Australian Letter Sydney Called Crime Centre Of Australia

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28270, 7 May 1957, Page 20

Australian Letter Sydney Called Crime Centre Of Australia

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

SYDNEY, May 6. A mounting toll of underworld killings in Sydney has caused the newspapers to brand this city as the crime centre of Australia, and to ask whether it will be a “new Chicago.” Criminal Investigation Bureau detectives are working round the clock in attempts to trace the killer of gangland’s latest victim, Michael Bevan, who was shot down in one of the most callous murders for many years. Bevan, aged 49, formerly a stand-over man and thief, reformed after his marriage four years ago. But he still associated with criminal types and came under the notice of the consorting squad recently. The ,killer pushed a gun into Bevan’s stomach, fired, and then drilled him between the eyes with a second shot. The shooting took place in a shop doorway in the outer edge of the city. In their hunt for the killer, detectives have sought in vain for one of Australia’s most notorious gunmen.

Gangland’s feuds in Sydney have increased sharply in recent months, and, according to the “Daily Telegraph,” have caused Sydney to replace Melbourne as Australia’s premier haunt of gunmen. The gun-menace is causing many hardened criminals to walk in fear of their lives, says the newspaper’s crime reporter. Bevan’s violent death follows that of another stand-over man, William McCarthy, who was found with a bullet in his back at Bondi last month. Four previous attempts had been made to kill McCarthy by shootings and beatings.

Another underworld character, John William Manners, aged 27, met his death last June in circumstances similar to Bevan and McCarthy. Manners was a standover man and small-time crook. An unseen marksman picked him off with one shot in the stomach and another in the heart as he walked from a city hotel. Another criminal, Kevin Gleeson, was shot dead in a hotel last September. Police found his body with three bullets in it. One of the most sensational of recent murders was that of Colin Sparkes, surfer and ladies’ man. Sparkes was shot four times while sitting in his car at the seaside suburb of Tamarama. Police investigations revealed Sparkes’s association with many women, some of them married. * ♦ «

In addition to the gangland killings, passion crimes have left a trail of tragedy in Sydney recently. Early last month Vincent Worrell, aged 35, shot his wife dead in the Rozelle suburb, and later hanged himself. Last month also, a Greek cafe proprietor, Panagiothis Makrides, went to gaol for life for having murdered his wife with thallium. In December last, Police Constable William Owen, aged 33, shot dead a barmaid, Mrs Patricia Hyland, and then shot himself. Two months earlier, a 32-year-old Italian, Francesco lannuzzi, went to gaol for killing his lover, Mrs Maria Jezlierski, in a fit of jealous rage. * * # ,

The New South Wales Government is expected to face up to heavy expenses to defeat a dingo menace in the north-western part of the State. Dingoes are invading rich grazing lands in this area, and unless they are checked immediately they may do such damage to flocks that property owners will have to sell out. If the border graziers go, the dingoes would penetrate until infestation was general throughout New South Wales. Last week-end more than 100 graziers met the Minister for Lands, Mr R. B. Nott, and the Minister for Conservation, Mr E. Wetherell, and told them that the urgently needed remedy to the dingo menace was to restore the dog-proof fence along the north-west border with Queensland and South Australia.

In good condition, these fences are 6ft 6in high, and sink 6in beneath the surface of the soil. To a height of 3ft they are built of rabbit-proof wire netting and above that is a marsupial netting. In spite of the unmolested breeding of dingoes across the borders, this fence was 100 per cent, efficient in excluding them while it was maintained. Up till 1940 camel and horsemounted riders patrolled the fence and kept it in order. The war brought shortages of men and materials. A severe drought in 1944-45 'produced serious sand drifting, and the worst flooding known to white men in the area did great damage in 1949. The result was that dingoes invaded the north-western corner of New South Wales. Dingoes usually roam singly or in pairs. They mutilate sheep and eat lambs. Ewes will abandon their lambs for fear of them. In a night one dingo can kill 100 sheep. They have been khown to kill a sheep-dog on its chain. The Government is expected to take steps immediately to restore the dog-proof fence and to make provision for its maintenance in effective condition. * * * This week a Queensland prisoner went into what is believed to be the only one-man gaol in Australia. The prisoner, Percy Button, aged 28, an Aboriginal serving a life sentence for murder, is a leper. He has cost the Queensland Government about £lOO a week for the last year in board and lodging. In February, 1956, Button, while a patient on Fantome Island (a leper colony 40 miles north-west of Townsville) stabbed his 19-year-old Aboriginal sweetheart, Lily Bowman, to death. A Supreme Court jury found him guilty. Then the problem began of how and where the Prisons Department could keep a leper serving a life sentence. Various plans were advanced, but all were objected to on one ground or another. Finally Button was admitted to Townsville General Hospital’s isolation ward, where three warders maintained a round-the-clock guard. The cost was nearly £lOO a week. From this week the cost is about £5O a week. The Government has built him a special goal on Palm Island Aboriginal settlement about three miles from Fantome Island. Button’s private gaol includes his cell and outbuildings, with plenty of exercise space. Three Aboriginal guards will watch Button in shifts. The Government has assigned a special “governor” to supervise the oneman gaol. This warder and his wife will move into a special cottage near the gaol site. Button, of powerful physique, is normally quiet, but he is capable of sudden and savage outbursts. For this reason prison officials intend taking no risks with him. The Queensland AttorneyGeneral, Mr W. Power, said that in view of Button’s leprosy, it was impossible for the “hard labour” part of his sentence to be carried out at present. Button will spend his time gardening and on light duties behind 20ft galvanised iron walls. Queensland health authorities say that Button’s leprosy may be cured within two or three years with new drugs. # * sfe Sydney’s police cliff rescue squad carried out another amazing lift this week. They hauled the body of a 16st fisherman 250 ft up a cliff at Malabar seaside suburb. The dead man suffered a heart attack while fishing. The cliff rescue squad brought the body up the sheer cliff. # * ♦ Youths found guilty of stealing cars are now receiving more severe penalties in Australian Courts. In Sydney an 18-year-old youth who stole 21 cars in seven weeks was sentenced to two years' gaol. In Adelaide two youths who admitted illegally using 40 motor vehicles in the last three months

were ordered to receive eight strokes each with the cane. Sydney had an extraordinary “April summer.” During the month the temperature soared past 80 degrees on no fewer than eight days, with a top reading of 83 degrees. Thousands have surfed each week-end. April this year was the warmest since 1922. * *

According to Dr. D. F. Orchard, Professor of Highway Engineering at Sydney University, bitumen has been improved so much that it now makes a better road surface than concrete. Dr. Orchard said that overseas engineers were using bitumen as a topping over concrete. (This has been done in some Sydney roads, too). Dr. Orchard has just arrived from England, where he was senior officer of the road research laboratory of the Department of Science and Industrial Research.