Footscray John Doe was an infant whose body was found wrapped in paper and placed in a hedge in Footscray.
Case[]
At approximately 7:20 AM on 30 June 1937, a resident collecting the morning paper noticed a parcel sitting on top of the hedge in front of her Central Avenue house. After opening the parcel on the front lawn, it was discovered that it was the body of a newborn male infant, which was wrapped in brown paper and a Myer Advertising Poster.
A coroner's inquest held at the Melbourne Morgue on 4 August 1937 could not identify the child or parents; however, it found that the child was premature, aged about seven and a half months old, and had breathed. The inquest established that the cause of death was prematurity combined with inattention at birth.
Clothing and accessories[]
- Brown paper.
- Myer advertising poster.