Matriarch of the criminal underworld … or the Robin Hood of inner Sydney? The legend of Kate Leigh, Sydney’s famed brothel madam, sly grog seller and drug dealer, has loomed large in TV’s Underbelly and every other account of Sydney’s criminal history from the 1920s to the 1960s. But she has never had a biography of her own. Despite having more than 100 criminal convictions to her name, Kate Leigh is also remembered as a local hero, giving money to needy families and supporting her local community through the hard times of Depression and war. Here, novelist and historian Leigh Straw teases out the full story of how this wayward Reformatory girl from Dubbo made a fortune in eastern Sydney and defied the gender stereotyping of the time to become a leading underworld figure.
Leigh Strawis a historian and author. Her books include three historical crime novels (Limestone,Sophia LaneandLegacy), a history of criminal women in Perth and Fremantle (Drunks, Pests and Harlots, 2013) and a forthcoming book on Australian World War I soldiers. She is Senior Lecturer at the University of Notre Dame.
Leigh Straw is fascinated by true crime stories and her writing reflects this – she knows how to tell a story and the book wears its substantial research lightly. It goes beyond the sensationalism of the razor wars of the 1920s and 30s to ask why and how a rebellious country girl ended up in charge of several criminal enterprises.
![The Worst Woman in Sydney: The Life and Crimes of Kate Leigh [Paperback]](/itemImage/2/4/3/6/2_4370039.jpg "The Worst Woman in Sydney: The Life and Crimes of Kate Leigh [Paperback]")