There’s a curious paradox about the Somerton Man / Tamam Shud case: we seem to know a lot more about the Unknown Man (found dead on Somerton Beach in December 1948) than about the nurse Jessie Harkness (who died in 2007). Yet we now have apparently good evidence that the two were connected in some way.
So, today’s question is simply this: how were they connected? She was firmly on the map, while he was (and still is) completely off the map – what gossamer thread of historical happenstance linked these two individuals?
I’ve been thinking about this for some years: and despite the many stories I’ve heard proposed (spies, car criminals, loner sheep shearers, etc), right now only one back-story stands out as being particularly likely to me. Feel free to disagree with any (or indeed all) of it, but it goes something like this…
Late 1943: Jessie Harkness is a trainee nurse working at Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH), having started there the previous year. One particular patient catches her eye, a merchant seaman called Styn or Stijn: a 3rd Officer, perhaps he’s Dutch or South African, in hospital with some kind of tropical fever. Yet as he recovers, he shows himself to be strong, fit, intelligent, poetic, charming, persuasive: they start a relationship.
1944: their relationship grows, to the point that she even starts signing her name “Jessie Styn”. But there are problems: he’s possessive and perhaps a bit too ready to fight for what he wants. When he’s fully discharged from RNSH, the war is still on and he (an alien) has to leave the country. He promises to return: Harkness gives him a copy of the Rubaiyat to remember her by, though silently her heart has perhaps already moved on.
How does it all end? The evidence seems to want to tell its own sad story:-
* 1948: a train ride, probably overnight from Melbourne;
* an unexpected visit to an empty Somerton house;
* a long wait on the beach;
* a return to the house;
* a fist-fight, fierce but brief;
* an unwell Styn vomiting, perhaps even losing a dental plate;
* Styn dead, laid on his back on a small bed with his head arching backwards over the edge;
* someone (perhaps Harkness) meticulously cleaning the dead man’s shoes;
* someone else (perhaps George) carrying Styn back to Somerton Beach in the dark of night;
* a vow of silence: We Shall Not Speak Of This Again.
Once again (as with poor old Horace Charles Reynolds), all we really have to rely on is Australian shipping records. If the back-story is correct, what ship was Styn on when he arrived so unwell in Sydney in late 1943? And did he arrive in Melbourne on a ship in the days just before 30th November 1948?
Nick, you ask “How does it all end?” You are better asking how it all began.
We already know much. The nurse became pregnant the same month men from the Small Ships Coy were on leave in Sydney.
A few months later she left for home, her reception there may have been kind, it may have been brutal.
You might consider looking for Joy, Nick. Then you will better know how it all began.
Pete: presumably her friend Joy was also an RNSH trainee nurse – if so, was she Joyce E. McCarron (graduated 1946), Joyce Robinson (g. 1944), Joyce Mavis Kingsland (g. 1948), or someone else completely?
That’s for your burrowers to find Nick, and when they do, look for her husband.
A strong theory, but why no physical evidence of an altercation?
Shurupag: the Somerton Man had marks between the knuckles of his right hand, which would seem to indicate something physical happened… though quite what is hard to say.
Hi Nick, Interesting post-Perhaps a man from the Dutch East Indies evacuated to Sydney & RNSH, discharged & went back to sea, only to return in October 1946? Would RNSH have patient records for the 1940’s still extant?
Nick: Find a pub somewhere, ask someone who knows what a “fist-fight, fierce” does to both faces and fists, in fact any part of the body where a blow has landed, clothes notwithstanding.
Better still, ask me. I’ve fought on the pavement outside a London pub. It was fierce. So was another one at Bondi, and another in Paddington.
More believable fiction would have him scraping his knuckle on a rock, as he let himself down onto the sand.
Stick to cryptography mate, leave the bullshit up to me.
Pete: I match your bullshit, and raise you one lividity. 🙂
I see your livid it and raise a pasty. You forgot he had lunch before the fist fight, and when you’ve dealt with that we can examine the physics of lifting and carrying a body ‘ in the dark of the night’ – in a suburban street, illuminated, down to the beach, also illuminated, onto the sand.
Where he had a smoke.
Pete: last time I checked, dead men only smoke when they’re being cremated. And a pasty that is hard enough to scrape your knuckles on is a rock.
I see your pasty and your fag, and raise you a shiny pair of shoes. 🙂
“Jessie, one last thing,” said Prosper, as he approached the body on the bed, “did you shine his shoes?”
“In a minute dear, I still haven’t found his bloody teeth.”
Full house.
Pete: are those your cards or mine? 😉
You dealt this hand Nick ..
The unknown man is Jestyns father.
Smerdon: oh. Right. Thanks for that.
trumped!
“J E” on the signature of the verse, same J E as in Joyce E. McCarron?
Bingo Clive.
So much confusion here!
Pete – Nick – Why are you looking for “Joy”?
I think some of SM’s clothing came from Tom Kean, MD of Kean Oil after Kean’s death. This would explain the masonic (?) tie.
Recorder (Port Pirie) 20th January 1947 Page 1
Death Of Mr. Tom Kean
ADELAIDE, Sunday.
Mr. Tom Kean (managing director of Kean Oil Proprietary Limited) died at his home in Brigalow avenue, Kensington Gardens, on Friday night. He was a staunch worker for Legacy Club, a prominent Freemason, and a former State president of Commercial Travellers’ Association.
If SM’s clothing marked “Kean” and “Keane” came from the deceased Tom Kean of Kean Oil, then SM must have visited, or lived in Adelaide prior to 30th November 1948. I expect Kean’s clothing would have been disposed of soon after his death in January 1947 so SM was probably in Adelaide soon after this..
Misca: because she knew Jessie Harkness in the precise time-frame we’re interested in.
B Deveson: excellent find – but I wish he hadn’t been a Freemason, that just makes my life so much harder. 🙁
Nick – Is “Joy” the person (nurse) we are assuming introduced Jessica to Alf? If so, I have reason to believe her name was not Joy.
Or are you guys referring to Joyce Denbigh-Russell?
I’m confused as to who you are referring to and what it’s based on???
BD – Interesting…
BD – I’m not sure if it’s relevant but Tom’s daughter Elon killed herself in December of 1947 by jumping off of the seventh floor of the Savings Bank Building. (She is buried with her father in Centennial Park Cemetery.) Cleland reviewed her death and did not open inquiry into her death. Sutherland investigated.
misca: everybody who gets a mention in Feltus’ book needs further attention, the more you read, the more he leaves for you. GF is a canny old boy; he had his reservations and suspicions, but being a copper he stuck with real events.
If she married her boyfriend, Boxall’s fellow officer, then there might be more to find.
Hey Pete! You’re the one provoking here…Pffttt….Her name was not Joy,
We know that – Boxall knew that – Feltus knew that. This isn’t provocation misca, and pffffttttt back at you – you should take something for that.
What is going on Nick? It’s been impossible to post!
In the NAA notes for “The Somerton Beach Story” (Item Bar Code 7937872) – page 19, there is a reference to how Boxall was introduced to Jessie. It states that he was introduced through Tom Musgrave’s wife.
Pete – Your “researcher” may not be able to look up this marriage on ancestry-dot-com but, no worries, B Deveson ordered the certificate. Thomas Edmund Musgrave was married to Heather Jean Morris on December 16th, 1939. She was a nurse at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. She passed away in 1962.
I’ll put the questions here; have a shot at at them.
Is it likely that Boxall couldn’t remember the name of his fellow officer?
Here’s another one:
Is it likely that Feltus asked Boxall what his fellow officer’s name was??
– and another:
have we found another suppressed name?
misca: sorry, while I was away in Barcelona for a few days, the site got hit by some kind of spam surge, which its spam filter struggled to cope with. Things seem to have quietened down a little since, so hopefully everything should be back to normal now (fingers crossed). 🙂
thanks for that misca, reality keeps interfering with fiction, nevertheless I can write my way around it .. Joy is a statuesque blonde, six foot high, legs up to her chin. Am I close?
Oh – It’s so good to see you’re back Nick! Yay!
Pete,
I think you are correct. It is improbable that Boxall couldn’t remember the name of a fellow officer (Thomas Edmund Musgrave), or that Gerry Feltus didn’t ask Boxall for the name of the officer. So, it does seem that this is another suppressed name, as you suggest.
The question now becomes – why suppress Musgrave’s and his wife’s names? He and his wife are dead (he in 1992 and she in 1962), and they did not have children, although he did leave a daughter by another woman.
Re. Joy: the ABC-TV file on “The Somerton Beach Story” (pt 2, p146) quotes Lieutenant Tom Musgrave (QX11258) as saying that he thought her surname was “Irwin” or “Irvin”. The ABC researchers didn’t turn up any Irwin, Irvin, Irving, Erwin, etc who had been a nurse at RNSH in 1945.
Musgrave helpfully added that Joy was “fairly big but, quite nice” (ouch)!
He also thought Joy was Australian-born and “lived on the North Shore (Lane Cove?) with her parents whom she wanted him to meet. He declined.”
That may have had something to do with the fact that — according to Musgrave’s service record — his wife moved during the war, to 10 Victoria St, Randwick, about two miles from Susie Boxall. And according to the ABC file, Musgrave expressed his discomfort at discussing the matter on the phone in front of his (second) wife, but agreed to discuss the matter further in writing, if they wrote.
Likewise, I have always thought the “evasiveness” of Boxall in the TV interview could be put down, in part, to the whiff of, let’s say “dalliance”, around that encounter at the Clifton Gardens Hotel?
Furphy – Interesting. He also claims that he was single at the time and he most definitely was not. His war record shows this as well. I think your “whiff” is most definitely heavy in the air.
B Deveson, if the Musgraves had no children then who are all those named in her death notice?
Alf Boxall told ‘Inside Story’ that it was Tom Musgrave’s wife who introduced him to Jestyn (Part 2 page 18/19) so he wasn’t avoiding naming his fellow officer and I would imagine a lot of footage was left on the cutting room floor as being irrelevant or boring. Possibly Alf was covering for the fact that Musgrave had already been married for 5 years in 1944, though it is just as likely that Musgrave was remembering a completely different occasion. I certainly can’t remember every person I met in a bar 30 years ago or exactly what year any particular meeting took place, but maybe that is just me….and my friend Smirnoff.
I continue to be amazed by people who can’t comprehend why Gerry Feltus would use pseudonyms or not include the names of people who he felt did not add anything relevant to the investigation, and who think that there must be some sinister reason behind it. Really? After all the disrespectful fabricated garbage that has been posted all over the internet about those who have since been named?
Debra – Many people are listed in death notices and they’re not necessarily children of the deceased. Have you found a notice which explicitly states that the people listed are her children?
I don’t think it is all likely that Musgrave was remembering a “completely different occasion”. He was asked specifically about Jestyn and he did remember her. He also stumbled and mentioned his own “date”s name for that evening which no one had even asked him about. To me, it sounds like he remembered the same exact two occasions that Alf remembered.
Regardless, we now know that “Jestyn” was using a made-up name and it’s most likely that her friend “Joy Irwin/Irvin, etc..” was as well.
Debra: there could be more than one reason for using pseudonyms, or leaving names out. I can think of a few.
Debra, I suspect Feltus’ use of pseudonyms stemmed from two things: first, a copper’s caution about presumption of innocence about the living (who can sue for libel/slander) and second, the old, chivalrous and — I dare say — dying ethic of De mortuis nil nisi bene (“Of the dead, nothing unless good.”
As an aside, in Australia we have no guarantee of free speech (e.g. the US First Amendment). Quite the contrary, in fact — for a liberal democracy we have remarkably draconian defamation and privacy laws and a culture hostile to dobbers, snitches, supergrasses, whistle-blowers etc. While this ethos sometimes reduces unjust vilification of the powerless and innocent (and the feelings of their families), it also serves to protect the truly guilty, including murderers, especially those with access to power and wealth.
For those reasons I am not very sympathetic to (e.g.) the memory of Jessie Thomson, who — according to her own daughter — deliberately withheld information about the Somerton Man, and was likely an accessory to manslaughter (at least). And I mention the (possible) infidelity of Boxall and Musgrave in 1945 only because mutual embarrassment may well explain the way they presented when interviewed by ABC-TV three decades later. (Rather than complicity in murder.)
The “Government Analyst” who can’t figure out what the black stuff on the brush is…I agree with you there Pete! What the hay is up with that!???
Misca, Pete,
Cowan’s evidence at the inquest, his failure to explain the limitations of his testing, and his failure to carry out obvious qualitative analytical tests on the black powder that came from the brush make me wonder about him. Seriously wonder.
I have previously described the deficiencies in his testing of the autopsy samples, and his failure to inform the court about these problems, and the limitations of the testing that he did perform. Cowan could have easily identified the black powder that came from the stencilling brush. It wasn’t rocket science in 1949 and any capable analytical chemist could have identified the pigment (or most other substances, including explosives). A capable chemist of any persuasion could have done so even in 1849.
The year 1949 was probably the peak for what is known as micro-chemical analysis. The increasing availability of various instrumental methods of analysis after WW2 rapidly replaced most micro-chemical methods of analysis.
Cowan’s clear failure to carry out any testing of the black powder can not be explained away in any favourable way. Cowan didn’t even perform the most obvious and rudimentary tests. He apparently didn’t even look at the pigment under the microscope. And I note that X-ray diffraction (a powerful general qualitative analytical method) was invented by the Bragg father and son team, and the Bragg’s originated in Adelaide. From my perspective the only plausible reasons Cowan’s failure are:
a) inexperience or incompetence in micro-chemical analysis.
b) temporary befuddlement; transient mental or physical illness, alcoholism, family or financial troubles?
c) deliberate misdirection of the inquiry. But why would he do this?
d) Laziness or general incompetence.
Although Cowan worked as a biochemist rather than as an analytical chemist he must have been aware in a general way of the methods of micro-chemical analysis. If Cowan felt he was not up to the task there would have been other chemists available to perform the tests. Cowan was the Deputy Government Analyst after all, and would have subordinates who were well experienced in micro-chemical analysis. But Cowan didn’t do anything apart from observing that black powder came from the brush.
Mr Cowan came from a humble background and his name does not appear in the newspapers apart from his work as the Government analyst. So, given the time and place, this would seem to rule out the usual reasons for inexperienced, incompetent or lazy people attaining senior and important government posts. So that seems to leave befuddlement or misdirection.
It seems that Cowan was on good terms with Cleland. This is odd and worth following up.
Pete – Cowan couldn’t figure out the black chite…How could he have possibly dealt with your powerful formula?
BD – …Cowan basically appeared and disappeared with SM…Strange. I agree.
Nick – I understand your wanting to search every possible angle on why Jessica chose JEstyn as her pet name BUT…BUT…BUT…Why are you so focused on her declaring her supposed “real” name. She was flirting with army officers in a hotel, having drinks. The last thing she would be doing is signing with her “married” /”committed” name – don’t you think. I think she made up a funny name that actually related to joking and having fun and being silly. No “Styn” involved. “Styn” , “Tyn” etc…the permutations exist and they are all rare and most unlikely.
Just my opinion.
Throwing it out as food for thought.
Cowan was with Cleland when they tried on the dead man”s wardrobe. He picked the slippers, and remarked they didn’t fit too well. Cleland tried on the jacket. Cleland found the slip.
They were indeed on good terms, Cowan wasn’t there as a Bio-Chemist.
I think he had another job to do.
Misca: though an entirely reasonable suggestion, every aspect of it remains supposition. Here, I’m not only trying to devise hypotheses, but also to find ways of testing them.
I think that Cowan’s action, or rather, lack of action, regarding the stencilling brush is very strange. I agree with those who see his apparent negligence in a sinister way. If Cowan wasn’t able to identify the black powder, then there were dozens, perhaps hundreds, in Adelaide who probably could have.
The University of Adelaide had a large chemistry department that would have had up to date equipment such as X-ray diffraction instruments that could have quickly identified the black powder. And there were laboratories attached to the Mines Department, and probably specialist laboratories attached to commercial enterprises such as mining companies, pharmaceutical companies, paint manufacturers and the like. And, as there was the possibility of security concerns, then why not forward a sample on the the Commonwealth authorities such as the Department of Defence. After all, the cipher in the Rubaiyat was forwarded to experts outside South Australia.
Surely it would have been bleeding obvious to anyone at the time that identifying the black powder would probably have focussed the search for the identity of SM.
I am inclined to agree with Pete that Cowan was engaging in creative incompetence and obfuscation. And maybe even a sleight of hand. But why?
Jessie Ellen Harkness was bridesmaid at the wedding of Max Gluck and his wife, Frances Ada Bernie. Anyone with a keen interest in Australian wartime history will know who these two are. After she left Sydney and moved to Melbourne she was monitored by authorities as an associate of Joy Denbigh
Boris: do you have any evidence to support these assertions?
Dynamite, if it is true. The Gluck’s married in Sydney in 1945.
Gerry Feltus in his book “The Unknown Man” devotes three pages (pages 49-51) to the identification of SM by some witnesses as Robert (Bob) “Nugget” Walsh. But, under the heading “Robert “Nugget” Walsh” Gerry starts by recounting that the first identification received (3rd December 1948) was to the effect that SM “resembled … a Swede named “Nugget” who was employed as a packer for Bishops at the East End Market in Adelaide.” Gerry then goes on to the matter of Robert Walsh and presents nearly three pages of information.
I have the feeling that the mention of the Swedish fruit packer at the start of the discussion about Robert Walsh isn’t an accidental editing error, and that Gerry is indeed the wily old bird as suggested by Pete.
I feel that Gerry hasn’t discounted the possibility that the Swede and Bob Walsh were one and the same person. Witnesses said that Bob Walsh did go by other names, and held a driver’s licence in false name. I note that the identification of both the Swede and of Bob Walsh were both made within hours of SM’s description being released.
I think the identification of the Swede, and hence Bob Walsh, is very much strengthened by the evidence of the stencil brush. Why? Well, Cleland’s evidence at the coronial inquiry included this:
“I interviewed Mr. Gray, the headmaster of the School of Arts and Crafts.”
“The brush is used for stencilling the brands cut out.”
Goods packers are the very people who would use stencils (on wooden crates etc.). Fruit cases in 1948 were wooden and were often stencilled with a black waterproof ink from memory.
But this black ink wasn’t the usual household type paint; it did not contain drying oils and similar materials that made cleaning paint brushes used with oil based paint so difficult. From memory, the black paint or ink used to stencil wooden boxes was made from a black powder suspended in a solvent such as white spirit.
In 1948 the most likely black pigment powder was carbon black. During and soon after WW2 there was a shortage of carbon black in Australia. It had mostly been imported from the USA but there was some local production:
The Daily News (Perth) 3rd October 1923 Page 7.
“ …….. Rowley Forest Products Co, Ltd . which company, at its works at East Perth obtains from blackboy, by a process of destructive distillation, a wide range of commercial products ….
creosote, wood tar, Stockholm and other distilled tars, and pitches, vegetable and carbon black pigments, and charcoal in various forms…….. together with certain proprietary articles, such as xanthol, a preservative wood oil, and stencil ink and printing ink incorporants…….”
A stencil ink made by suspending carbon black in a solvent such as white spirit would dry in the stencil brush leaving a black powder that could be removed without too much difficulty because of the lack of sticky substances such as drying oils (such as linseed oil etc) that were used in most paints in 1948. So, the condition of the stencil brush (black powder that fell out, rather than dried paint residue sticking to the bristles) points to stencil ink rather than ordinary oil based paint.
Putting all that together, I think it is very likely that the brush was used with carbon based stencil ink (ie used in a commercial application rather than any sort of arts application). The most likely users of stencil ink in Australia in 1948 would have been goods packers. So, the mysterious swede “Nugget” fits the frame rather well. The only problem now is to trace all the swedes born 1898-1908 who worked as fruit packers.
I have made a start; I started with the Swedes who were naturalised, and born between 1898 and 1908 (a total of 145) and, with help from Misca I have eliminated 13 so far. It is slow work, but I judge that the effort is worthwhile.
“Bishops” was the firm of Silbert, Sharp and Bishop which was a produce merchant. This company is mentioned in Adelaide newspapers from 1911 until 1954, and operated in the East End Market in Adelaide (and in other places). The Bishop family also operated an orchard in the Adelaide Hills, and still do. See: wow.bishopsadelaidehills.com.au/
Their web site shows a wooden cherry crate – stencilled in black. And another historic photo shows spraying in the apple orchard. As you can see, the chap doing the spraying would have been drenched with the spray. In 1948 apples were spayed every three weeks during fruit development with lead arsenate. And what did Prof. Abbott’s group find with the MS analysis of Somerton Man’s hair? Lead, very high levels of lead. It is a pity that the team did not continue with the evaluation of the MS data because if there are also high levels of arsenic in SM’s hair, and particularly if there are not excessive levels of other elements that are associated with lead in other industrial applications (ie. Such as zinc, which commonly occurs with lead in lead-zinc ores), then this would be strong evidence that SM had been fruit spraying in the couple of weeks prior to his death.
I note that the identification of a fruit packer was made before the stencilling gear was found in SM’s suitcase.
And one further tease. Misca has found that the Salotti family were well known fruiterers in Adelaide. Stanley Salotti and his son Alex, and Stanley’s son-in-law Frank Cherrington gave information concerning Bob Walsh (Feltus pages 49 and 50). Bob had worked with Ales and Frank at Morgan, but the exact nature of the work was not stated. However, Morgan was the centre of the orchard industry of the area in 1948. It would seem that Bob Walsh might have worked in orchards, and/or worked as a fruit packer at Morgan. Or, to put it another way; Bob “Nugget” Walsh = Swedish packer.
But that raises more teases. Witnesses said that Walsh used aliases, but why would he pretend to be a Swede? There seems to be some resonance with the statement by Keith Waldemar Mangnoson that he worked with SM along the Murray River between Mildura and Renmark early in 1939 on casual work (the nature of the work was not described, but the area where they were working has, and had in 1948, an extensive fruit industry). Mangnoson said that the man he identified as SM often referred to “ice and snow at home during the winter but did not say what country he came from.” (Feltus page 59).
BD: To hide the truth.
Certain (above) people should take notes from B Deverson on how to write useful comments… Well done BD and misca, and good luck with your ongoing investigation.
I’ll second that anon ~ they do the shopping, I do the cooking, and Dome sets the dinner table.
Its not often anyone gets to pull you up on the facts Nick but Jessica died in 2007 not 2005 as stated in your heading paragraph. It was in fact 13th MAY 2007 in Hamilton Victoria of a brain aneurism.
And another thing!!!
Ive had a gut full of all the Pseudonyms and cryptic crap. If Feltus knows more its time to put the cards on the table old boy. Lets remember that he was paid by the tax payers to investigate this matter and Im not sure he has the right to withhold information. This adds to a long list of coppers and other officials who took it upon themselves to play silly buggers with us. Look at Littlemores interview with the dude that made the death mask. The old bugger knew more but wouldn’t come clean. Just because SM has no (known) relatives to demand answers the cover up continues. SM has relatives somewhere. He could very well have living son’s or daughters and he deserves the truth be told.
Cough up Feltus!!!!!!
A possible link between Bob Walsh and Jessie. Gerry Feltus (page 49) reported that Mrs Elizabeth Thompson of Morgan claimed that she last saw Bob Walsh in December 1947 and he said he was going to NSW. On mother’s Day 1948 Mrs Thompson received a card From Bob Walsh sent by Registered Air Mail. It was postmarked 8th May 1948 at Crows Nest, New South Wales. As many readers will know, Crows Nest is a suburb of Sydney and it is within a kilometre or two of the Royal North Shore Hospital.
We know that SM had an enlarged spleen, and his spleen carried unusual pigment particles. Dwyer (Feltus page 91) in evidence said that he could not identify which disease might have caused the pigment. Dwyer said that the pigment did not resemble malarial pigment, but he didn’t give any more details that might help us. Costive sod. There are literally over one hundred different conditions that can result in an enlarged spleen without enlargement of the liver. So the enlarged spleen doesn’t help us, except to suggest that SM had been a sick man. Perhaps Bob Walsh went to NSW to get specialist attention at the Royal North Shore Hospital? Jessie’s old stamping ground, and close to where her parents lived. It might be enlightening to discover if the RNSH in 1948 had any exceptional expertise in the treatment of a condition that could cause enlarged spleen. If this is the case, then SM might have sought treatment at the RNSH.
It is unclear, but I get the impression that the spleen pigment that Dwyer saw did not fit any pattern, otherwise he would have described it in conventional terms. I wonder if lead compounds might form a pigment in the spleen? Anyone? There are rare cases where carbon grains have been noted as spleenic pigment, but it is very rare and it isn’t clear how carbon particles could get into the blood.
The dude 747: yes, you’re right. I’ll fix it in a mo’…
Pete has made the point that the brush does not show any signs of having been used with a paint or ink, and I agree. But what else could such a brush be used for? Cleaning something? Or brushing a powder into some sort of receptacle?
I am reminded of the clothing and the rifle stock that were found on Somerton Beach the day before SM died. And I note that the piece of metal sheet (identified as a piece of “tinned zinc” but more of that another time) has a crease down the centre of the sheet, as if it had been folded to make a crude funnel (see Pete’s site to see the relevant photo). So, it may be that the black powder in the brush is fine powder that has broken off smokeless powder used to reload used rifle cartridges? As I understand it, the propellant powder is weighed and the charge transferred to the cartridge and the bullet inserted. The piece of metal sheet could have been used as a funnel to pour the propellant powder into the cartridges.
Rifle shooting could deposit lead on hair, and there were many kangaroo, buffalo, fox, dingo etc shooters active in Australia immediately after WW2.
Boris – Frances and Max just don’t seem the type to have a fancy wedding with bridesmaids and all but if you have such knowledge, it would be great to know more…Frances/Scott/Bernie/Gluck/Garrett was quite the chameleon and a busy gal!
By her own admission, given in testimony, she was was at one point, secretary for the “People’s Council for Culture”. She wrote a letter to the “Catholic Weekly” on 26 April, 1945 which was published on 28 June, 1945. It’s an interesting letter. She signed her name. She mentions Bartlett Adamson. A poet, a communist, and a fellow who frequented Pakie’s. (He signed her book and he had a speaking engagement – or two – there.) She was about the same age as Jessica. Joyce was a bit older…But there is evidence of Joyce being a part of the “Pakie-crowd” as well so, what you are suggesting is not so outlandish. Can you share more?
Nick – I have and will continue to test every possible permutation of styn, stone, stin, styjn, etc…That there is. Fortunately, there are few. Unfortunately, there are few yield worthy of “follow up”. I only asked because the tenacity made me wonder if perhaps, you knew something we didn’t.
t is probably just a coincidence, but I note that a biochemist at the Royal North Shore Hospital in the 1940s was a communist of some importance, and named in relation to security of atomic and rocket work. ie. Woomera. See: The Courier Mail 8th March 1947 Page 1
“Government concern on spy risk – Guarding rocket secrets.”
“ …. Mr. Callaghan, stated by the communist paper, Tribune, to be in charge of the communist party scientific bureau, was on the committee of the Australian association*. He was a biochemist at the Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, and had been responsible for a resolution demanding the release of Dr. Alan Nunn May, vice president of the Canadian association, whose betrayal of secret Information to the Soviet had been disclosed by the Canadian Commission, and who had been sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for treachery.”
*Note: Australian Association of Scientific Workers – a communist front organization.
So, it seems that the RNSH might have been a hotbed of communist sympathisers – maybe.
I wonder if Robert Cowan knew Callaghan? Both were biochemists at a time when biochemists in Australia would have been marginally more common than rocking horse manure.
Mr Callaghan was John Pierce Callaghan, on whom the archives holds two security files. I haven’t waded through these yet to see what they might contain.
And, again this is probably just coincidence, but ….. Mr John P Callaghan was conducting research into blood pigments. Shades of strange spleenic pigments in SM! The spleen filters out crap from the blood and the pigments found in the spleen nearly always come from blood. Sunday Mail (Qld) 9th March 1947 Page 3.
See The News (Adelaide) 7th March 1947 Page 3.
‘I am a biochemist doing research work on blood pigments in the Queensland University, and was until recently chairman of the Australian Communist Party’s science committee.”
B Deveson: fascinating stuff… I presume you are talking about the UK-published Tribune ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribune_(magazine) ? They planned to put all editions since 1937 onto the web, though I don’t know if that ever happened… might be a good place to look to build up a network model of all these interesting people.
Misca: it’s simply that ‘Jestyn’ so obviously doesn’t fit with the rest of the plausible-sounding narratives that people wrap around the Somerton Man, nothing more complex than that. My suspicion is that it’s hiding a secondary story of some sort, which may or may not be connected with the SM.
Nick, it is pretty certain that it would be the Australian Communist Party’s newspaper, Tribune, that was referred to. Just what connection there was between the British Tribune and the Australian Tribune, I don’t know.
I have been thinking about a network model for the SM case for some time. There is some other term for it I think? One used to be able to get the network model showing the Klod group (Wally Clayton, Frances Bernie etc) on the net, but it seems to have evaporated. I think it was a pay site and they were offering freebies a few years ago. I note that network models are now much in vogue in the intelligence world, and I think that they can be very useful for historical work. I was a convert forty years ago. Some events in history didn’t ring true to me and the 1970’s book “Pedigree and Progress – Essays in the genealogical interpretation of history.” by Sir Anthony Wagner suggested why this was the case. Sir Anthony was the Clarenceux King of Arms in Britain’s College of Arms.
B Deveson: ah, ok, I see it now. The University of Melbourne archives seems to have a lot of stuff (including Tribune from 1942 onwards) – http://gallery.its.unimelb.edu.au/imu/imu.php?request=multimedia&irn=6208 – which was apparently illegal from 1940 to December 1942 – http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9MXpQAj3WDgC&pg=PA112&lpg=PA112&dq=tribune+australian+communist&source=bl&ots=nGu8ILz8FH&sig=GS6T745bOLHdYw782QBPpG8h808&hl=en&sa=X&ei=S0SLU4-3EKes7Qak-4DQAg&ved=0CEgQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=tribune%20australian%20communist&f=false . It may well be worth going through Beverley Symons’ (1994) “Communism in Australia” if you haven’t already done so (apologies if you have mentioned it before, I can’t remember).
BDeveson, as it happens I have been working on a network-style diagram centered on the Pakie’s crowd. I will upload it later today and post a link here, if I can get past Nick’s spamtrap.
In the meantime, I will merely observe that the information passed to Soviet intelligence, whatever it may have been, by Frances Bernie etc was probably less significant than the way that particular network diverted the attention of authorities, away from the work in Australia of real illegals belonging to the KGB, GRU, StB etc, and focused attention, even persecution, on the >99% non-spy Communist Party (or parties, after the Peking-Moscow split). As was shown at length in the recent SBS TV series, _Persons of Interest_ –which is perhaps only the tip of the iceberg, considering how successful ASIO and associated agencies have been at suppressing information about foreign intelligence activities, and how passive the Australian media have generally been, in the face of D-Notices etc
It appears to be generally accepted that the telephone number (X3239) found on the back cover of the Rubaiyat must relate to Jessie, if it is accepted that it is an Adelaide number. And some have questioned if it is indeed an Adelaide number.
But, what about the previous tenants of 90a Moseley Street? Jessie and Prosper hadn’t been at this address for very long, so the number might very well have related to the former tenants. And yet there is no sign that the police considered this option. Creative incompetence at work perhaps?
I have the name of the previous tenant somewhere, but I can’t put my hands on it at present. Maybe someone was being protected? I don’t know, but it smells, just like the whole case smells.
This doesn’t mean that Jessie isn’t involved somehow. It seems to be the general consensus that Jessie was genuinely shocked when she saw the bust of SM. As if she was seeing someone from her past.
My memory from the 1950s, and my understanding, is that telephone numbers were generally not transferable in the 1940s. And there was a housing and an accommodation crisis in Australia in the 1940s, and tenants moving out were sometimes in a position to transfer a lease to a friend or acquaintance Maybe the former tenant of 90a Moseley Street was a friend or acquaintance of Jessie or Prosper?
Byron: of course, it’s possible that Jessie and/or Prosper knew the previous tenant. And I’m sure that telephone numbers weren’t (normally) transferable in those days. But given that we now have multiple strands of evidence that link Jessie to the Somerton Man, I think that connection forms one of the least speculative parts of the constellation of wobbly evidence we have. 😐
BDeveson,
These may not even be the same building as 1948, but there are at least three earlier references to residents of “90 Moseley St” (no flat/apartment nos) in newspaper classifieds:
1928: Harry Richard Stanley Morphett (re. company registration)
1932: W. L. Bayly (notice re daughter’s funeral)
1935, ? Lorton (selling a dinghy)
Nick, I agree. But, if Jessie/Prosper had a connection to SM then her/his friends and acquaintances may also have had connections.
The nurse left Sydney for Melbourne, then left Melbourne for Adelaide. Pregnant with an illegitimate child. Those were the days when such children were adopted out, banished from the hone and family, so she fled with Prosper, a Beaumaris lad, and had the child. A brave act.
They would have been strangers in SA, thankfully. I don’t think it was an easy decision for Prosper, to take it all on.
Why would the boy from Broken Hill steal a motorcycle, ride it to Glenelg beach and dump a suitcase there with clothes and a rifle with the barrel missing? Why would he then go on and walk to Port Noarlunga and steal a car? It sounds like he was doing a very specific bidding. Like BD, I’ve kept those articles on file and I’ve tried to trace the lad. Unfortunately, to no avail.
BD – 90A Moseley was sold at auction in 1946 as part of a lot for the execution of Mr. R E Allen’s will. Separately, but perhaps connected, a Mrs. R E Allen (of Ferris Ave., Somerton) gave thanks for condolence’s for her husband’s death in 1941.
Allen. Memories of Joy?
Furphy – I totally agree with you. Her testimony was clearly “trained/scripted” and I do believe, as you do, that she “took one for the team”!
She traded nothing for nothing…
Not a single picture of her to be found. Maybe they allowed her the alias “Garrett” in exchange?
Frances Ada Bernie/Scott/Gluck/Garrett was at one point, secretary for the “People’s Council for Culture”. (She testified about this – see Trove) In that capacity, she wrote a letter to the “Catholic Weekly” on 26 April, 1945 which was published on 28 June, 1945. (It starts on page 11 and continues, with her signature, on page 16)…
T
he “executive” of the “People’s Council of Culture” is listed in the article. The President is Bartlett Adamson. He is mentioned in the article.
He is in Pakie’s book. He gave a lecture at her establishment. He is George Ernest Bartlett Adamson.
Misca, funny you should mention Bartlett Adamson, I was reading about him only today.
The entry on him in the Australian Dictionary of Biography says: ‘Rejected for military service in 1914 on medical grounds, Adamson had been pro-war and anti-Bolshevik.’ He was definitely a latecomer to communism, joining the CPA in 1943, when the standing of communists was at an all-time high in the west. Perhaps there were lingering suspicions among the old Bolshies.
(Marivic Wyndham, ‘A world-proof life’: Eleanor Dark, a writer in her times, 1901-1985, p338.)
I find Miles Franklin’s position very interesting. While a dose of salt must be applied to Devanny and her anonymous source, Franklin was no friend of the Communist Party. She cultivated friendships with members, but her politics were decidedly right-wing – and included a quiet involvement in the fascist Australia First Movement (AFM), until late in the day – 1942, when several members of the AFM were interned as possible Axis agents. (FWIW, that particular Australia First does not seem closely linked to the party of the same name that emerged during the 1990s.) So it seems curious that Franklin – an outsider and likely hostile to the Communist Party – should be ‘astonished’ at the accusation about Adamson. Perhaps he was a mole after all.
I believe Franklin, Devanny and Adamson were also regulars at Pakie’s – but who wasn’t?
I think I have found something that suggests that Frances Bernie did take one for the team, as has been suggested. It also suggests to me that the Australian government wanted to cover up the matter of intelligence leaks as much as possible. Even to the extent of downplaying the extent of the leaks, and keeping this from the USA. A lot of the information that leaked from Australia involved US secrets.
I noted that Wally Clayton deserted his wife in 1944 and took up with a certain Shirley May Hallett.
The surname Hallett is uncommon and the senior steno secretary who shared Dr Evatt’s office with Frances was a certain Beryl Hallett. Beryl and Frances were both recruited to Dr Evatt’s office at the same time, by the same man.
I suspect that Beryl and Shirley May were related, and knew each other, but I have not been able to confirm this.
Furphy, have a read of “Breaking the codes” Desmond Ball and David Horner. The material that leaked from Australia was of the greatest importance, particularly as Stalin shared some of it with the Japanese, and probably the Germans. It certainly prolonged the war in the Pacific, so it probably rates in the top half dozen significant events of the twentieth century.
Among the material that Frances confessed to having given to Wally Clayton included both the encoded material and the decrypts. So, the Soviets would ave been able to break into the US, British and Australian codes.
B Deveson, the exception proves the rule (in more ways than one).
What I am getting at is this: from 1948, the Communist Party of Australia was the subject of such intense scrutiny (including widespread and wholesale infiltration by CIS/ASIO) that its actual members, “fellow travellers” and anyone so-labelled must have been all but useless as spies. To the extent that subsequent Warsaw Pact operations were successful in Australia, they likely involved: (1) infiltrators within the intelligence services, (2) “cleanskins” without communist backgrounds (including the mercenary type) and/or (3) covert illegals under false identities.
For examples of what I mean, see contemporaneous parallels in the UK, such as Roger Hollis, the Cambridge Five, and the Portland Spy Ring (including the Russian illegal Konon Molody, who stole the identity of a Canadian named Gordon Lonsdale) – AFAIK not one of the people involved was a member of a western Communist Party. As the Wikipedia entry on Anthony Blunt says: “MI5 … an officer later claimed that it had been virtually running the Communist Party of Great Britain and complained about the cost of pension payments to its retired infiltrators”! It is a cliche, but possibly true, that FBI informants outnumbered genuine Communists in the USA.
Furphy,
from 1948 on there was increased scrutiny. But, during WW2 Alfred Hughes made sure that nothing of significance concerning the CPA in NSW was reported. And we know nothing of what Zaitsev was up to.
I think I have found something that suggests that Frances Bernie did take one for the team, as has been suggested. It also suggests to me that the Australian government wanted to cover up the matter of intelligence leaks as much as possible. Even to the extent of downplaying the extent of the leaks, and keeping this from the USA. A lot of the information that leaked from Australia involved US secrets.
I noted that Wally Clayton deserted his wife in 1944 and took up with a certain Shirley May Hallett.
The surname Hallett is uncommon and the senior steno secretary who shared Dr Evatt’s office with Frances was a certain Beryl Hallett. Beryl and Frances were both recruited to Dr Evatt’s office at the same time, by the same man.
I suspect that Beryl and Shirley May were related, and knew each other, but I have not been able to confirm this, yet.
BD: no chance of a Robert James Cowan slipping into Pakis was there?
Not at Paki’s…but at the University of Melbourne. At about the same time that Leslie Harold Martin was there graduating. LHM also knew Mark Oliphant.
Looking at this from an espionage point of view. SM died and nothing really happened. (That could have been just fine…) No one named him. For several months. (This seems to have created some problems.) So, assuming the rolled up piece of paper in the fob was “planted” (together with the “book find”), what was the message?
“We killed your Russian.”?
“We killed your American”?
“We killed your Brit”?
Someone wanted someone to know the guy (this specific man) was dead.
Meanwhile at the Government and security level, there was a hive of activity from early 1948 onwards with special mentions in the December 23rd 48 meeting:
Report[April 1949][1],
TOP SECRET
BRIEF ON ASPECTS OF SECURITY IN AUSTRALIA [matter omitted]
MEASURES TAKEN TO STRENGTHEN SECURITY 16. The following is a summary of the more important recommendations of, or action taken by the Defence Department over a number of years to strengthen security in Australia with special reference to the security of Defence information and activities:-
[matter omitted][2]
(b) Decision to create new National Security Organization On 2nd March, 1949, the Prime Minister announced the formation of a new Security Service under the direction of Mr. Justice Reed.[3] Its functions will be (i) Investigation of subversive organizations.
(ii) Counter espionage.
(iii) Preventative security, which includes measures to protect secrets and the security checking of personnel who handle secrets.
(c) Long Range Weapons Board – Security Organization Executive control of the Long Range Weapons Project in Australia is vested in the Long Range Weapons Board (Australia), administered by the Department of Supply and Development. A special security organization was set up in 1947 to cover the project. The general direction is vested in a Security Committee of which the three Service Directors of Intelligence and the Director of the Commonwealth Investigation Branch are members. Certain Service personnel, Peace Officers, and members of the Commonwealth Investigation Branch are seconded for special duty to this section which has its own Executive Officer. Copy of the security plan approved for the project, together with a recent report on its implementation, is separate. It is understood that at the present time some 20 operatives are employed full time on security duties in this organization. It has representatives at the various installations both governmental and commercial, concerned with various aspects of the project. A general measure of co-ordination with Defence is achieved by virtue of the fact that the Service Directors of Intelligence are members both of the Long Range Security Committee and the Joint Intelligence Committee, part of the Higher Defence Machinery under the Defence Department.
(d) Security checking of Officials In June, 1948, the Defence Department recommended the security checking of all officers, Service or civilian, who handle classified Defence information, and, as opportunity offers, all members of the Services and all civilian officers of Service and associated Departments.
On 23rd December, 1948, the Prime Minister directed the Ministerial Heads of all Departments concerned in any way with the security of Defence information (i.e. the Commonwealth Treasurer, the Ministers for External Affairs, Supply and Development, Defence, Navy, Army and Air, the Minister-in-Charge of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) that action is to be taken ‘to have all officers, Service or civilian, who handle Defence information and documents of secret and top secret information, security checked by the Commonwealth Investigation Service of the Attorney-General’s Department. As opportunity offers, all members of the Services and all civilian officers of the Service and associated Departments should be checked’. Action is now proceeding.
Where persons of doubtful loyalty are discovered as a result of this check, they will be transferred to other work within the Department concerned where access to classified information is not possible, or, if necessary, they will be transferred to other Departments where there will be no security risk involved.
(e) Recommendations of Inter-Departmental Committee of 5th August, 1948 On this date a conference was held between the Defence Committee and senior officials representing Departments concerned with the security of Defence information. The following recommendations were made and were transmitted to the Ministers concerned by the Minister for Defence:-
(i) The security checking by the Commonwealth Investigation Service of all officers, Service or civilian, who handle Defence information or documents of secret or higher classification.
(ii) Each Department concerned to give consideration to its internal security measures for the security of information and important documents relating to Defence.
(iii) Consideration should be given to the security of buildings in which documents containing Defence information of secret and higher classification are kept.
(iv) Consideration should be given to the appointment of a full-time or part-time Security Officer, as the case may require, to ensure co-ordination and policing of security measures within Departments and to effect the necessary liaison of the Commonwealth Investigation Service.
Recommendation (i) is the subject of sub-paragraph (d) above. All Ministers concerned have agreed to accept and implement the remaining recommendations.
(f) Security Legislation Since 1923, successive Governments have had before them the question of improved legislation relating to security. The existing legislation (see paragraph 9) is based on the British Official Secrets Act of 1911. This Act was brought up to date and considerably strengthened in the United Kingdom by the Official Secrets Act 1920, the adoption of which was desired in Australia. Though on several occasions legislation has been drafted and introduced into the Commonwealth Parliament, political difficulties have so far prevented the passage of legislation. With the lessons of the recent war in mind, a Defence Security Act has been drafted and submitted by this Department to the Council of Defence for approval.
The Bill is at present under consideration by a Cabinet Committee comprising the Prime Minister, the Minister for Defence, and the Attorney-General.
(g) Security Instructions A comprehensive instruction for use throughout Commonwealth Government Departments entitled ‘Security of Official Documents and Information’ was drafted by the Joint Intelligence Committee, and after examination and approval of an inter-departmental Committee, has been promulgated as an Instruction by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister has added a foreword to the booklet drawing attention to the importance of the subject matter. This Instruction deals with the classification of official documents, custody, circulation and transmission of classified documents, and miscellaneous matters concerned with departmental security of documents and information (copy attached as Appendix ‘E’).
(h) Security of Victoria Barracks Victoria Barracks, Melbourne, houses the Departments of Defence, Navy, Army and Air, and the Defence Division of the Treasury. The Headquarters of the three Services are also located in the area. On the recommendation of the Defence Committee, comprehensive measures have been approved by the Minister for the physical security of the Barracks Area, including re-introduction of a system of passes and supervision of visitors. Action is now being taken to implement these measures.
(i) Internal Security Measures, Department of Defence Consequent upon the recommendations referred to in sub-paragraph (e) above, an officer of the rank of Lieutenant-Commander has been seconded by the Navy to the Department of Defence to act as Security Officer. His duties will include executive action in implementing the approved scheme for the security of Victoria Barracks Area (see sub-paragraph (h) above), and to make recommendations as to, and to co-ordinate and supervise security measures within the Department.
Consequent upon an external examination made early in 1948 as to the system for the control and custody of classified documents within the Department of Defence, a ‘Central Distribution Section’ has been set up in the Department, the purpose of which is to provide the maximum security for special documents including classified documents of overseas origin, by the central control of their receipt, circulation and custody.[4]
[1] The document is undated.
[2] The omitted material comprises a review of steps taken since 1938.
[3] By Government decision one line has been expunged here.
[4] The brief was supplemented by three progress reports which Shedden sent to Gray on, respectively, 30 June (see Document 374), 20 July and 6 September 1949.
[AA : A5954, 1677/2]
Gordon – It seems that the British assumed/attempted to assume control of such things as early as 1946 when they entrusted Ben Lockaspeiser to head up the “air” support efforts. He visited Australia in 1948 with Marcus Oliphant and toured Woomera. He was a communist prior to the war and there are secret service files on his activities but he was also fully supported by Winston Churchill.
Furphy – I tend to agree with you. There were many undercurrents of activity and it may be most likely that the most important/significant ones went “un-noticed”.
Pete – Anna Sten might be a good “visual” for your book. Name (see Nick – I’m always looking!), provenance and all…
: )
Furphy – The “network-style diagram” you’ve been working on…Is it something that we can contribute to??? Can you link it? Do you have one for SM as well??? I have NO CLUE how to set something like that up but I would happily contribute to the effort!
Misca, I think that February 1948 was a key time, it was then that British Intelligence held a meeting with far reaching consequences. They discussed the ‘licence to kill’ issue and agreed that it should apply not only within the UK but wherever UK interests were endangered, that would of course include Australia. The document above fits well with that timetable.
Monday 29 November, 1948 (The Advertiser, Adelaide):
“Person took wrong kitbag by mistake. Strathmore Hotel. Sat. morn. kindly return to barman. contents sentimental value.”
Tuesday 30 November, 1948 (The Advertiser, Adelaide)
“Person taking wrong kitbag. Morphett’s bus. Friday, return same. Morphett’s Garage, own bag with contents waiting there.”
Wednesday, 1 December, 1948 (The Advertiser, Adelaide)
“Lost. Kitbag. between Gawler and Lyndoch. reward. W. Frost. Lyndoch.”
Thursday, 2 December, 1948
“Lost. kitbag bet Gawler and Lyndoch. reward. W. Frost. Lyndoch.”
No more after December 2nd.
No idea if this has anything to do with SM. The dates and the Strathmore Hotel stick out a bit. There were two possible car garage’s on Morphett street nearby as well as a bus depot. (One was/is the Adelaide Station’s garage.)
From what I have been able to discern, “W. Frost” was most likely a grazier from Lyndoch.
Maybe SM had someone else’s kitbag with his things?
Hi Misca, my network diagram, which is essentially a hypothesis about “six degrees of separation” between George Marshall in Sydney in 1945 and SM (1948) has been mutating very rapidly of late!
While I have not made any smoking guns or case-cracking discoveries, I have found interesting circumstantial evidence, suggesting undocumented links between Marshall and SM, paralleling those that are already well-known.
I think I’m almost at a stage where I can share it as an image file, either here or as a link to an image hosting site.
Has anyone checked out whether Jessica actually sat and passed her exams at RNS? Would be worth knowing that.
Gordon – D.Abbott had a listing “Appendix for Graduates of the School of Nursing” posted at one point. (It may still be there.) “Harkness, Jessie E” is listed as a graduate in 1946.
Furphy – I’m looking forward to seeing your diagram!
Pete – What happened to all the “content of the suitcase” stuff?
Misca: do you mean what’s next, or what else?
Misca, thanks for that. It’s interesting that Leo Marks recruited 400 young nurses as code writers for SOE. They worked normal jobs and then with SOE when not on shift. Just another potential piece of the puzzle.
Pete – I mean your post about the itemized list of suitcase content that is no longer there???
Hi Misca, Your notes about the missing kitbag-strange that if anybody found the kitbag-how would they have contacted W. Frost as there was no telephone number/mailbox on the adverts?
Misca: blame WordPress, it’s back up now …
Clive – It is strange. He gave his name and location. Maybe enough? I don’t know. That was what was listed in the LOST section of the paper. Verbatum.
Pete – Good! I’ll go back to have a look .
Pete – Your picture of the “loupe” with the striped fabric…Is it a crop of a larger image? If so, is there any way you could post the larger image in its entirety?
Nick – As Pete has pointed out, you provide us the medium through which we can communicate…Thank-you. Thank-you. Thank-you! Thus given, can I be the most audaciously rude one to ask if there is any way we can be afforded a single forum thread? (Thanks for dinner, now what’s for dessert?) I ask this only because I think it would allow for a more fluid sharing of information that didn’t rely on “making a point” or sharing a conclusion…
Hi Misca, Re-Kitbag query, a W Frost took over a business in Lyndoch, in May 1946 from people called Sloans. Not sure what type of business, but I presume, that W Frost was well known in Lyndoch by 1948 so would not require any contact details. However, this still leaves the 29 & 30 November kitbags as lost in Adelaide-I’m presuming that these have nothing to do with Frost’s requests on 1 & 2 December? Bit odd that the Strathmore Hotel was involved, especially on those November dates-out of all the hotels in Adelaide why the Strathmore?
Misca: the Somerton Man discussions that run through the comments here are often extremely interesting, and deserve whole posts (if not websites) of their own. I’ll have a think, see if I can find a better way of setting this up to help support these kinds of discussion…
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Nick & friends: Just a short note to refer y’all to what may still be ‘top secret’ (sealed) info:
American scientists who developed the A-bomb, required ‘raw material’ of which Australia had an abundant supply. One of the scientists disappeared during their sojourn in Australia. Do any of you have access to documentation which may validate this info?
Misca, The kitbag query-Tuesday 30 November-message says, referring to previous Friday, “Person taking wrong kitbag” was this a typo-surely it should have read ‘person who took wrong kitbag’. Was this code, I wonder, for what was going to happen on Tues 30 Nov?
Clive – Not a typo. It was printed as I have written it. You can find the November 30, 1948 issue of The Advertiser on Trove. Page 8 Has “Lost and Found”. Scroll down to listing that starts “Person taking wrong kitbag…” I would link it for you if I could.
Hi Misca, Sorry, I didn’t mean that you had erred-it just seems that the insert in “The Advertiser” was a typo-unless, of course, whoever paid for the wording did it deliberately?
I note that there was a “sideshow” at Glenelg on the Saturday immediately prior to SM’s death. My memory is that sideshows in Australia in the 1950s usually hung around for a few days, so the Glenelg sideshow was probably still at Glenelg on the night that SM died.
The Advertiser Wednesday 1st December 1948 page 10
Lost and found: “LOST Saturday afternoon. Glenelg sideshow, one brown wallet. F.S.D. On left hand top corner. Quantity of money, railway ticket and one petrol ticket. Finder return Glenelg police. Reward.”
I don’t remember seeing any previous mention of a “sideshow” at Glenelg around the time of SM’s death. What else might there have been along with the sideshow? This demonstrates that there might still be details that are possibly relevant to the SM case that are readily available.
One informant suggested that SM was a certain chap who was “interested in sideshows”. This was reported in Gerry’s book, but I am away from home and don’t have Gerry’s book with me to check the details.
B Deveson: sideshows, eh? That’s a lead I haven’t seen mentioned before. My guess is that sideshows wouldn’t have travelled far between towns in those days, so it should be possible to piece together a picture of it from newspaper fragments: it may even be possible to track down who ran it, who was in it, and perhaps even one or more relatives of people in it. It’s also the kind of thing that might be mentioned in diaries and letters… just a thought. 🙂
The contents of the file that was archived in the NAA concerning the Communist Party of Australia activities in Glenelg in 1949 seems to have been sent back to ASIO if I am reading the “exceptions” notice correctly. This immediately raises the question “why is this still of concern to ASIO”. Is it related to matters that are still of active operational concern? Any sources from 1949 are either dead, or at best in Zimmer frames. What is ASIO covering up?
The “Constable Alfred Hughes” who was involved in the murder investigation was almost certainly Alfred Hughes of the CIS who is now known to be a Soviet agent. He essentially killed any investigation into communist/Soviet activities in NSW during WW2 and protected communist agents such as Frances Ada Bernie – Doc Evatt’s private secretary during WW2 and probably one of the most effective Soviet espionage sources during WW2.
I don’t remember seeing this thread before, and the kitbag is interesting (as is potentially the wallet with the train ticket – although I think there were 2 train lines running Adelaide->Glenelg back then (predating the tram) – but (as I may have mentioned before) it does make it a little curious as to why SM would have gone out onto North Tce to catch a bus to Glenelg, when he could have caught a train from the same location (the obvious explanation would be that train tickets cost more, and he already had one that he didn’t want/need – but in that case wouldn’t you try to negotiate with the ticket clerk to exchange it?)…and as I’m sure I’ve said before, there’s a whole lot I don’t like about the train/bus stuff anyway…..
But regarding the kit bag(s)….
29th talks about Sat Morning from Strathmore
30th talks about “Morphett’s business/garage” on Friday – to me this is the same bag, but expanding our possible lost date. I find the punctuation interesting – that we go to the effort of making a possessive even though we are clearly conscious of space (“bus.” instead of business). It doesn’t necessarily imply Morphett St (although given the proximity of Morphett St to the Strathmore it’s certainly likely Morphett St). Didn’t prosper a car yard near the corner of Hindley and Morphett? Perhaps the kit bag contained an assortment of tools and stencilling equipment….
Speculation follows:
The KitBag on 1st and 2nd Dec seems to be different (maybe the other one was recovered when SM was killed – speculation, your Honour). Firstly it talks about “lost” rather than “wrong” (“wrong” to me implies a swap rather than a swipe – and the second add “own bag” corroborates that); secondly “between Gawler and Lyndoch” is a long way from the city – although with a mystery writer’s imagination we could imagine something like: SM has swapped kitbag from Prosper’s yard (or the Strah hotel) and has promised it for this guy Frost in the Barossa. Prosper (or someone else) wants to recover it and first advertises assuming an honest mistake has been made. Later somehow he works out that SM has the bag, and in recovering it SM meets his end. Frost, disappointed that he hasn’t managed to catch up with SM to make the exchange advertises looking for the bag, assuming that SM has been enroute when he lost it.
Now let’s have a look at Railways. One of the oldest metropolitan lines is the “Gawler Central” line. In the late 19th and early 20th century large expansions were done to that part of the network, and several railways were constructed from Gawler Central, including one into the Barossa valley, passing through Lyndoch (wikipedia: Barossa Valley railway line). There was also one that went to Morgan – which is a once-busy Murray River ferry landing that would likely connect into the Riverland fruit region.
Let’s do some speculating and say a lot of “what if”. SM may have lived somewhere near Gawler. SM may have spent time picking fruit in the riverland – catching a train to Morgan and then connecting to a ferry to get into fruit picking country. SM may have arrived in the Adelaide railway station from Gawler, not from Melbourne (I don’t think the Port Augusta line (which has been cited as a possible route for him) would have gone through Gawler, that line I think would have been about 20km West). SM may have stayed in Adelaide at the Strathmore (these days Gawler is a suburb of greater metropolitan Adelaide, but back then it was probably a considerable journey – especially on business with an infrequent train service). SM may have met up with Prosper and switched over a kit bag, either at the Strathmore or at Prosper’s yard (this may have been planned, or a little opportunistic, but more likely planned (possibly at Frost’s instruction)). Before returning to Gawler, SM is killed and his wallet/papers taken however to make the missing wallet seem less noticeable, he has a number of possessions left on him, including a bus ticket to Glenelg (walking to West Tce from Morphett to catch a bus is marginally closer than North Tce to catch a train) that Prosper happened to have, and possibly a Henley train ticket (we know Prosper had property/interest in Marlborough st Henley?). Perhaps Prosper was heading to Henley when he saw SM getting on a Glenelg tram….being familiar with the Glenelg bus he knew he could easier get there by bus (which perhaps he caught occasionally from West Tce) than await the next train, he followed down to Glenelg – and replaced the contents of SM’s pockets (presumably wallet etc) with whatever he had on his own person….ie the bus tickets and some chewies.
(and this can tie in with Pruzinski any which way you like)
As with most scenarios, the Tamam Shud makes things a bit harder to explain…but for now we’ll dismiss it as being irrelevant (the fragment is of course curious, the book with the torn page even more so (if it did indeed match), but the actual code discovered in the book doesn’t necessarily relate to him, his identity, his business in Glenelg or even his demise….
Or he could still be a Russian spy….or something else…
There seem to have been a good many Frosts around Lyndoch (pun not entirely intended) the first half of the 20th Century. Ones of interest (some of these might be one and the same):
– MRS W Frost (who seems to have run some sort of catering operation – there’s a mention of a shindig with the Premier and a political hopeful having been catered by her; there’s also a wedding notice that talks about “…the reception was held at Mrs W Frost’s of Lyndoch”. (1946)
– Mr & Mrs W Frost who moved from Gawler swapping their home for a business in Lyndoch with a Mr and Mrs W Sloan (1946)
– W T Frost (WTF?) who seems to have been a significant horse breeder (or something) (more 1920s, I think), and may also be the W T Frost who was standing for council election in the Manoora ward in 1917…
– W Frost who was a (school?) tennis player (1935)
Probably 100’s of others, especially if you count W as first or second name… possibly a big family of Frosts in that part of the world (if we include entire Barossa and Clare valleys)
The tickets really, really bother me – to the point that I really think the tickets were planted (but not necessarily planned (ie to confuse/befuddle things rather than with a specific deception in mind), so they may simply be tickets someone else happened to have in their pockets). I’ve said before that it bothers me that SM would have tickets but no wallet. While we can explain the absence of a wallet, I struggle with the idea of thrusting an unused train ticket into your pocket if you have a wallet – so the train ticket came about when SM was already without wallet (which is presumably AFTER he bought the bus ticket). Of course, he may never have had a wallet, but the absence of any change would seem to suggest against that – and the absence of a ticket from the baths, a stub for the suitcase or a ticket for his inbound journey (if indeed he took one) cause me an issue there. Why would he keep a used bus ticket from a 1/2 hour trip, but discard a used train ticket from an 8 hour (if he came from Melbourne) journey? Presumably the Melbourne ticket may have been checked on the train, so it’s something you keep with you for the journey (as opposed to the bus ticket which is issued by the conductor and never checked again). The absence of the inbound ticket suggests to me (other than the very real possibility that he didn’t come in on a long service) that it was in his wallet – but so why not the Henley Ticket? (The bus ticket is less suspicious – the conductor issues you a ticket you don’t really need so you can be careless with it).
I guess the problem I have is the presence of the unused train ticket. Sure, there’s a million explanations why someone might buy a train ticket and not use it – but how does it end up in their pocket? And if they’re in the habit of keeping things like that, where are the other bits and pieces they would have (based on speculation of their movements)? Are we to believe that someone keeps a used bus ticket (despite having presumably passed many bins (most likely even a “used ticket bin” on the bus), but discards a stub for his suitcase, or a ticket for the baths….Something is not adding up.
I also assume that the significance of the “lost kit bag” in terms of the visitor to the Strathmore who “…had no baggage, except for a small black case”.
Finally, I don’t know whether it’s interesting (or already been mentioned), but I found out some things about Glandular Fever:
Symptoms of glandular fever include:
– fever
– sore throat
– swollen glands
– abdominal pain and jaundice (yellowing of skin and eyes) occur less frequently.
Contact sports and heavy lifting should be avoided for the first month after illness because of risk of damage to the spleen, which often is enlarged during acute infection.
Boris – Are you still here? I have some information that is quite interesting but you seem to be the only person who might understand. If you’re still following would you please show yourself for potential exchange?
Better late than never…..Jestyn signed as JEstyn. This fits nicely with your theory if you take the surname as Estyn rather than Styn (and as far as I can tell, Estyn is a common enough name – although more so as a first name than a surname, but there are certainly instance of it as a surname) you just have to filter out all the Welsh results.
I agree in the TV show Boxall seemed evasive, and struggled to explain the book sufficiently (someone who he’s met twice gives him a personalised going away gift – doesn’t have a very truthful ring to it), and you would think the verse would have some relevance to something (although she was young and it could be an obscure/oblique reference like he had gotten drunk and cursed a lot or something).
Back on my favourite train ticket (surprised I didn’t notice this before).
Frederick Steven Dickson (or equivalent – definitely not SM) was attending the carnival at Glenelg. On his way through the station in the morning he picks up a ticket at the station for his return journey (and proceeds the St Leonards bus to Glenelg). He has fun at the carnival, but loses his wallet. Perhaps this is pick pocketed or perhaps it falls out on a ride and is opportunistically picked up by someone else. This someone else takes out all the good stuff (money!!). Later that day, he stumbles across a dead body on the beach (or may have killed SM – doesn’t matter). This is too good to be true, here’s another wallet we can steal. He decides to take this wallet too – but realising the police will look for a wallet if it’s absent, he loads SM’s pockets with random stuff (except money) from the other wallet. Thus FSD’s train and used bus ticket (you wouldn’t report that a used bus ticket was in a missing wallet – although it doesn’t necessarily come from the same place as the train ticket) ends up on SM’s person.
This would make me a little more comfortable with the tickets – because a carnival at Glenelg would likely be in Wigley Reserve, Colley Reserve (Perhaps where Magic Mountain/The Beachouse later sat) or the beachfront near the Jetty (I think most likely, but not sure). Now the speculation is that SM (or at least whoever was on the StL bus) got off at Anzac Highway near the corner of Adelphi St – which is near Wigley Reserve – while Somerton is walkable from there, I think there would be far more appropriate buses you’d try to catch if you wanted to get to SM.
Of course, all of this would mean that the tickets mean very little. Although the petrol ticket which was also in the wallet (but not found on SM) would be very useful for someone who would have a car, and maybe ran a taxi service.
NB: I don’t think Pruzinski walked to Noarlunga – that’s a long walk.
Disregard that – the wallet was lost 4 days earlier 🙁
Misca: Better late than whatever; I’d say that your so called loupe’ is actually a nice little equine halter gizmo called a tie ring and garot connector and it is attached to the chin piece of a horses nose strap and neck harness. It’s main, but not only purpose is to tie off a hitching rope and the little offset nodules are to prevent knot slippage… Still on this thread, I think you may find that it was Joy Hawkins who introduced Alf to Jessica and she was married to Jimmy, a Kiwi soldier from Wanganua who was with Small Ships (Water Transport). Not sure if she was a nurse but she hailed from Adelaide (Aldgate?) and they lived at Mosman. He had been based in Darwin at the outbreak of ww2, then served in England, Greece, Crete & Syria before his 6th Division (2/3 Arty.) returned home in ’42. I could never really figure out the thing with J.D.Jones but it seems now not to be of much import….like just about everything else sad to say.
John – Don’t want to ignore you. I have read back on the thread but cannot remember the picture that I was referring to when I asked Pete about it. If you’re here Pete, could you post it again? I know that there was much discussion about the loupe but have never heard of the suggestion that is is a halter that attaches to a horse’s nose strap. How would you think that such an item might fit into the story?
Joy Hawkins sounds vaguely familiar but I suspect that it was actually Thomas Musgrave’s wife who introduced Jessica to Alf. I posted quite a bit about this a very long time ago.
Misca: Pete’s site is emptied out again. This seems to happen when he gets too tangled up with Xlamb’s claims, though quite what he thinks he gains by trying to blame me (as he normally does) escapes me entirely.
Pete’s site empties out when he’s abrasive to people who post questions and/or opinions ever so slightly different to his own (which seems to be a lot of the time). He gets an idea in his head and defends even the minutia to the death. He seems to assume himself to be a greater authority on the subject than all comers (and it probably doesn’t help when he mocks people who question GC’s microwriting. As you know I’m not a big believer in that stuff – partly because I don’t see a good explanation of how we can see it on today’s picture, and partly because nobody seems to have actually found anything definitive or useful there (and partly because their own theories are that the paper was switched/tampered with, which woulds mean that any microwriting or other anomalies don’t make any sense unless we’re meant to find them – in which case it’s all a red herring anyway). It’s also interesting that he and others can’t seem to distinguish between “I don’t think something is the case here” and “I don’t think it’s possible anything like that has ever happened” (when you question the microwriting on the code page, they start defending the existence of microwriting in general) etc).. I stopped wasting my time there a long time ago….largely because it’s too hard to discern what is deliberately fiction and what is accidentally fiction.
But I guess it’s his site, and it’s his prerogative to run it any way he wants.
Míca: The tie ring and it’s connectiing strap with clip or loupe at the the blind end in the form of a lanyard could have been easilly attached to the corresponding lanyard ring of a holstered Webley revolver. The tie ring would be secured to a trouser belt and this would prevent the pistol from being dropped into the drink off a croc shooter’s boat (Hell West & Crooked-Tom Cole); Along with other things in the Keane suitcase ie. the hoof cleaning brush, the simple bushman’s tool kit, the double pocket cowboy shirts, it seems to fit the kind of Capricornian character that I envisage and most likely not SM. Then again a halter tie ring could definately come in handily if attached to a rope, for leading a horse to water, perhaps even along a beach for excercise early in the morning.
John – Thanks for the information. Makes sense. There is a picture of Alfred where one of these can be seen. Interesting connections.
ps: A halter key-ring could also be used to retrieve a life-guard’s rescue-floating ring. One of my buddies who ‘hung-out’ under my chair rescued the ring and followed me across the pool to where two little girls, holding hands jumped into water which was over their heads. Long story about a very traumatic experience for the little girls. I was able to get to them in time, and boosted them onto the deck. My buddy, who followed me across the pool, helped to sooth the girls by handing them the ring to sit upon.
On other of Nick’s pages (?) I described the teamsmanship of several people who helped me get the stingers of the Portuguese Man-O-War jelly-fish off the legs of an eight-year-old boy. A couple of the rescuers brought their tennis rackets into play (as scrapers) after I had applied OJ (orange juice) and meat tenderizer (to dissolve the stingers) The boy’s mother was hysterical when she finally arrived at the scene; the other lifeguard was able to calm her down. I returned to the daycare center (and swimming pool). My assistant, Chris, was finally able to get to eat his lunch.
bd
As Byron has noted above…Clayton took up with a certain Shirley May Hallett. She is in fact, the Shirley May Howard who died in 1946. Both her parents died the same year. Her father killed her mother and then killed himself. So why was Robert Wake doing surveillance on her family in 1949?
“Miss Howard, who was only 25 years old, had been personal secretary
to ACP Political Committee member Mr. H. B. Chandler for the last twelve months.
ACP Central Committee members were among the many friends who attended the funeral at North Shore Crematorium last Saturday.”
She died at a private hospital in Mosmon. (Pete?)
Misca: Would that have been Harry Reymus Chandler who worked in Sydney Port and lived at Neutral Bay during ww2. Seems to have been of the same ilk & vintage as Wally Clayton and we must wonder if they were mates before going to Oz as young Kiwi rebel rousers in 1930.
John, noted.
No. I think it’s Herbert Bovyll Chandler who was mayor of Lithgow in 1936, “a member of the Australian Communist Party” and the owner of the Newsletter Printery that publishes the Tribune. ASIO files were found in his home and were reviewed at the Royal Commission in 1953.
Clive: seems you’ve just unwittingly given your peanut & popcorn vender good cause put the kyber on discussions bringing up Mordialloc College and Jestyn’s
school days. Of course we in the know are quite convinced that she never went within 500 miles of the place as a teen but, we are aware of someone from her Clifton Gardens days who did. A 19 year old freshman nurse named Joy Irving of course, a Mordiallac gal born, bred and wed if your still pursuing her for some reason. Joy of course was Tom Musgrave’s squeeze, big but nice from memory and she carried on to get both her midwifery and sisters certifications after the war. Good for her, pity her mate missed her chance.
Somebody, somewhere found evidence proving Jessica H got her nursing ticket – Sanders, you’re the bloke with a BIG memory, any recollection?
Anyone?
Peteb: not at RNSW she didn’t but, a near namesake did, hence past kerfuffle.
Jokers: go to August 13th, 2017 @ 10.01pm for milongal’s take. Now there’s a “clever lad”
No, bugger that for a joke – Milongal what’s the story?
The only stuff I remember about a nursing ticket turned out to be for a different Jessica Harkness (from Port Pirie or Lincoln or somewhere West of Adelaide).
Abbott’s Adelaide Uni page offers (google: “Timeline Somerton man “):
1942 Jestyn begins a 4-year nurse’s training course at the Royal North Shore Hospital, NSW
The other Harkness was one coincidence that still doesn’t sit terribly well with me – that there were 2 x Sr Jessica Harkness within 5 years of each other (that would be almost like having multiple Fedosimovs), but we got distracted by other shiny things. I keep wondering if there’s an underlying identity theft or similar going on – there’s all the stuff about her being Thomson before she was a Thomson too.
@pb: I occasionally visit your site again (maybe you’ve mellowed a bit, or maybe I’ve grown a thicker skin or maybe a little col a, a little col b or maybe something else), I can barely remember what I did yesterday let alone why I was said something a lustrum ago.
Cheers Milongal, and these days, believe me, love is in the air, with exceptions.
milongal: Jessie Muir Thomson bn. 1919 was from Port Lincoln and moved to Glenelg some time after her George died in ’41. Sister Jessica Reid Harkness bn. 1909? was from up Balaclava way and she headed off to Spain in ’36 for the war. Later she got mixed in with Gordon Cramer’s ridiculous “Russian Kate” farce in cahoots possibly with his Maj. W. jestyn Moulds verse 70 hoax of tge same time. That be right Peteb, Clive, misca, Byron? I can go back and check CM files if need be.
@JS I thought there was a Jessica E Harkness that turned out to be about a decade older than our Harkness but had been prominent out Lincoln (or Pirie – I get the 2 mixed up) way – and disappeared overseas (I thought to Mother England) – but it was a long time ago and facts get mixed up in my head (and it’s proving difficult to find the trail, so maybe I’ve gotten the detail confused – The closest I can find is a Jessie Winifred Harkness in Riverton (about 13km North of Tarlee)…..so maybe I was wrong).
Thinking about it now, maybe she was a midwife rather than a nurse (but again, ight be mixing up multiple people)?
If I get a chance I’ll have a deeper scratch again….
But while looking stumbled across a nurse in NSW in 1939 Jessie Christina Thomson – just stuck out because of ‘tina’ (and a Jessie Robertson MacFarlane Thomson the same year)…..but that’s all too early for us.
milongal: no need to scratch too deep, I have a pretty fair recall of all the Jessie & Jessica Harkness imposters, whence they hailed and ended up. A number of them were Sisters like bogus Jestyn and there were two matrons, one born in Scotland who ran hospitals around regional S.A. for thirty years and the other who spent much of her career in Pacific Island postings. As for Sister Thomsons, nah..can’t help you too many.
Could Carl had been working as a lifeguard (life-saver, patrol officer) in Cottesloe (hence the crotch-deep tan from the previous summer) and doing extra stencil work for J.C. Williamson company or the Junior Red Cross (this keeps coming up in Trove regarding children’s homes).
Or was he too old for that? Could this particular object found in the suitcase be linked to this line of work?
https://i.imgur.com/v5mQ8Wn.png