William Joseph Hollebone (1 January 1917 – 28 September 1960), known informally as 'Joey' Hollebone, was a notorious and violent member of the criminal underworld, based in the inter-city suburbs of Sydney, Australia. Hollebone began serving a decade-long sentence for manslaughter in 1935, during which he met 'Chow' Hayes. From the mid-1940s to the mid-1950s Hollebone and Hayes were the best-known and feared of Sydney's criminal gunmen, with newspapers regularly reporting on their nefarious activities.
Biography
Early life
William Joseph Hollebone was born on 1 January 1917 at St. Peters in inner-city Sydney, the son of Sydney Hollebone and Mary (née Ludwell).St. Peters Cooks River Select Births, Marriages and Burials, 1839-1963, St Peters Cooks River History Group, St Peters Anglican Church, St Peters, New South Wales (per Ancestry.com). His father was a bootmaker who had enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. Sydney Hollebone embarked on a troopship for England shortly after William's birth; he was briefly mobilised to France but was hospitalised for an inguinal hernia and returned to Australia in October 1918. He was discharged as medically unfit in March 1919. William was the fourth-born of eight children in the Hollebone family. His mother, Mary Hollebone, died in 1926, shortly after the birth of her last child.Death registration - Mary Hollebone (Goulburn; Reg. No.: 3571/1926).
In 1927 the family were living at 11 Hutchinson Street, St. Peters. On 13 July 1927 William's younger brother, seven-year-old Augustus Hollebone, and two other neighbourhood boys were drowned in a water-filled disused brick pit in May Street, St Peters. The boys had been paddling about on an improvised wooden raft, when it overturned.Three Boys: Drowned in Brick Pit, Sydney Morning Herald, 14 July 1927, page 11.
In 1933, Hollebone, aged 16 years, was bought before the courts for stealing and placed on twelve months' probation.Cops caught up with Sydney's worst gunman, Truth 14 March 1954, page 9.
Manslaughter conviction
At Newtown Court in January 1935 Hollebone was released on a twelve months' bond "for having goods in custody".Didn't Take Advice of Police, Truth 4 June 1950, page 9.
On the afternoon of 7 October 1935 Hollebone and two companions, James Charters and Edward Smith, were involved in a street brawl in King Street, Newtown, that resulted in the death of a 39-year-old greengrocer, Leslie Hobson. The fight started when a cyclist named Albert Brown was in the process of mounting his bicycle when he was pushed in the back by Smith. The two began exchanging punches, with Smith's companions joining in. Brown wrestled one of his assailants to the ground and was hit by a bottle and kicked in the ribs and head. At that point Alfred Lalor and Leslie Hobson emerged from a nearby hotel and "saw a young man lying in the gutter, with three or four men about him, who appeared to be kicking him". Hobson called out: "Cut it out. Give him a fair go". As the two men approached the melée, Lalor was knocked to the ground and kicked in the head. Hobson began to fight with Hollebone and his companions. A witness to the events described "a running fight across the street" with bottles being thrown. Hobson fell, after having tripped on the kerb or been knocked down. The witness described how two of the attackers, "as quick as lightning", kicked Hobson in the side of the head, one on each side. A sound "like a crack, or a slap" was heard as they kicked him.Street Brawl: Death of Leslie Hobson, Sydney Morning Herald, 31 October 1935, page 15. After the vicious attack on Hobson the three men ran away.Street Tragedy: Finding of Murder, Sydney Morning Herald, 1 November 1935, page 16.
An inquest was held at the City Coroner's Court investigating the death of Leslie Hobson on 30 and 31 October 1935. At the conclusion of the evidence the City Coroner found that Hobson had "died from injuries feloniously and maliciously inflicted" by Hollebone, Charters and Smith. He expressed the view that "the kicking of a defenceless man on the head while he was lying on the roadway is an act that, if it was not intended to kill, was intended to inflict serious grievous bodily harm, and that comes on to the legal definition of murder". The Coroner committed the three men for trial, acknowledging that the question of whether the crime was one of murder or manslaughter, if the men were found guilty, was for the jury to determine.
The trial began on 26 November 1935 in the Central Criminal Court, with Hollebone, Charters and Smith each pleading not guilty to murder charges. In his opening statement the Senior Crown Prosecutor left open the possibility that the jury might reduce the crime to one of manslaughter. In evidence for the defence, each of the accused men denied they had kicked Hobson.Alleged Murder: Three Men Charged, Sydney Morning Herald, 27 November 1935, page 17.Crown Case: Death of Hobson, The Sun (Sydney), 26 November 1935, page 12. On the following day the jury returned a verdict of manslaughter against each of the accused.Criminal Court, Sydney Morning Herald, 28 November 1935, page 8. On November 29 Justice Halse Rogers sentenced Hollebone, Charters and Smith each to ten years' penal servitude for the manslaughter of Leslie Hobson. The defence counsel had asked the judge to extend leniency "on the grounds of their youth, and the fact that there had been some provocation". However, Halse Rogers was unmoved; in passing sentence he remarked that "the cowardliness and brutality of the final assault could scarcely be exaggerated", adding, "while it was a very serious thing to send three youths to gaol for such a term, it would be more serious... if such crimes as that were dealt with lightly". The judge observed that "the evidence in the case revealed something of the old 'push' activity and against any revival of such tactics and terrorism the community must be protected".Hobson Case: Ten-Year Sentences, Sydney Morning Herald, 30 November 1935, page 17.
While 'Joey' Hollebone was serving his sentence in Parramatta Gaol he met John 'Chow' Hayes and the two men formed a partnership that would last until Hollebone's death.Morton & Lobez (2011), page 87.
The war years
By late 1943 Hollebone had been released from prison. In January 1944 he was brought before the Central Criminal Court where he was charged with consorting with criminals and placed on a bond under the provisions of Section 556A of the Crimes Act (which allowed for the discharging the offender conditionally without proceeding to conviction).Mercy Section of the Crimes Act, Sunday Herald (Sydney), 14 June 1953, page 17.
Hollebone married Hazel Jean Ryan (née Britt) in early 1944.Marriage registration - William Hollebone and Hazel Jean Ryan (Sydney; Reg. No.: 13689/1944).Hazel Jean Britt was born in 1919 in Lismore [Birth registration - Hazel J. Britt (Lismore; Reg. No.: 33085/1919)] Jean was a widow, previously married in 1938 to Patrick Ryan.Marriage registration - Patrick Joseph Ryan and Hazel Jean Britt (Redfern; Reg. No.: 966/1938). Ryan had enlisted in the Army in November 1942, but was absent without leave soon afterwards and court martialled in Sydney in March 1943. He died on 7 May 1943 of "injuries accidentally received" as a result of an accident.
Hollebone had been released from Parramatta Gaol four months earlier than Hayes. After Chow Hayes' release he was engaged by Joe Taylor, one of three men running Thommos's two-up school, on wages of £100 a fortnight. Hayes and Hollebone began "running around" together and "drinking heavily". Hayes suggested to Taylor that Hollebone be put on the payroll and he was started on £60 a fortnight. The two men were engaged by Taylor for their toughness and intimidatory qualities, to assist in keeping order and deter rival criminals. In 1944 Thommos's two-up school was Sydney's largest, run by Taylor, Wally Goddard and Herman 'The Jew' Singer, and located in a terrace house in Reservoir Street, Surry Hills, a hundred yards from Elizabeth Street.Hickie, pages 140-141, 147.Bookmaker Shot Near 2-Up School, Daily Telegraph 3 February 1945, page 6. See also: Morton & Lobez (2011), page 84.
In November 1944 Hollebone was fined £20 for unlawful possession of coupons for rationed goods. Regulations for the rationing of clothing and certain food items (tea, sugar, butter and meat) had been introduced in May 1942 to manage shortages and control civilian consumption. Coupons were distributed to the population, which were then surrendered to retailers before rationed goods could be supplied.
In January 1945 Hollebone was charged with consorting with criminals, though he was not brought before court to face the charge; on this occasion he had his "license revoked" (possibly a barrowman's licence).
The Waterloo shootings
By early 1946 Hollebone was living in Shirlow Street, Marrickville. In the Central Criminal Court on 1 March 1946 William Hollebone was sentenced to four months' hard labour on a consorting charge. Detective Stuart James testified in court that during January and early February Hollebone, working as an unlicensed barrowman, had "habitually consorted with reputed criminals - thieves, car strippers and break-and-enter men". The detective claimed that seventy-five percent of unlicensed barrowmen were reputed criminals and he had witnessed "Hollebone selling from barrows".'Crooks' Among Barrowmen, The Sun (Sydney), 1 March 1946, page 3. While Hollebone was serving his sentence, a Sydney criminal named Alfred ('Alfie') Dawes went to Hollebone's home and stole all his clothes. When Hazel Hollebone objected to the intrusion, Dawes struck her. On a prison visit Hazel reported the details to Hollebone, who told her not to mention it to anybody else.Hickie, page 141.
In August 1946, soon after Hollebone was released, he received a six months' sentence for consorting with criminals, which was later reduced to a three-year bond on appeal. Later that month Hollebone took vengeance upon Dawes for the robbery of his clothes and assaulting his wife. At about 11 p.m. on 29 August 1946 Joey Hollebone entered Alfie Dawes' house in Waterloo, a two-roomed wooden cottage in Mary Street, where a drinking party was being held.Gang Vengeance is Blamed for Waterloo Murders, The Sun, 30 August 1946, page 1. As he entered the house, Hollebone fired six shots from a .32-calibre Smith and Wesson pistol, threw down the gun and immediately departed, leaving two of the occupants dead (including Dawes) and four wounded (one of whom later died).Report of the Police Department of New South Wales for the Year 1946, 'XIV. Outstanding Criminal Cases', Parliament of New South Wales, 1947 (Second Session), 23 October 1947, page 7. Detectives very promptly named the suspect as William Hollebone, and began searching for him that same night, raiding twenty suburban addresses without success. The shooting incident was reported as "an underworld feud between two well-known criminals dating back many years". The victims were: Marjorie Nurse (or Byrne), aged 19, from Paddington, who died at the scene; Alfred Dawes (jnr.), aged 26, a dealer and resident of the house; he was shot in the head and died about an hour later at Sydney Hospital without regaining consciousness; Douglas Graves, aged 27, of Waterloo; wounded by a bullet that entered his left temple; he was released from hospital on September 6, but died two days later; Noreen Miller, aged 22, a resident of the house and de facto spouse of Dawes (jnr.), shot in the left shoulder; Patrick ('Blue') McMahon, aged 30, of Paddington, wounded in the left forearm; Alfred Dawes (snr.), aged 55, a lorry driver, resident of the house and father of one of the dead men; shot through his right hand.Triple Shooting Inquest Outburst, Sydney Morning Herald, 11 October 1946, page 6.Hickie, pages 141-143.