"End the Canefields Terror!": True Italian Crime in North Queensland, 1932–1940

Abstract

Criminal justice records reveal much about the lives and deaths of people in Queensland, and a small number allow us to gain useful insights into Italian communities in North Queensland. This paper uses police and court records to illustrate the racial stereotyping that followed a number of violent deaths in the Italian community of North Queensland during the 1930s. These crimes, still discussed in the community, remain unsolved. Previously published work on these murders is compared with hitherto unused primary sources, thus illustrating how media accounts have tended to distort popular perceptions of the events in question.