▲Australian entertainer Rolf Harris enjoyed huge success as a musician, singer-songwriter, composer, comedian, actor, painter, and television personality. But there was a darker side to this much-loved celebrity.

▲In 2014, Harris was convicted of indecent assault on four underaged girls. He was sentenced to five years, but was released after serving nearly three years. Stripped of many of the honours he had been awarded during his career, Harris' reputation is now in tatters.

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Mark "Chopper" Read was one of Australia's most prominent criminals. Convicted of several crimes, Read claimed to be involved in the killing of 19 people and the attempted murder of 11 others.

(Photo: Flickr/CC BY 2.0)

▲Read eventually became a successful author, selling some 500,000 copies of his works (he's pictured here at a book signing event). He died of cancer in 2013, aged 53.

▲In a case that gripped Australia, Schapelle Corby was convicted in May 2005 of smuggling cannabis into Indonesia.

▲She spent nine years in Bali's Kerobokan Prison, always maintaining her innocence. Deported to Australia upon her release, she subsequently published an autobiography.

▲Renae Lawrence was one of the Bali Nine, a group of nine Australians convicted in April 2005 of attempting to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia.

▲Initially sentenced to life imprisonment, subsequently reduced to 20 years on appeal, Lawrence had cooperated with investigators and informed on the ringleaders. Her sentence was eventually commuted in 2018, and she was deported back to Australia. Of the other eight charged, ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed in 2015, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen died of cancer, and the rest are all serving life sentences.

▲In what became known as the "backpacker murders", serial killer Milat lured his victims—three German, two British, and two Australian travellers—into Belanglo State Forest, where their remains were later unearthed. (Photo: Wikimedia/CC BY-SA 3.0)

▲New Zealand-born Lindy Chamberlain was wrongly convicted in 1982 of killing her nine-week-old daughter Azaria while camping at Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock. (Photo: Wikimedia/CC BY-SA 3.0)

▲Robert Paul Long had already expressed a hatred for backpackers before he set fire to the Childers Palace Backpackers Hostel in Queensland on June 23, 2000, killing 15 backpackers.

▲Martin Bryant perpetrated one of the world's deadliest shooting sprees when he murdered 35 people and injured 23 others at Port Arthur in Tasmania between April 28–29, 1996.

▲Arrested for arson and later charged with murder, Long was sentenced to life in prison. Since the fire, the building has been restored and turned into a memorial to those who died.

▲John Makin and his wife Sarah were New South Wales baby farmers (the historical practice of accepting custody of an infant or child in exchange for payment in the late-Victorian era). Both were convicted of murdering infant Horace Murray. John Makin was hanged.

▲Sarah Makin was also condemned to death, but the sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment.

▲The killings took place in and around Port Arthur's historical ruins, including inside the Broad Arrow Café and a nearby guesthouse. Bryant is currently serving 35 life sentences without the possibility of parole.

▲One of the most notorious murderers in Australian criminal history, Ivan Milat is currently serving seven consecutive life sentences, as well as 18 years without parole, for the murder of seven young people in the late 1980's and early 1990's.

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In a murder case that made world headlines, Chamberlain protested her innocence, insisting a dingo snatched Azaria from her tent while the infant slept. In 1986, after the discovery of new evidence, she was released from prison. Pictured: Lindy with then husband Michael.

▲Murdoch killed Falconio on a remote part of the Stuart Highway in Australia's Northern Territory. Lees managed to escape her abductor, and hid in the bush for five hours. Murdoch is currently serving life imprisonment.

▲In another Australian murder investigation that became global news, and again involving foreign backpackers, Bradley John Murdoch was found guilty of murdering British tourist Peter Falconio. He was also convicted of assaulting and attempting to kidnap Falconio's girlfriend, Joanne Lees.

▲British-Australian David McMillan has made a career out of drug smuggling, and has been arrested and jailed on numerous occasions. (Photo: Wikimedia/CC BY-SA 4.0)

▲He is celebrated in criminal circles as the only Westerner on record to have successfully escaped Bangkok's maximum security Klong Prem Central Prison (pictured).

▲Bushranger, outlaw, gang leader, and convicted murderer, Ned Kelly remains one of Australia's most infamous—and celebrated—criminals.

▲Kelly's final shootout with police while wearing a suit of bulletproof armour has gone down in folklore. The ruins of the Kelly family residence at Greta (pictured) stand as reminder of the outlaw's criminal exploits. (Photo: Wikimedia/CC BY-SA 3.0)

▲An associate of Ned Kelly, Sheritt rode with Kelly's cohorts, but was suspected of being in collusion with the authorities. Likewise, the police suspected he was a double agent working for the Kelly Gang.

▲On June 26, 1880, Sherritt was shot and killed at home by members of the Kelly Gang.

▲Melbourne became a battleground between 1998 and 2010, as no less than 36 underworld criminals were slain during a wave of gangland murders that shook the city to its core. Police believed Carl Williams (pictured) was responsible for 10 of them. He would ultimately lose his life in prison after being attacked by an inmate.

▲The infamous Moran family were feared members of the criminal fraternity and very much involved in the spate of killings. Jason Moran and half-brother Mark controlled much of the city's illegal drug trade. Both were murdered.

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Some of the most heinous crimes ever committed have taken place in Australia, or have been perpetrated elsewhere by Australian citizens. The country is not immune to murder, mass killings, and other acts of violence and serious wrongdoing. But a number of cases have proved so notorious that they've garnered world headlines, such is the enormity of the offence and the subsequent impact on society.

Browse this gallery for an unsettling reminder of Australia's most infamous criminal acts.