On the 7 July, author and historian Leigh Straw will presenting a talk on her new true-crime biography The Worst Woman in Sydney: The Life and Crimes of Kate Leigh at the Jam Gallery, Bondi Junction.
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.
WHEN: Thursday, 7 July 2016 from 6.30 PM to 8.00PM
WHERE: Jam Gallery, 195 Oxford St, Bondi Junction, NSW 2022
RSVP: www.leighstraw.eventbrite.com.au (spaces limited)
