Hundreds of State archives have been made public as part of Public Record Office Victoria’s (PROV) annual Section 9 opening, including records of a 1940s Fitzroy crime family.
In a statement, PROV said two 1946 criminal trial briefs related to Leo Clinton Cartledge were being made public for the first time.
“The Cartledges were an extended Fitzroy crime family led by Leo who was a notorious standover man,” the Office said.
“The first file is the case of an assault Leo and accomplice Molly Moran carried out against a Russell Street shopkeeper which went to trial three times,” it said.
“The other file details his attempt to escape the cells of the City Watchhouse in which Leo confessed: ‘I must have been drunk to do that!’”
PROV said the January openings also included the 1946 capital case file of Trevor Francis Sanderson McKenzie who killed a man named Jack Johnson in Mornington after one too many arguments about what was being played on the radio.
It said that while many of the files opened were from 1946, there were also some earlier records from Children’s Court Registers, Fairfield and Kew Cottages Registers and Ward Registers from 1922, as well as some 1960s and 1970s board reports, minutes and other records from various organisations.
“Also for the first time a Ballarat Court of Petty Sessions Maintenance Register spanning from 1904 to 1920 will be opened.
“The earliest record is an Admission and Discharge Register of Kew Cottage Patients from 1887 to 1922.”
A full list of open records and more information on some of the stories mentioned above can be accessed at this PS News link.
