ONE major drawcard of the NSW Police Western Region celebration of 150 years of policing is the 1925 Studebaker limousine which used to belong to notorious Sydney underworld figure, gangster and madam, Kate Leigh.
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From Friday until Sunday at the Dubbo Showground, a series of displays celebrating policing during the past 150 years will be on show.
Kate Leigh was born on March 10, 1881 in Dubbo, the eighth child of Timothy Beahan, a boot-maker, and his wife Charlotte (nee Smith).
After a shaky start with childhood neglect, being in a girls’ home at 12 and giving birth to her daughter Eileen May Beahan in 1900, she married James Ernest ‘Jack’ Lee (or Leigh) on May 2, 1902.
Although she made her fortune mainly from the illegal sale of alcohol, it is curious to note that Kate Leigh never drank or smoked.
She went on to be a madam, sly-grog operator, drug trader and major underworld figure, often known as ‘Queen of the Underworld’.
Leigh’s criminal feud with Tilly Devine was the subject of a true crime television drama on Australia’s Channel Nine, Underbelly: Razor which screened last year.
The car was loaned to NSW police by its owner and restorer George Tait and transported to Dubbo by tilt-tray operator Vince Bloink.