Black Widow: The true story of Australia's first female serial killer

Abstract

Two inquests, four trials, three hung juries and the executioner... but was Louisa Collins really a husband killer? Was she the callous adulterous, drunkard and liar known as the Botany Bay Murderess and the Lucretia Borgia of Botany Bay? Or was this mother of seven a spirited and defiant woman who was punished for breaching society's expectations of womanly behaviour? Compelling, freshly told and richly detailed, 'Black Widow' uncovers the truth of a story that challenged the morality, the politics and the notion of law in an Australia on the edge of nationhood.