Stranger in fiction

Crime fiction based on true events

By Alice Quinn

Strange and unsolved cases stalk the nation’s collective memory and have provided rich ground for Australian crime writers. In Trove you can find documented historical crimes from collections across Australia which have been transported into the pages of crime novels by some of Australia’s best writers. These books, along with historic and contemporary news reports help researchers and readers learn more about Australia’s most remarkable mysteries, with a little embellishment dashed in here and there. At the National Library of Australia and state and territory libraries, these stories are preserved through legal deposit.

Man standing in the stacks/shelves of the Library wearing a button up shirt, tie, waistcoat, and newsboy cap holding a tablet displaying a book cover in his left hand and holding a magnifying glass up to the shelves.

Bushrangers and Gangsters

Bushrangers have captured the nation’s imagination since the colonial era. Ned Kelly is by far the most famous. Novels such as The true history of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey and Our sunshine by Robert Drewe use artistic license to fill gaps in the historical narrative. Michael Howe’s actions as a bushranger were expanded and embellished for the sake of narrative in Michael Howe, the last and worst of the Tasmanian bushrangers by Thomas Wells. 

Illustration on a green background of a man wearing a metal helmet, long jacket, pants and boots holding up a gun
Charles Henry Hunt, Ned Kelly in Armour, 1888, nla.obj-135855351

Both Ned Kelly and Michael Howe feature in newspapers, as reporting of the crimes of bushrangers gripped the public’s attention. You can read the first synopsis of the Jerilderie letter published in The Age in 1879 through Trove, with many more articles revealing the public perceptions of Bushrangers in their own lifetimes. These newspaper articles, together with fictionalised accounts, shed light on the past and our changing interpretation of these figures in history.

Illustration of a horse-drawn carriage being stopped on a road by men holding guns.
Australian bushrangers attacking a gold escort, 1865, nla.obj-133260722

In more recent history, Gangsters such as Squizzy Taylor from the 1920s and 30s, and the Moran family of the early 2000s feature in stories which blur the line between historic crime and fiction. Both are present in the Underbelly television series and its numerous book and screen spin offs. Serial killers have also managed to creep their way into fiction. The ‘Nedlands Monster’, convicted serial killer Eric Edgar Cooke, is a sinister presence in the Australian classic Cloudstreet by Tim Winton. His crimes also inspired Suburbs of Hell by Randolph Stow.

On the left, a newspaper front page with a large image of an man being arrested, on the right an illustration of a man holding a gun near a man on the ground near a street
The Sun-News Pictorial [on the day Squizzy Taylor was apprehended], 22 September 1922, nla.news-page31213328; Rose Wittman, Gang war, 1954, nla.obj-1954338515

Deceiving appearances

The mysterious case of the Somerton Man is one of the most intriguing cases in Australian history. It features in books such as The woman who knew too little by Olivia Wearne and Cedar valley by Holly Throsby. The Somerton Man case has inspired a myriad of theories about the circumstances of his death, and articles from the time of his appearance on an Adelaide beach can be found on Trove.

Newspaper headline reading 'Search for P.M. goes on Mr Holt swam out long way, vanished' with two black and white photos
‘Search for P.M. Goes On’, The Canberra Times, 18 December 1967, nla.news-page11658508

While the Somerton Man was a mysterious appearance, the mysterious disappearance of Australia’s 17th Prime Minster Harold Holt has also found its way into the pages of Australia’s crime fiction. While books such as Ripple effect by Scott Cooper place the Prime Minister’s disappearance at the centre of the mystery, others such as The Prime Minister was a spy by Anthony Grey spin the tale into a conspiracy of espionage in the middle of the Cold War. Harold Holt’s papers are held in the National Library of Australia's collection, where researchers can draw their own conclusions from the information contained within.

Man standing in the stacks/shelves of the Library wearing a button up shirt, tie, waistcoat, and newsboy cap holding a tablet displaying a book cover in his left hand and holding a magnifying glass up to his eye with his right hand.

Australia’s criminal past is well documented, both in historical records and the works of fiction they inspire. The National Library of Australia and state and territory libraries collect today what will be important tomorrow. By depositing stories through legal deposit, publishers help ensure that all evidence of our history is well accounted for. 

Write yourself into history, learn more about legal deposit.