As part of my tourist day yesterday I went to The Justice and Crime museum after walking through the park, along the Opera House and past the posh looking quay bars.
I was really interesting, it documents syndicated crime right up to the 1990's. The crime bosses all had links with customs in the 60's so that when the US soldiers came through from Vietnam all their confiscated heroin was then passed to strip and liquor joints where they were directed to buy it back. A lot of the money obtained was then put into property development projects. Thugs were hired to evict residents so that their street could then be redeveloped into tower blocks (Victoria Street being the main target).
The police corruption was rife meaning that there was no effective legal system in place to protect the residents or anyone protesting. During the Victoria Street protests, several people were kidnapped, beaten and one person killed.
The rest of the museum is dedicated to reconstructing the cells, the court and exhibitions on the history of the Australian police force.
There was also an exhibition on crime scene photography which was pretty gruesome at times!
Next on my list is The NSW Art Gallery.
“Society prepares the crime, the criminal commits it”
- Henry Thomas Buckle
1 comment:
this looks interesting. I need some more museum action in my life.
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