In 1883, Commissioner of Police Seymour highlighted in his annual report to the parliament an increase of crime during the preceding 12 months, under ‘nearly every heading’.
This increase [was], however, slight in offences of a serious description, but in those that are chiefly comprised under the popular denomination of “larrikinism”, including common assault, assaulting and obstructing the police, drunkenness, obscene language, and other offences under “The Vagrant Act”, the growth is very large’, amounting to 1,036 that year.
Commissioner Seymour concluded that fines and short-term incarceration has no deterring influence on ‘this class’ of offenders, who never attack those able to defend themselves. The same year, Brisbane and its suburbans had 95 Constables patrolling the streets in shifts around the clock, who were responsible for 8,402 arrests.
Historically, ‘Queen Street, Adelaide Street, Albert Street, North Quay and their immediate vicinity, such as William Street, stand out for the number of drunkenness and petty assault charges, arrests for vagrancy, and a variety of offences against good order, such as using obscene language and indecent exposure.’ In the 1880s, Albert Street supplied nearly half of the defendants for the local police court. Case reports from 1883, 1884 and 1885 commonly describe male offenders as larrikins, and women that associated with them as ‘girls of ill fame’. Shaped by the Victorian-period culture of sensibilities, similar labels were freely attached to women that did not fit rigid social paradigms; Cäcilia Bleck was one of these women.
Cäcilia Margaretha Borchert was born in Vaalermoor, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany on the 10 November 1858, to parents Johann Nicolaus and Antje Beate Borchert (nee Moeller). On 5 August 1865, a 7-year-old Cäcilia along with her parents and siblings (Claus, Johann & Anna) immigrated to Moreton Bay Queensland aboard La Rochelle from Hamburg, Germany. Having arrived in Moreton Bay, the Borcherts settled in Meringanda. Coincidentally, the Borchert family were on the same voyage as the Bleck family. August Friedrich Wilhelm, Caecilia’s future husband, was 20 years-old at the time.
In November 1877, Cäcilia gave birth to a son Wilhelm Carl Bleck in Toowoomba. Their first child was born out of wedlock, but Cäcilia and August were married soon after at the groom’s brother’s residence on Boggo Road, South Brisbane. In the next four years, August and Cäcilia would go on to have three children with only one surviving infancy, a son, Albert Johann Friedrich born in 1879.
Two years later, in 1881, Cäcilia was charged and found guilty of ‘Obtaining Goods Under False Pretences’. Having recently given birth, she had to have her daughter with her during the proceedings, which were conducted with a help of a German interpreter. In this case Cäcilia’s custodial sentence was commuted. Soon after, she was back in front of a magistrate charged with ‘Keeping a Disorderly House’ in Toowoomba. Cäcilia was found guilty and sentenced to 2 months in Toowoomba Gaol. After her release in February 1883, she left her husband, August Bleck, and returned to Brisbane renting a unit above Dowridge’s Tobacconist, on the corner of George and Turbot Streets. It was owned by the famous boxer from Barbados Jack Dowridge ‘The Black Diamond’.
The North Quay Tragedy. Queenslander, 18 Aug 1883, p. 36
Little is known about her life in Brisbane but given her previous charge of keeping a disorderly house and recent separation, Cäcilia likely would have had to turn to prostitution to make ends meet. Sadly, a few months after her relocation, on 6 July 1883, Cäcilia ’s body was found on the banks of the Brisbane River at North Quay, near the Bishop’s House. Two young boys on a boat spotted her body face down and called the police. An autopsy revealed that she was five months pregnant and had a fractured skull. The time of death was estimated to be sometime on 2 July. Shortly, her husband was charged with the murder.
The Police Court proceedings lasted two months, Inspector Lewis and Nethercote prosecuted the case. On 22 September, Bleck was committed to stand trial at the Supreme Court during November sittings, however, no true bill was found. Cäcilia is buried in an unmarked grave at the South Brisbane Cemetery under the name Margaret Black (portion 6A grave 20).
Caecilia’s only surviving son, Albert, was raised by Cäcilia’s brother Johann and his wife Hannah Borchert. After Hannah’s death (39), he went to live with Cäcilia’s sister Catherina Dorries in New South Wales. Albert ‘Black’ never married and is buried at the Sandgate Cemetery, Newcastle with his aunt. Cäcilia’s murder remained unsolved.
The details of Cäcilia’s life were provided by Jillian Moore, a great-great-granddaughter of Johann and Hannah Borchert.
The content was researched and written by Dr Anastasia Dukova. This information has been supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available.
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“FROM the VAULT – The Unsolved Case of Caecilia Bleck” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode