Laws, Good & Bad

 

Razorhurst was predicated upon a series of legislations, nobly-intended but poorly thought through. The object of these laws was to eradicate the problems of vice, drugs and violence from the streets of the city; in effect they solidified the bulkheads of the criminal elements already at work.

The first of these laws was one which forbade any man from obtaining an income from the efforts of any woman engaged in the sex industry. The simple ‘work-around’ for this restriction was for a woman to set up her own brothels, independent of any man. This is best exemplified by the actions of Tilly Devine, who used this loophole repeatedly to evade legal repercussions.

 

In 1924, the Government of Australia made it illegal for any person to carry a handgun without licensed permission. After this law came into effect, many criminals hid their guns in secure stashes and went armed with razors, which could be explained away in the face of a legal enquiry.

After Prohibition came into effect in the United States, many temperance and other groups lobbied the Australian Government for a similar proscription. The culture of the time was not quite ready to impose this sort of blanket ban upon the populace, so they enacted a 6.00pm closing time on all licensed establishments. The reality of this ban saw the opening of a great many ‘after-hours’ liquor providers who served their patrons after the notorious ‘six o’clock swill’. These ‘sly grog’ shops conducted a roaring trade, paying huge amounts in protection and bribes to stay in business. Foremost among these operators was the notorious Kate Leigh.

 

The extreme focus on anti-drinking policies meant that other forms of intoxication were allowed to slip between the legal cracks. Cocaine, heroin, marijuana, opium: all of these were weighing in a murky jurisprudential limbo, awaiting judgement. In time they would all be proscribed and dogged by the police; for now they took a backseat to the glitz of booze and gambling and circulated relatively freely throughout Sydney.

Like many other countries, Australia posted laws against the manufacture, importation and distribution of cocaine, heroin and other similar substances. These drugs were still available to medical practitioners of the time however, and there were few regulations in place to enforce its distribution. Doctors and dentists were free therefore, to sell off their stock to whichever criminal representative paid the most, according to the limits of their conscience.

 

Gambling was completely entrenched in the public psyche at this time and the government tried woefully to enforce the regulation of winnings in this regard. One means was to prevent the announcement of winning horses over public broadcasting systems until after the races had been completed. This meant that anyone betting accurately upon a horse had to actually be at the race course. The unscrupulous punters could go to local bars where Starting Price, or ‘SP’ bookmakers, with byzantine connexions to the racetrack would take bets in flagrant disregard of the law.

About this legal framework, Razorhurst was constructed: prostitution was alright as long as it was conducted by a madam; alcohol was okay as long as you drank it in a licensed premises before 6.00pm – and okay later if you knew the right places to go to; police agents could not arrest you for carrying a straight razor, or a razor-blade embedded in a cork; betting could take place anywhere as long as you trusted your bookie and his network; and cocaine was obtainable from those in the know and for the right price. This was the modus vivendi of Razorhurst – a life totally outside the law but with a full and complete working knowledge of its complexities.