Crime holds a special place in Australian history, having facilitated
colonisation, provided its most celebrated anti-hero in Ned Kelly
and been used to sell millions of newspapers, books and movie
tickets. Drawing upon a rich array of digital history resources, this
course will examine the back stories of Australia's best known
crimes and criminals, setting this underworld in its historical
context. It will address the role of sex, class, race and ethnicity in
decisions about which behaviours are defined as crimes and why
certain people become criminals.