Murder, Misadventure and Miserable Ends

Murder, Misadventure and Miserable Ends explores the very public business of determining death in colonial Sydney through murder, manslaughter, suicide, and mishap.

Murder in colonial Sydney was a surprisingly rare occurrence; when it did happen, it caused a great sensation. People flocked to the scene of the crime, the coroner's court, and the criminal courts to catch a glimpse of the accused.

Most of us today rarely see a dead body. In nineteenth-century Sydney, when health was precarious and workplaces and the busy city streets were often dangerous, witnessing a death was rather common. Any death that was sudden or suspicious would be investigated by the coroner.

Henry Shiell was the Sydney City Coroner from 1866 to 1889. Over the course of his unusually long career, he delved into the lives, loves, crimes, homes, and workplaces of colonial Sydneysiders. He learnt of envies, infidelities, passions, and loyalties, and just how short, sad, and violent some lives were. However, his court was also instrumental at times in calling for new laws and regulations to make life safer.

Catie Gilchrist explores the nineteenth-century city as a precarious place of bustling streets and rowdy hotels, harbourside wharves, and dangerous industries. With few safety regulations, the colourful city was also a place of frequent inquests, silent morgues, and solemn graveyards. This is the story of life and death in colonial Sydney.

Praise

'Catie Gilchrist draws back the veil on death in nineteenth-century Sydney to reveal life - ordinary, tragic, and hopeful' - David Hunt, author of Girt and True Girt