Dulcie Markham

Dulcie May Markham (27 February 1914 – 20 April 1976) was a prominent Sydney prostitute and associate of gangland figures in Sydney during the 1930s, 1940's and 1950s, when she was closely involved with the razor gang milieu of that era of organised crime within that city. During her criminal career, she had amassed 100 convictions in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland & Western Australia for prostitution, vagrancy, consorting, assaulting police and the public, keeping a brothel, drunkenness and drunk driving, and was sent to prison on numerous occasions.[1] Dulcie was known in the media as The Angel of Death, The Black Widow and Pretty Dulcie.

Dulcie Markham
Born
Dulcie May Markham

(1914-02-27)February 27, 1914
Surry Hills, Sydney, Australia
DiedApril 20, 1976(1976-04-20) (aged 62)
Bondi, Sydney, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Other namesThe Angel of Death
The Black Widow
Pretty Dulcie
OccupationProstitute, underworld figure
Years active1929-1972
Parents
  • John Markham (father)
  • Florence Millicent Markham (née Parker) (mother)

The Daily Mirror, a former Sydney newspaper, summed up her career in crime thus: "Dulcie Markham saw more violence and death than any other woman in Australia's history".[2]

Life and notable criminal liaisons

Dulcie May Markham was born in the inner city Sydney suburb of Surry Hills on 27 February 1914 to John Markham and Florence Millicent née Parker.[3] She became one of Australia's most notorious prostitutes and underworld figures. She became a prostitute when she was 15 and Sydney's most extravagant gangster's moll by the time she was 18. She was attracted to, and associated with, many major criminals of the era. On 13 May 1931, stallkeeper Alfred Dillon and gunman Cecil "Scotty" McCormack came to blows over the attentions of Markham and in the resultant melee, Dillon stabbed McCormack to death.[4] Her first marriage was to a sideshow worker and small time mobster Frank Bowen in Brisbane on 4 March 1936.[5] 2 months later, Dulcie was in court accused of falsifying a telegram on behalf of her new husband.[6]

By 1936, Markham was involved with Guido Caletti, another notorious Sydney gunman, the then husband of Nellie Cameron, another prominent Sydney sex worker of that period. Caletti was shot dead in August 1939 at a party he attended with Markham.[7] Reportedly, Markham was grief-stricken at his funeral.[8]

By December 1937, Markham had shifted to Melbourne and now had gunman Arthur Taplin as her pimp and lover. Taplin was subsequently shot dead later that year. Then in 1940, her first husband, Frank Bowen, was shot and killed in Kings Cross

In 1943, Markham relocated to Queensland's Gold Coast to take advantage of the influx of American GIs. When picked up for vagrancy by local police, she protested that she lived with her current de facto husband, Arthur Williams, and that while he gave her money and groceries, she was not involved in the local sex industry at that time, and was not aware of Williams' involvement in the sly-grog or bootleg alcohol distribution networks that flouted wartime beer and spirits rationing mandates. She also used the pseudonyms and aliases: "Dulcie Williams", "Dulcie Bowen", "Tosca de Marquis", "Mary Eugene", and "Tosca de Merene" during that period.[9][10] In September 1945, her then boyfriend and leading Melbourne criminal Leslie Walkerden, was shot dead in Richmond, Victoria.[11]

In 1947, Markham was accused and stood trial for conspiracy to murder Valma Hull,[12] the wife of Keith Kitchener Hull, who had shot and killed another Sydney gangland figure, Donald "The Duck" Day, in January 1945.[13] Markham and Edwin Martin, her current liaison, had visited a boarding house owned by Mrs Hull and had demanded to see her. Charges were later dropped when another pair of local gunmen, Charles Martin and George Barrett, were charged with an attack on Hull, but also acquitted a month later.[14]

On 25 September 1951, Markham was shot in the hip at a wild party that turned violent in St Kilda, Victoria. Her then boyfriend, Gavin Walsh was shot and killed at the same party. Three months later, while still recovering from the shooting, she married Leonard "Redda" Lewis, who was later shot in Melbourne on 22 April 1952. They didn't live together again and were later divorced.

Markham faced Central Police Court for soliciting one final time in 1957 before retiring from prostitution. In January 1959, Markham stood before a special Federal Court on a charge of not having filed a tax return for 1957. She was found guilty and fined £50 with £1 costs.

Later years

Markham married Martin Rooney in 1972 in Sydney (according to her death certificate), and gave up her criminal career. After this period, little more is known about Markham's subsequent life, until her death in a house fire at her home at 12 Moore Street, Bondi on 20 April 1976. Markham had outlived most of her criminal contemporaries from Sydney's tempestuous razor gang era. Markham's funeral was held at St Patrick's Catholic Church, Bondi and the eulogy was given by Detective Frank "Bumper" Farrell. She was cremated at Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park.[15]

In 2009, Markham was one of the figures from that era featured in an exhibition about that era at Sydney's Justice and Police Museum, entitled "Femmes Fatales: The Female Criminal."[16]

Further reading
  • Blaikie, George. Wild Women of Sydney. Rigby Australia, 1980. (ISBN 0 7270 1394 7)
  • Kelly, Vince. Rugged Angel: The Amazing Career of Policewoman Lillian Armfield. Angus & Robertson, 1961.
  • Lipson, Norm and Tony Barnao. As Crime Goes By... Ironbark Press, 1992. (ISBN 1 875471 14 6).
  • Morton, James and Susannah Lobez. Gangland Australia. Melbourne: Victory Books, 2007. (ISBN 9780522857375)
  • Writer, Larry. Razor. Pan Macmillan Australia, 2001. (ISBN 0 7329 1074 9)
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References
  1. L.Writer, Razor . Chapter 22: Pretty Dulcie. Pan Macmillan, Australia
  2. Bill Jenkings, "Dulcie Markham Obituary", Daily Mirror (21 April 1976).
  3. NSW BDM
  4. Morton and Lobez, 2007:96.
  5. Qld BDM
  6. Brisbane Telegraph, 24 May 1936
  7. "MURDER CHARGE- Shooting of Caletti", The Sydney Morning Herald (11 August 1939):11.
  8. Morton and Lobez, 2007: 156
  9. Vince Kelly. Rugged Angel (Angus & Robertson, 1961).
  10. Morton and Lobez, 2007:106.
  11. "Killed in Shooting at Richmond; Victim well known to Police", The Argus (13 September 1945):5.
  12. "Woman Charged on Murder Plot", The Courier Mail (12 August 1947):3.
  13. "Day – Murder Charge", The Sydney Morning Herald (31 January 1945):5.
  14. Morton and Lobez, 2007: 128
  15. "Dulcie May Rooney" death Notice, The Sydney Morning Herald (22 April 1976).
  16. "Lure of the Bad Girl: ABC News: 17 March 2009: http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2009/03/17/2518406.htm
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