Title: Mug shot of Ada McGuinness, 26 July 1929, Central Police Station, Sydney. Creator: New South Wales. Police Dept. Drugs Bureau. Date: July 1929 Format: Glass plate negative: Inscription: Emulsion side: Subject: Central Police Station (Sydney, N.S.W.) mug shots police detainees and suspects criminals fur coats Description: Special Photograph no. D33 (Drug Bureau Photograph). McGuinness is listed in the NSW Police Gazette of 25 September 1929 as having been convicted of two charges of having cocaine illegally in her possession, for which she was sentenced to concurrent six and twelve months imprisonment with hard labour. Her daughter Hazel McGuinness also faced the court at the same time, on similar charges, but was released on a bond (see 'Mug shot of Hazel McGuiness'). Police and prosecution witnesses described McGuinness senior, who occupied a terrace house in Hargreave Street, as being one of the most active cocaine dealers in the Darlinghurst area at the time. A police witness described her as 'the most evil woman in Sydney'. In 1925, as 'Edith Cavanagh' she had been sentenced to twelve months (suspended) for having in her possession forged bank notes.
