South Melbourne John Doe was an infant whose body was found wrapped in sheets on the bank of the Yarra River in South Melbourne.
Case[]
At approximately 11:15 AM on the 4 November 1937, an on-duty policeman noticed a bedsheet with what appeared to be something wrapped in it, lying in the mud near the edge of the water on the south side of the Yarra River. The bundle was about 6 yards west from Princes Bridge, and had been deposited by the falling tide.
On closer inspection, the body of a newly born male child was found wrapped in the sheet. A coroner's inquest held at the Melbourne Morgue on 20 December 1937 could not identify the child or mother, however it found that the child was of almost full term and had breathed prior to death. The cause of death was determined to have been asphyxia from suffocation, caused "maliciously and wilfully" when a rag was pushed hard into the throat.
Belongings[]
- Rag.
- Linen bedsheet, branded 'Hardware'. The type sold by Payne's Bon Marche Bourke Street, Melbourne.