Lisa Featherstone - Sex Crimes in the Fifties

Sex Crimes in the Fifties

Sex Crimes in the Fifties

Lisa Featherstone

Amanda Kaladelfos

MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY PUBLISHING

An imprint of Melbourne University Publishing Limited

11-15 Argyle Place South, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia

www.mup.com.au

First published 2016

Text Lisa Featherstone and Amanda Kaladelfos, 2016

Design and typography Melbourne University Publishing Limited, 2016

This book is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, no part may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means or process whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publishers.

Every attempt has been made to locate the copyright holders for material quoted in this book. Any person or organisation that may have been overlooked or misattributed may contact the publisher.

Text design by Phil Campbell

Cover design by Phil Campbell

Typeset by J&M Typesetting

Printed in Australia by McPhersons Printing Group

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

Creator: Featherstone, Lisa, author.

Title: Sex crimes in the fifties / Lisa Featherstone, Amanda Kaladelfos.

ISBN: 9780522870176 (hardback)

ISBN: 9780522866551 (paperback)

ISBN: 9780522866568 (ebook)

Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.

Subjects: Sex crimesAustraliaHistory.

Sex crimesLaw and legislationAustraliaHistory.

AustraliansSexual behaviorHistory.

Nineteen fifties.

Sex and lawAustraliaHistory.

AustraliaSocial conditionsHistory.

Other Creators/Contributors:

Kaladelfos, Amanda, author.

345.940253

For Amandas grandmothers,
Angeliki Kaladelfos and Betty Rosina Powell

Contents

Acknowledgements

Lisa and Amandas collaboration began in 2010 with a shared interest in the history of sexuality, and complementary specialities of Lisa in medical history and Amanda in legal history. The previously unexamined court transcript series provided the rich evidence-base for what became this book-length study of the historical treatment of sexual crime. The research and writing of this book was an equal collaboration. The analysis was conducted together, with Lisa assuming primary responsibility for drafting .

The research for the book was conducted at the State Records Office of New South Wales. We thank the staff at State Records, including Rhonda Campbell and Emily Hanna, for their assistance. We owe much gratitude to the National Library for their world-class digital newspaper collection, Trove, which allowed us to enrich the case files that we found in the archives.

Both Lisa and Amanda are indebted to the support they received from their institutions.

Lisa would like to thank Philip Dwyer from the University of Newcastle, as initial work on the transcripts was funded by the Faculty of Education and Arts at the University of Newcastle, and was facilitated in particular by Philip and the Centre for the History of Violence. At the University of Newcastle, thanks to Rebecca Beirne, Nancy Cushing, Lyndall Ryan, Victoria Haskins, Michael Ondaatje, Camilla Russell and James Bennett. At the University of Queensland, thanks to new friends and colleagues, Clive Moore, Dolly MacKinnon, Adam Bowles, Kriston Rennie, Martin Crotty and Geoff Ginn. And I owe continuing gratitude to others who have been friends, colleagues and mentors in History, including Shirleene Robinson, Yorick Smaal, Rebecca Jennings, Carolyn Strange and Mary Spongberg. You have taught me much.

I would like to especially thank Joy Damousi for her belief in this project.

Mark Finnane is owed a special vote of thanks for his reading of the completed manuscript, and his generous and insightful feedback. Frances Clarke also offered feedback and important guidance on the final draft, and I thank her for everything. Thanks also to Michael Kilmister for his research assistance when it was needed most.

Most importantly, I thank my family, who have supported me throughout an often taxing project: reading and writing about sexual violence is difficult, and it is good to come home to welcoming arms. To Craig and Lachlan Macdermid: I could not have done it without you.

Amandas research centre, the Griffith Criminology Institute at Griffith University provided funding for this research project and has developed a research culture that embraces the interdisciplinarity between history, criminology, and socio-legal studies. I thank colleagues at Griffith who contribute to this stimulating research environment, especially Ross Coomber, Paul Mazerolle, Kathleen Daly, Clare Tilbury, Rachel Dioso-Villa, Nina Westera, Yorick Smaal, and our research team at the Prosecution Project, led by Mark Finnane, and with my colleagues Alana Piper, Robyn Blewer and Lisa Durnian. My research for this book was supported by Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship Project, Prosecution and the Criminal Trial in Australian History (ARC FL130100050).

I thank colleagues from elsewhere whose conversations inspired new ways of thinking about a historical period we thought we knew so well. Thank you, Ann Curthoys, Carolyn Strange, Ethan Blue, Gwenda Tavan, Thomas Adams, Rachel Zajac, Alecia Simmonds, and Agnieszka Sobocinska. I also thank Claire Sellwood and Lisa Durian for their research assistance on this project.

The historical research of my two mentors, Penny Russell and Mark Finnane, provides continual inspiration. Their work, which challenges the status quo and shares a belief in the power of history to create change, has had incalculable influence on my work.

Together my Brisbane writing group, with Nina Westera and Rachel Dioso-Villa, have experienced the inevitable highs and lows felt in every project. Our sessions at The Clubhouse gave me motivation when I needed it most. The friendship of Courtney ORegan, Nina Westera and Patricia OShaughnessy has sustained me since moving away from my home in Sydney. I thank my family for the value they have always placed on education and especially my grandmothers for the sacrifices they made for their families. I hope this book contributes to a better world for my nieces, Frances and Kathleen.

My greatest thanks are reserved for my partner, Frances Clarke, whose intellectual rigour and critical analysis are unsurpassed. She sets the standards that I aspire to. All my love, always.

Lastly, both Lisa and Amanda thank Melbourne University Publishing for the support that they have offered throughout this project. We offer special thanks to Cathryn Game who was an outstanding copy editor.

Abbreviations

Figures

Arrest rate for all sexual crimes per 100 000 people

Arrests and committals by gender of complainant per 100 000 people