Nellie Cameron
Nellie Cameron | |
---|---|
Darlinghurst, New South Wales, Australia | |
Burial place | Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park |
Other names | "The Kiss of Death Girl" |
Occupation | Prostitute |
Known for | Crime Figure |
Spouse | Charlie Bourke |
Children | 1 |
Nellie Cameron (born Ellen Katherine Kelly; 1910 – 8 November 1953), known as "The Kiss of Death Girl", was a notorious
Early life
Ellen (Nellie) Katherine Kelly was born in the inner city
After Nellie's mother married Robert George Cameron in 1922, Nellie took her stepfather's surname for most of her adult life.[8] Cameron was a Roman Catholic[9] and was educated at an exclusive girls' school on the North Shore.
In 1926 Cameron ran away from home,[10] caught a train to the city, seduced a married tram driver, and began living with him in Woolloomooloo.[11]
"The Kiss of Death Girl"
When Cameron began her career in prostitution in 1926 in Sydney's
Early in 1927 when Cameron met
Within weeks of Bruhn's death, Cameron began a series of relationships with a successive string of other Sydney criminals: Ernest Lyle Connelly (1903–1969), shot in Womerah Avenue,
On 16 June 1931 Cameron, Green, and William Hourigan visited the Maroubra home of James Edward "Big Jim" Devine that he shared with his wife, Tilly Devine. After an altercation, Devine shot at the fleeing Cameron, Green, and Hourigan, and accidentally killed a taxi driver. Subsequently, on 11 July 1931 Green, Horigan and Cameron were charged with "robbery under arms", being accused of having assaulted Devine, while armed with a revolver, and robbing him of a diamond tiepin valued at £50.[22] On 16 September the charges against Cameron and Hourigan were dismissed due to lack of evidence.[23]
On 16 November 1931, after visiting her then de facto husband Frank Green at St. Vincent's Hospital where he was in a serious condition after being shot in the stomach, Nellie Cameron was herself shot in the shoulder in Burton Street, East Sydney while walking home from the hospital. Later, she refused to cooperate with police.[24]
Cameron's first marriage was to the feared Sydney gangland figure Guido Caletti (1900–1939), who was the leader of a vicious Sydney gang known as the "Darlinghurst Push". The couple had fled New South Wales to Victoria due to outstanding arrest warrants. They married at the local registry office at Fitzroy, Victoria on 20 February 1934 with Nellie using her birth name, Ellen Kelly.[25] In November 1934 Caletti was imprisoned for two years, and Cameron renewed her relationship with Frank Green.
In July 1937 Cameron was charged with maliciously shooting at Harry Roper the previous month.[26]
While Cameron was working as a prostitute in Queensland, Cameron's husband Guido Caletti was shot dead allegedly by two rival gunmen, Robert Branch and George Allan, at a party in Brougham Street, East Sydney on 6 August 1939.[21][27][28]
In 1940 Cameron married Charles Francis "Greyhound" Bourke (1909–1964) (also known as Edward Brown and MacRogers),[29] another notorious Sydney criminal and gunman, at Sydney, using her then married name of Ellen Catherine Caletti.[30] The couple separated a few years later, although she retained the surname of Bourke until her death in 1953.[31]
About 1947 Cameron adopted Janice,[32] the infant daughter of a neighbour, and raised her conscientiously.[33]
Later years and death
During 1951 Cameron began living with William Francis Donohue (born about 1922), a wharf labourer,
After severe illness and suffering from depression, Nellie Cameron committed suicide through gas asphyxiation at her Taylor Square flat on 8 November 1953.[36][37]
Nellie was buried as Ellen Katherine Bourke on 10 November 1953 in the Botany Roman Catholic Cemetery,[38] now known as Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park. Over 700 mourners attended her funeral including Kate Leigh, Tilly Devine and ex lover Frank Green.[1] She was survived by her estranged husband Charlie Bourke, her mother, Mrs Lillian Cameron[39] and her adopted daughter, Janice.
References
- ^ a b "Ellen Katherine (Nellie) Cameron (1910–1953)", Obituaries Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, 'Ellen Katherine (Nellie) Cameron (1910–1953)', accessed 7 November 2011.
- ^ Name: Nellie K Kelly Birth Date: 1910 Father's Name: Colin Kelly Mother's Name: Lilian Birth Place: New South Wales Registration Year: 1910 Registration Place: Waterloo, New South Wales Registration Number: 33377 Ancestry.com. Australia Birth Index, 1788–1922.
- ^ NSW Birth Index Registration No. 2604.
- ^ NSW Death Index Registration No 14934.
- ^ NSW Birth Index Registration No 30918
- ^ NSW Death Registration No 16149.
- ^ Sydney Morning Herald (Wednesday, 13 September 1922):8. The divorce is Registered No 1181/21R.G. Department No 9504/22, Wife Petitioner. This divorce detail is entered in the Comments Field on the Marriage Certificate of Colin Kelly to Lillian Ruddock NSW Marriage Registration No 03247/1907.
- ^ NSW Births, Deaths & Marriage – Nellie K. Kelly, Birth Reference No. 33377/1910, District of Waterloo.
- ^ Admission Record, Nellie Cameron, State Reformatory 29 July 1930.
- ^ Tilly Devine & the Razor Gang Wars, 1927–31
- ^ Toby Creswell, Notorious Australians (Angus & Robertson, 2011).
- ^ According to Larry Writer's book Razor (on which Underbelly: Razor was based), it was another popular Sydney prostitute of the time, 'Pretty' Dulcie Markham, who was better known as the Angel of Death.
- ^ Norman Bruhn
- ^ James Morton and Susanna Lobez, Gangland Australia (Victory Books, 2010):71–72.
- ^ Morton and Lobez, 2007:71–72,
- ^ a b c "GANG WARFARE. Darlinghurst Murder. Few Clues", Sydney Morning Herald (24 June 1927):11.
- ^ Bruhn's Death Wish
- ^ James Morton and Susanna Lobez, Gangland Australia (Victory Books, 2010):84.
- ^ James Morton and Susanna Lobez, Gangland Australia (Victory Books, 2010):84–85.
- ^ Green was stabbed to death on 26 April 1956 during an altercation with his live-in lover, Beatrice "Bobbie" Haggett. See James Morton and Susanna Lobez, Gangland Australia (Victory Books, 2010):144.
- ^ a b Morton and Lobez, 2007: 85; 95–6
- ^ "Alleged Theft of Tiepin", The Sydney Morning Herald (Monday, 13 July 1931):11.
- ^ "Maroubra Affray", The Canberra Times (Wednesday, 16 September 1931):1.
- ^ "WOMAN SHOT. Underworld Feud. No information for police", The Sydney Morning Herald, (17 November 1931):9.
- ^ Victoria BDM, "Guido Caletti & Ellen Kelly". Marriage Registration No. 1715/1934. District of Fitzroy.
- ^ "WOMAN CHARGED WITH MALICIOUS SHOOTING", Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW: Thursday 15 July 1937):3.
- ^ NSW BDM, Guido CALETTI, Death Reg No: 13849/1939 District of Sydney.
- ^ "Shooting in House. Death of Guido Calletti – Witnesses Story", The Sydney Morning Herald, (22 September 1939):14.
- ^ James Morton and Susanna Lobez, Gangland Australia (Victory Books, 2010):82.
- ^ NSW BDM Marriage Registration No: 7695/1940. Charles Francis BOURKE and Ellen Catherine CALETTI. District of Sydney
- ISBN 1-74114-516-3and David Hickie, Chow Hayes Gunman (Harper Collins, 2001).
- ^ a b "Story of Woman's Gas Death", Sydney Morning Herald (26 January 1954):7.
- ^ James Morton and Susanna Lobez, Gangland Australia (Victory Books, 2010):136.
- ^ "Woman Shot; Man Charged", The Canberra Times (Monday 31 March 1952):4.
- ^ "Woman Shot in Flat: Man Held", Sydney Morning Herald (31 March 1952):3.
- ^ Morton and Lobez, (Victory Books, 2010):135–136.
- ^ NSW BDM, Ellen Catherine Bourke, Death Reg No. 25162/1953, District of Sydney
- ^ Grave location: Botany Catholic Cemetery. Section RC6, Grave 164; Central Coast Family History Society; Reference: Botany Roman Catholic Cemetery.
- ^ "Death & Funeral Notice", The Sydney Morning Herald, (10 November 1953):18.
Further reading
- Blaikie, George. Wild Women of Sydney. Rigby, 1980. (ISBN 0 7270 1394 7)
- Hickie, David. Chow Hayes – Gunman. HarperCollins, 2001. (ISBN 0 207 16012 0)
- Kelly, Vince. Rugged Angel. Angus & Robertson, 1961.
- Lipson, Norm & Tony Barnao. As Crime Goes By. Ironbark Press, 1992. (ISBN 1 875471 14 6)
- Morton, James and Susanna Lobez. Gangland Australia. Victory Books, 2007. (ISBN 9780522857375)
- Writer, Larry. Razor: Tilly Devine, Kate Leigh and the Razor Gangs. Macmillan Publishers Aus., 2011. ISBN 978-1-74261-070-2