A new online resource gives an insight into some of Melbourne's most notorious female criminals, as well as women who were jailed for offences that no longer exist.

The prison records of more than 7,000 Victorian women incarcerated between 1855 and 1934 are available to view online for the first time, thanks to the State Archives.

The Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) cleaned and digitised the records, which were then indexed by volunteers over an 18-month period.

PROV's Daniel Wilksch said it took careful work by the archive's conservators to prepare the records for digitisation, because they had become wet at some point and were affected by mould.

Records put face to 'horrific mysteries'

Melbourne-based historian and author Michael Shelford said the male prison records, which have been online since 2013, had been an invaluable resource for his writing.

"My books had a bit of a bias towards the male population as a result," he said.

Now that the female records were also digitised, he said, he was able to better balance the genders of the criminals he wrote about.

The records include details such as the prisoner's religion, their aliases, whether they could read and write, and many also feature photographs.

"I love putting a face to somebody that I've been reading and writing about," Mr Shelford said.

One of faces that has intrigued Mr Shelford is that of Elizabeth Elburn whom, he said, "was responsible for one of Melbourne's great horrific mysteries".

In the 1890s Elburn left her husband Carl von Ledebur, a former Essendon Football Club trainer, criminal and quack doctor who specialised in "electro-therapeutics" and injecting patients with fluids from animal testicles.

Madame Olga Radalyski, aka Elizabeth Elburn, was jailed for the "Yarra River boot box" murder of 1898. ( PROV: Supplied )

Struggling to support herself and her child, she changed her name to Madame Olga Radalyski, set up a palm reading and abortion service in Osbourne Street, South Yarra, and was rumoured to be running a brothel at the same address.

She was jailed for the 1898 murder of 17-year-old Mabel Ambrose, who died after Elburn attempted to use her husband's electro-therapeutic methods to perform an abortion on the girl.

"She basically electrocuted this girl for about four days, fed her different types of poison, and she died," Mr Shelford said.

Two accomplices put Ms Ambrose's bound and naked body inside a "boot box", which they dumped in the Yarra River.

The box was found and the coroner decapitated the corpse, putting its head on display in the hope of identifying the girl.

This eventually resulted in the confession of one of Elburn's accomplices, Thekla Dubberke, whose sister Selina Sangal also appears pictured in the digitised prison records.

Selina Sengal's death sentence was commuted following the birth of her fifth child. ( PROV: Supplied )

Sangal became known as the "Dandenong murderess" when she was convicted, along with her gardener, for the murder of her husband at their Dandenong home.

Famous gangster's girlfriends among records

The newly-digitised prison records include that of Mollie Jarvie, mistress of 1920s gangster Joseph "Squizzy" Taylor, who was known as the "decoy duck" for her role in a violent robbery.

There is also a photograph in the records of Harriett Adderley, whose one-legged boyfriend Valentine Keating led a gang of criminals with disabilities in 1890s North Melbourne known as the Crutchy Push.

Harriett Adderley joined her one-legged criminal boyfriend Valentine Keating in beating a police officer. ( PROV: Supplied )

"They were feared, they used to demand drinks in pubs and beat people up with their crutches," said Mr Shelford.

She went to jail for joining the Crutchy Push in the "wounding with intent" of Senior Constable John Mulcahy.

"She apparently took as big a part in the beating of the police officer as any of the others," Mr Shelford said.

Women jailed for venereal disease, insufficient means

True crime writers like Mr Shelford will revel in newly revealed details of female murderers and career criminals, but the records also include 88 women imprisoned around the time of WWI for having venereal disease (only 10 men were imprisoned for the same offence).

They also include many women jailed for "insufficient means", and others who were forced into crime to survive the depression of the 1890s.

Melbourne was a tough place for women in the late 19th century according to Diane Gardiner, who retired in June having worked at PROV, the Old Treasury Building and the Old Melbourne Gaol.

She said the government had encouraged single women to immigrate during the gold rush era.

"The big imbalance of men compared to women was realised by the authorities," she said.

When the 1890s depression hit, many women struggled to survive in a society with no social welfare system.

"If a woman was widowed or deserted ... it was very, very hard for them," she said.

The decade saw the rise of "baby farming", where women would take in children for a few pounds and look after them, with some houses crowded with neglected infants.

The prison registers include photos of Frances Knorr, the "baby farming murderess", who was hanged for strangling babies placed in her care when she was unable to pass them back to their mothers or sell them to childless parents.

Desperate women, said Ms Gardiner, "would actually commit a crime to be in prison" as a means of getting food, shelter and medical attention during the depression.

"If you happened to be pregnant you could give birth in a [prison] hospital," she added.

Women leaving jail in Melbourne would often have to rely on the Temporary Home for Friendless and Fallen Women in Collingwood, set up by philanthropist Dr John Singleton.

"When a man left jail he was given an amount of money and maybe some tools ... when a woman left jail there was no support," she said.

The newly digitised female prison registers are available to view online on the PROV website.