• Bayside News Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Local History
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise With Us
  • About Us
  • Read Our Newspapers Online
    • Read the Latest Western Port News
    • Read the Latest Mornington News
    • Read the Latest Southern Peninsula News
    • Read the Latest Frankston Times
    • Read the Latest Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Monday, August 8
Trending
  • Season on the line for Seagulls
  • Pythons face an uphill battle, Redlegs stumble
  • Ketch blown ashore in Dromana
  • New program for parking
  • Push to improve station access
  • Teens arrested in BMW
  • Plans form for upgraded youth clinic
  • Striking self-portrait secures art award
Facebook Twitter
Bayside News
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Local History
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise With Us
  • About Us
Bayside News
Home»Local History»Squizzy Taylor: the Chelsea connection
Local History

Squizzy Taylor: the Chelsea connection

MP News GroupBy MP News Group24 July 2013Updated:1 March 2014No Comments4 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

rgb squizzy taylor322x209THE latest series in the TV show Underbelly focuses on the 1920s life and crimes of Melbourne criminal Leslie ‘Squizzy’ Taylor – a feared thug with a reputation for violence who amassed a fortune in ill-gotten gains from sly-grog selling, two-up schools, illegal bookmaking, extortion and prostitution.

These aspects of Squizzy’s criminal career are well documented, but a less publicised aspect involves the suburb of Chelsea. Chelsea and District Society founder Frank McGuire, in his 1985 book Chelsea: A Beachside Community, noted that the late Bill Brothwell, an early Chelsea citizen, claimed Squizzy Taylor often visited a relative who owned a shop in the town and also frequented Aspendale Racecourse with “his mobster mates”.

The diminutive Squizzy, who stood just 5 foot 2 inches, always had an eye on his public profile, even at the height – or depth, depending on your point of view – of his criminal ‘career’.

He appeared in a film based on his life in 1923 entitled Riding To Win. The Frankston & Somerville Standard newspaper reported on 22 December 1922 that the Carrum Borough Gazette “stated that Squizzy Taylor had been making pictures in the Chelsea district”.

It was this local connection that would spark a police manhunt for one of Squizzy’s associates, Richard Buckley, in Chelsea after an armed robbery in Hawthorn in October 1923 left bank manager Thomas Berriman dead at Glenferrie railway station. Berriman was ambushed by Squizzy and his gang and shot dead when he refused to hand over £1,851 he had in his possession.

Squizzy and Geelong gaol escapee Angus Murray were arrested as suspects in the robbery and murder. A third man, Richard Buckley, went on the run and into hiding.

Police raids in the search for Buckley in Chelsea ignited a battle between two local newspapers of the time, with words – not bullets – used as weapons in a turf war for top dog status in the region.

The Carrum Borough Gazette and Chelsea News were engaged in a circulation and advertising war at the time. The Chelsea News was the official printer of the council and the Carrum Borough Gazette was keen to win this lucrative contract for itself.

The 19 October 1923 edition of the Gazette reported police detectives and two local constables raided a home in Wimbourne Avenue, Chelsea. The Chelsea News asked the next day “Is Buckley in Chelsea?” and speculated that Chelsea was an ideal place for criminals to hide, with many police raids “seeking men who were in hiding from city sleuths”. The article claimed ten detectives had detained a person at gunpoint.

The Gazette used this report to fire a shot at the Chelsea News, claiming Chelsea had been libelled by “the off- icial organ of the municipality” and “a good deal of sensational rubbish appears in the article which is pure fiction”. Making its own inquiries with police, the Gazette concluded just five, not ten, detectives had been present and no suspect had been apprehended.

The Gazette stated it “does not stand for the suppression of any legitimate news in the interests of any person or district, yet we believe that it is the par mount duty of a local paper, to foster and protect the well being of all hamlets and towns in the district it professes to circulate in”. However, the newspaper tried to put pressure on its rival by noting the Chelsea News “carries with it some hundreds of pounds of ratepayers money per medium of advertisements and printing” and that “one prominent business man states that he is going to petition the council, asking them to censure the official organ, and to cease all business dealings with them for 12 months”.

Council was unimpressed with the att-empt to force it to withdraw advertising from the Chelsea News, with then mayor Cr Richardson saying he did not believe in censoring the press.

Buckley was eventually captured by police in Moonee Ponds seven years later, in 1930.

Squizzy Taylor was found not guilty of involvement in the Glenferrie murder, amid suspicions of jury intimidation.

– Suggested further reading: Murderer Sought at Chelsea by City of Kingston official historian Graham Whitehead (go to www.localhistory.kingston.vic.gov.au).

The six-part series Underbelly: Squizzy airs on Channel 9 from Sunday 28 July at 8.30pm.

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
MP News Group

Related Posts

Historic home reopens doors to visitors

9 May 2022

Susono sister city celebration

19 April 2022

Spotlight on Frankston history

21 June 2021

Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

Aug 8, 2022 - Mon
Chelsea, Australia
6°C
2 km/h, NE
73%
771.07 mmHg
mon08/08 tue08/09 wed08/10 thu08/11 fri08/12
11/6°C
11/7°C
13/11°C
11/11°C
15/12°C
Peninsula Essence Magazine

Click Here to Read

25 July 2022
Peninsula Kids Magazine

Click Here to Read

26 May 2022
Council Watch

Kilkenny a minister

6 July 2022

Push to stop rate collection methods

14 June 2022
Interviews

Murder mystery on the water

25 July 2022
Property of the Week

14 Lynch Court, Mt Martha

26 July 2022
100 Years Ago this Week

Ketch blown ashore in Dromana

8 August 2022
Contact

Street: 63 Watt Road, Mornington, 3931
Mailing: PO Box 588, Hastings, 3915

Menu
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Local History
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise With Us
  • About Us
About

Established in 2006, Mornington Peninsula News Group (MPNG) is a locally owned and operated, independent media company.

MPNG publishes five weekly community newspapers: the Western Port News, Mornington News, Southern Peninsula News, Frankston Times and Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News.

MPNG also publishes two glossy magazines: Peninsula Essence and Peninsula Kids.

Facebook Twitter
© 2022 Mornington Peninsula News Group.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.