Gun Alley

10am on April 24, 1922, in the Old Melbourne Gaol the fate of Colin Campbell Ross (below) was sealed. He was hanged for the murder of 12-year-old Alma Tirtschke. Alma had found on 31st December 1922 naked in Gun Alley in the middle of Melbourne. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled.


Author and historian Kevin Morgan became intrigued in the story viewing artwork inspired by the story of Alma’s murder. Morgan felt compelled to search deeper into the story. This book is the product of 10 years of thorough research of transcripts, interviews and other historical documents.

Once Colin Ross was arrested he was already considered guilty by the media and the general public wanted the blood of whoever committed such a heinous crime. The police were under pressure from the outraged public to produce a conviction and Ross seemed to fit the bill. Except that they could find sufficient evidence to put him away. Through some apparent coercion, aided by a large reward (the largest ever at that time) some became willing to provide evidence to help achieve that conviction.

Kevin Morgan has put in a lot of hard so that the reader doesn’t have to. It is still very detailed and full of information but the layout and brevity of the chapters allow for easy reading.

It is very intriguing and the pay off at the end is worth it when Morgan traces Alma’s final moments using evidence from witnesses who had seen her that afternoon and puts forward a very compelling theory as to who was the real murderer.