This is the true crime account of Eugenia Falleni, a woman who in 1920 was charged with the murder of her wife. Eugenia had lived in Australia for twenty-two years as a man and during that time officially married twice. She lived a full married life with her first wife, Annie, for four years before Annie realised that her husband was a woman. Even after Annie knew, they lived together for eight … eight months before they went on a bush picnic, when Annie mysteriously died. Her body was not identified for almost three years, and during this time Eugenia married again, this time to Lizzie. When Eugenia was finally arrested and charged with Annie’s murder, the police attempted to tell Lizzie that her husband was a woman. She laughed at them – she was so convinced that her husband was a man that she thought she was pregnant to him.
This is the story of one of the most extraordinary criminal trials in legal history anywhere in the world. The book traces Eugenia’s history: from her early years in an Italian immigrant family in New Zealand, to her brutal treatment when she first tried living as a man. The story then follows the twenty-two years that she lived in Sydney as Harry Crawford – exploring how Harry managed to convince two wives that he was a man. The trial of Eugenia Falleni for Annie’s murder is extensively analysed in a clear and easily understood way by the author, Senior Crown Prosecutor Mark Tedeschi QC, one of Australia’s foremost criminal law barristers.
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In 1920, a woman, Eugenia Falleni, was charged with the murder of her wife.
Eugenia is a story of its time: an examination of out-dated notions of sexuality and the fallibility of the criminal justice system. It is the true account of one of the most sensational and extraordinary criminal trials of its day in Australian legal history.
Born into a large Italian migrant family, Eugenia Falleni began passing herself off as a man at a young age. She was easily able to tackle tough construction jobs and join in the rough male drinking life. But her existence as a man was always perilous, and in a horrific experience during her time on a merchant ship, her gender was uncovered.
The story then follows the twenty-two years she lived in Sydney as the hard-drinking, foul-mouthed Scotsman Harry Crawford, and how Harry managed to convince his two wives that he was a man. Due to a tragic twist of fate, Harry’s first wife, Annie Birkett, discovered the truth, and the two argued. Annie disappeared and her burnt body was discovered at Lane Cove, though not identified until years later. By the time Eugenia Falleni was charged with murder, Harry Crawford had married a second woman, again successfully maintaining the elaborate cover-up.
The trial of Eugenia Falleni for Annie Birkett’s murder is extensively analysed by the author, Crown Prosecutor Mark Tedeschi QC, one of Australia’s foremost criminal law barristers. He reveals a grim, fascinating and extraordinary tale against the vivid backdrop of working-class Sydney in the years leading up to the Great Depression. It is an interesting study of how Eugenia’s case was subject to mishandling and to the prejudices of the times.
The murder trial is narrated in great depth, as Tedeschi takes us through the police investigation, the press’s vicious attack on her character, and the public who saw her as an abnormal being who must be punished. He explains how the fairness of the system relies on the fact that each side is represented by equally accomplished advocates, which obviously wasn’t the case here. Falleni’s lawyer seemed out of his depth, making many tactical errors, and failing to force the prosecution into proving beyond any reasonable doubt that Annie Birkett’s death was not accidental. The prosecution, however, was run by William Coyle, the best of these times.
The subject was fascinating – a woman trapped in a man’s body, in a male justice system. I sympathised with Eugenia, who had not a single friend, or member of her family, with whom she could share her terrible secret. I can’t begin to imagine how she must have lived in constant terror that her secret would be exposed and she would be ridiculed. She displayed much courage in managing to turn her life around in spite of such tragedy.
I found the storytelling in general a bit melodramatic and the detail surrounding the legal proceedings far too detailed, and found myself skimming much of this part towards the end. This slight reservation did not deter me, however, from enjoying this sobering tale of human tragedy.