Horror by the Harbour

HORROR BY THE HARBOURMurder and the gallows in colonial SydneyBy Brian AJ Newman

A body in a chest. A colony hungry for judgment.

Sydney, 1844. The discovery of Thomas Warne’s body in a wooden chest brought murder, suspicion and sensational headlines to the harbour. Among those caught in the investigation was James Duval, a French working man—and author Brian AJ Newman’s fourth great-grandfather.

Drawing on contemporary newspaper reports, archival research and family history, Horror by the Harbour follows the investigation, the witnesses and the separate trials of John Vidall and James Duval. It examines the evidence that led to Duval’s honourable acquittal, the confession later attributed to Vidall, and the public execution that followed.

The story reaches beyond the courtroom into the streets, workplaces and prisons of colonial Sydney. Expanded chapters investigate principal gaoler Henry Keck, the prisoner confessions he reported, the inquiry into his administration, and Governor Gipps’s role in the aftermath of the Myall Creek massacre.

Brian brings his senior investigations and human rights advocacy experience to a deeply personal examination of evidence, public prejudice and the right to a fair hearing.

This illustrated edition includes:

• 19 chapters exploring the murder, witnesses, trials and colonial society.

• Historical images and newspaper extracts.

• An extensive register of Australian executions.

• Source notes, bibliography and family-history context.

• An Acknowledgement of Country and cultural protocols.

A life taken. A family name defended. A history that still asks what justice demands of us.

Format: Illustrated PDF ebook · 381 pages · EnglishAvailable from www.bajn.au