When British settlers arrived in Australia in 1788, displacing the indigenous population, they established a penal colony in New South Wales. Convicts provided the labor to build what we now know as the Sydney metropolitan area, which experienced an often bloody and violent settlement period.

This early criminal element was still going strong over 100 years later, with the 1910s and especially the ’20s seeing an uptick in organized crime. Razor gangs—due to gun restrictions, many criminals took up razors as their weapon of choice—formed in response to the prohibition of cocaine and prostitution, as well as a new law dictating that bars must close by 6 p.m. And with them came a new wave of lawlessness.

The New South Wales Police Department created an archive of forensic photography, and LiveLeak user martinmax96 recently began collating the mug shots of the state’s most infamous criminals. From theft, bigamy, prostitution and illegal abortions, to murder, drug running and razor slashing, here are the bad, bold women of the early Australian underworld.

All captions provided by the NSW Police Forensic Archive.