Crime Time Exhibition - Justice and Police Museum
How do Sydney's real-life female gangsters compare with crime fiction's femmes fatales? New exhibition Crime Time explores the deliciously evil side of the female psyche.
By Sarah Norris
"Woman is rarely wicked, but when she is, she is worse than a man." It's an Italian proverb that not only rings true to popular culture's clichéd take on female criminality, it practically dictates it.
Ever since Eve transgressed, we've been fascinated with the evil side of the female psyche. No more so than assistant curator at the Justice and Police Museum, Neridah Campbell, who will deliver a keynote speech on that exact topic at Crime Time, a one-off event exploring the captivating world of crime. "This is a taster of what the exhibition is about - contrasting the glamorous, sexy femme fatale in 1920s, 30s and 40s popular culture with images of female criminals taken from our archive at the Police and Justice Museum," says Campbell.
Immersed in that world, Campbell has been researching wayward women for a forthcoming exhibition, Femme Fatale, as well as for a Historical House Trust publication of the same name (in December) - to understand what these stereotypes tell us about women and crime.
Expect tales of the queens of the razor gangs, Kate Leigh and Tilly Devine, but also lesser known characters like the hard-arse Iris Webber. "She was a shop lifter and a sly grogger who also happened to be a lesbian who was into S&M and who fought pitched battles against Sydney's most vicious male gangsters with Maisie Matthews, with whom she was having a relationship."
Also at the event are lectures from supermodel-turned-crime author Tara Moss, Dr Murray Lee, senior lecturer in criminology at Sydney University and Lenny Bartulin, author of A Deadly Business.
Held in conjunction with Sydney Symphony Orchestra's upcoming Crime Time series at the Sydney Opera House, there's music by Georgia Lowe from the Conservatorium of Music, and refreshments. Guests are encouraged to create an outfit inspired by 1940s ‘film noir' with a prize for best dressed on the night.
Crime Time at the Justice & Police Museum on Thu 11 Sep.
A night at the museum?
Spook yourself with either of these night-time tours: the ultra scary one-off True Takes of Sad Souls or the Museum after Dark tour of Susannah Place which runs every Thursday in September. With little more than a candle explore the series of four terraces built in 1844 in The Rocks region, housing more than 100 families over 150 years.
True Takes of Sad Souls is on Thu 11 Sep at the Hyde Park Barracks Museum
Museum after Dark is on Thu 11, 18 & 25 Sep at the Susannah Place Museum.