The Big Book of Scandalous Australian Women by Kay Saunders

Author:Kay Saunders
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ABC Books
Published: 2014-04-14T16:00:00+00:00

A short time before Christmas 1898, the body of a young woman was found at South Richmond floating in a trunk in the Yarra River. Three boys out boating sounded the alarm after they opened the box, which had been tied up with rope and weighted down with a large stone. A decomposing body, ‘quite nude’ and with a shaven head, had been shoved downwards into the trunk.34 The ‘Body in a Trunk’ was an immediate public sensation. The government offered a reward of £50 for information leading to identification of the corpse and a further £500 for information leading to a conviction of the killer(s).35 A free pardon was offered to any accomplice deciding to provide queen’s evidence.

The police decided to take the unusual step of decapitating the corpse and preserving the head in spirits to offer for inspection. Several dozen families ventured to the morgue to determine whether this was the remains of missing daughters. In addition, thousands of people, including parents with small children, also visited the morgue eager to view the gruesome spectacle.36 A local satirical magazine, Melbourne Punch, published a photograph of the woman’s pickled head and an accompanying article on 12 January 1899, a decision of poor taste and judgment unrivalled in the annals of Australian journalism.

That same day, Olga Radalyski, Travice Tod and Thekla Dubberke were arraigned in the Melbourne City Court in connection with the suspicious death of Mabel Ambrose, the girl in the trunk, whose mother had identified her head. Mabel had been just seventeen years old and had lived in South Yarra. A large crowd milled around Russell Street court during the arraignment, anxious to hear any salacious revelations about the mystery that had gripped the city over the summer. Three police officers had to be stationed to prevent the public galleries overflowing. Seven honorary magistrates sat on the bench, a mark of the importance of the case.

Thekla Dubberke, described as a pale young woman in a simple black frock with a gold cross at her throat, was the star witness; she had provided the police with vital evidence, denying that her motive was to obtain a reward. Constable Organ in South Yarra had made local inquiries, which led to Dubberke’s involvement in the investigation. She was remanded for a week. Next, an older woman, ‘Madame Olga’, who was both deaf and nearly blind and looked ‘wretchedly ill’, and Tod, a young man in his twenties, were remanded in custody. Dubberke was taken under police escort to 73 Osborne Street, South Yarra, to assist the police with further inquiries.37 The alleged perpetrators of the crime had been foolish enough to leave a card with this address in the box with the body. It was where Thekla Dubberke and Madame Olga lived.

That same day, 12 January 1899, a medical practitioner with rooms in the Prell Building in Collins Street was mentioned in the confession Tod supplied to police. Dr William Gaze MD LSA LMCP London MRCS was a principal in the Polypathic Medical Institute.

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