / Underbelly is based on the lives of the women in this book. see the tv promos here;
http://fixplay.ninemsn.com.au/underbe...
From 1927-1930, Darlinghurst, Sydney was the scene of violent gang warfare.
Two of the toughest gangsters on the scene at the time were Kate Leigh and Tilly Devine, whose battle to become the Queen of the Underworld fuelled the razor gang wars of Darlinghurst through their most violent years. The Sydney suburb of Darlinghurst went under a different name in the Depression years. In local slang, it was ‘Razorhurst’. The area was headquarters for many mobs, and none more forbidding than the Riley Street Gang. It's a bit weird reading about it and seeing it made into a tv series - there are even Razorland historical tours & bars there now. One branch of my family lived in Reservoir St just off Riley St, and that great grandfather had a pawn shop in Riley St from the 1900's onwards to the 1950's though by the height of the gang wars (depression era) they had moved and he leased out the shop.. I know he must have saw most of the action around town, but he was a straight down the line man, very religious. In any event it is odd hearing and reading in depth about the area and era, more than our family ever talked about anyway - it makes you wonder you know..... I'm only disappointed the family doesn't own the property there now. A terrace house a few doors along from their Reservoir St Terrace was sold recently for $1.9 million.
In 1916, in the Sydney suburb of Liverpool, 5,000 troops of the Australian Light Brigade went for a riotous pub crawl that only ended three days and 50km later in East Sydney.The citizens of the time were so appalled by what had taken place that the government was forced to take action. It introduced six o’clock closing, which had an enormous impact on Sydneysiders for decades afterwards. This created an opportunity for two women with a criminal sense of enterprise. And the story of their feud is notorious in the history of this town.
A place where razor gangs ruled with glistening blades and one of the great girl fights of Australian history played itself out in violent blows. The feud of crime queens Kate Leigh and Tilly Devine was a marriage of hatred. Till death do us part was one of its vows. They were rivals in the world of crime. Kate was always very jealous of being known as the queen of the underworld. Tilly was always the queen of the bordellos. But they were always rivals to see who had attained the greatest notoriety. Kate and Tilly really became rivals when the Razor Gang wars broke out. There had always been gangs on the streets. But in 1927, we had the pistol licensing laws came in, which called for very heavy jail terms for anyone caught with a concealed weapon. So the crooks, instead of carrying pistols, armed themselves with razors. The other benefit of a razor was that it was a terrifying instrument in that people usually gave up their money if they were confronted by a glistening blade, gleaning off the lamplight amid a Kings Cross lane…
This book documents some some of the notorious women of Sydney during the so called Razor wars. (Razor / Underbelly is based on the lives of the women in this book. see the tv promos here;
http://fixplay.ninemsn.com.au/underbe...
From 1927-1930, Darlinghurst, Sydney was the scene of violent gang warfare.
Two of the toughest gangsters on the scene at the time were Kate Leigh and Tilly Devine, whose battle to become the Queen of the Underworld fuelled the razor gang wars of Darlinghurst through their most violent years. The Sydney suburb of Darlinghurst went under a different name in the Depression years. In local slang, it was ‘Razorhurst’. The area was headquarters for many mobs, and none more forbidding than the Riley Street Gang. It's a bit weird reading about it and seeing it made into a tv series - there are even Razorland historical tours & bars there now. One branch of my family lived in Reservoir St just off Riley St, and that great grandfather had a pawn shop in Riley St from the 1900's onwards to the 1950's though by the height of the gang wars (depression era) they had moved and he leased out the shop.. I know he must have saw most of the action around town, but he was a straight down the line man, very religious. In any event it is odd hearing and reading in depth about the area and era, more than our family ever talked about anyway - it makes you wonder you know..... I'm only disappointed the family doesn't own the property there now. A terrace house a few doors along from their Reservoir St Terrace was sold recently for $1.9 million.
In 1916, in the Sydney suburb of Liverpool, 5,000 troops of the Australian Light Brigade went for a riotous pub crawl that only ended three days and 50km later in East Sydney.The citizens of the time were so appalled by what had taken place that the government was forced to take action. It introduced six o’clock closing, which had an enormous impact on Sydneysiders for decades afterwards. This created an opportunity for two women with a criminal sense of enterprise. And the story of their feud is notorious in the history of this town.
A place where razor gangs ruled with glistening blades and one of the great girl fights of Australian history played itself out in violent blows. The feud of crime queens Kate Leigh and Tilly Devine was a marriage of hatred. Till death do us part was one of its vows. They were rivals in the world of crime. Kate was always very jealous of being known as the queen of the underworld. Tilly was always the queen of the bordellos. But they were always rivals to see who had attained the greatest notoriety. Kate and Tilly really became rivals when the Razor Gang wars broke out. There had always been gangs on the streets. But in 1927, we had the pistol licensing laws came in, which called for very heavy jail terms for anyone caught with a concealed weapon. So the crooks, instead of carrying pistols, armed themselves with razors. The other benefit of a razor was that it was a terrifying instrument in that people usually gave up their money if they were confronted by a glistening blade, gleaning off the lamplight amid a Kings Cross lane…
October 9, 2010
This is meant to be a true story about some of the major female gangsters in Australia during the 30s to 50s. People like Tilly Devine, Kate Leigh and Nellie Cameron have an almost mythical aura around their time as some of the leading ladies of crime when the razor was the weapon of choice. I borrowed this from a local library and the stories have stuck with me. I do sometimes have doubts over the telling of the tale by the mysterious Pinto but it is a great read if you can find a copy. If not Razor by Larry Writer is also about these quite amazing and brutal times in Australia's criminal past
March 6, 2008
I bought this for 3 Australian dollars and it was totally worth it! This book is a lot of fun. It's about female gangster-style criminals in the late 30's and early 40's in Australia, a subject I imagine most of us aren't proficient in.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews