Scandals, Crime and Corruption: History Week 2009 will be a wild journey through the dark shadows of our past. Discover the scandals, crime and corruption that have shocked us over time and shaped our history, sometimes in unexpected ways.
In keeping with this criminal theme we have put together this entertaining video Registry of Flash Men. It is a unique insight into the criminal underworld in Sydney during the 1840s.
The video features extracts from the journal Registry of Flash Men narrated by its writer ‘William Augustus Miles’ (aka Fabian LoSchiavo)
The journal was an official surveillance record by William Augustus Miles who was Superintendent, then Commissioner, of Sydney Police in New South Wales from July 1840 to July 1848. Miles held the belief that much crime was caused by the contamination of innocent people, and that most of the crime in Sydney was the result of former convicts mixing with free immigrants. He believed that the criminal class required constant surveillance by the police.
- View the complete manuscript and transcription (State Records website)