Mogga, you'd be surprised about crime trends. This graph (from the Australia Bureau of Statistics) showing murder rates per 100,000 between 1915 and 2000. The ABS said crime was out of control prior to 1900. You will also find crime was under reported back in the olden days e.g. cop shop record keeping wasnt great, women had nowhere to go so they basically put up with it.
Dont forget some of our worst crimes happened in the 1970's (Anita Cobby, the two nurses out Toowoomba way, etc).
