Pete Bowes has had some comments left on his Somerton Man blog by a certain ‘Margaret Hookham’ (which, trivia fans, was actually Dame Margot Fonteyn’s real name).
In these web-weary days we live in, the default position with posters claiming to drip-feed intriguingly new Somerton Man information is that they should be considered trolls until they can prove otherwise (which has yet to ever happen, as far as I can tell)… or until they provide sufficient disproof that their research is for real. In this case, “Margaret” asserts that “ASIO records show D.D.Thomson was in Adelaide on the night of the 30th November 1948“: which sounds highly unlikely to me, given that ASIO wasn’t actually formed until 1949. Which – as starts go – is far from the best.
All the same, what intrigued me was that – despite the thick layer of apparent trollery – there was also a glimmer of genuine historical interest to be had from her comments, though probably not in the way that was intended.
Specifically: I’m interested neither by her primary claim (which involves the disappearance of Vasily Sherbakov and Miss Bogotyreva from the November 1948 LAPSTONE conference, Jessica Harkness, pregnancy, bla bla bla) nor indeed by her secondary claim (Russian spies, Australian spies, Alf Boxall, Prosper Thomson, cover story, bla bla bla), but rather by her tertiary claim: which is that Prosper Thomson, D.D.Thomson [who she says was Alf Boxall’s boss, and maybe he was, who knows?] and a man called Thomas Leonard Keane were all at the 115th Australian General Hospital (6th RAAF Hospital) in Heidelberg in 1943.
115th Australian General Hospital
Source: Australian War Memorial
It’s certainly true that Prosper Thomson was there (albeit briefly) in 1943. According to his military records (digitized online at the NAA), on 28/6/1943 he was transferred from Prince Henry Hospital to “115AgH” , but discharged two weeks later on 10/7/1943.
Moreover, it’s certainly also true that a soldier called Thomas Leonard Keane was (according to his military records) working there in 1943, presumably as a nursing orderly. And so: given that we have been looking for a “T. Keane”, and that these two men may well have met in the relatively compact setting of Heidelberg Military Hospital, it would seem to be a good idea for us to ask…
Who Was Thomas Leonard Keane?
During WWII, Keane entered the Australian military twice: firstly, in 1939 where he gave his occupation as “Dispatch Clerk”, but lied about his age, claiming that he had been born in Newport, Victoria on 6th November 1905. Having been assigned to the 2/2nd Field Regiment, he was put onto the “X list” (which listed those members of a unit who were absent, typically for medical reasons), asked to be released for “Family Reasons” (not apparently specified in the documents) and was discharged in April 1940 (discharge certificate 13139). His April 1941 application for a General Service Badge was turned down because his discharge wasn’t on actual medical grounds.
His second entry into the Army was in September 1941, where he was assigned to the 115th Australian General Hospital at Heidelberg, but this time giving his date of birth as 6th November 1898. He also gave his job as “Railway Clerk”, and listed his primary school as “St Josephs, Newport” (it was blank in his first application).
Why did he lie about his age? There’s no obvious clue, but I have a suspicion that he had served in WWI and – for some reason – wanted to avoid having that record examined. There’s a link here, service number 33556: whether this was him is no doubt something Cipher Mysteries readers will be able to determine much more easily and quickly than I could.
Finally, we know the second date of birth Keane gave is correct, because we also know when he died: 13th November 1973.
(Courtesy of BillionGraves).
Clearly, he couldn’t have been the Somerton Man. But I’ll come back to that in a moment.
Keane worked as a Nursing Orderly in 115AGH, and served outside Australia for 138 days (in Japan from 11th March 1947 to 26th July 1947), before being discharged on 8th June 1948.
Japan in 1947
This 1998 letter from Captain Barbara Ann Probyn-Smith, RAANC,(Retd), paints an all-too-vivid picture of what was going on Japan at that time.
The Japanese people had many endemic diseases in their bodies, to which we had no immunity. They included TB, HTLV-1, Japanese B Encephalitis (one epidemic in 1948 killed over 3,000) and Haemorraghic Fever.
Up the hill, behind the Kure Hospital, and opposite and above our quarters was a very sordid town, with no washing facilities, no running water, where the Japanese grew fruit and vegetables in fields manured with human excreta. A terrible smell always emanated from it. It had no sewage. They dug open trenches into which they emptied their “honey buckets” of human excreta, before it was taken to the gardens for growing fruit and vegetables. Although there were wooden covers over the trenches, there were many large cracks between the boards, permitting the entry of flies and other vermin.
If I have read his forms right, Kure Hospital was where Keane travelled to on the Manovia.
And What Of The Somerton Man?
We can see Keane’s signature and handwriting many times on the military forms:
Which, of course, we can compare with the writing on the tie in the suitcase:
Is it a match? Possibly, possibly not: the K looks like a plausible match, while the T rather less so. All the same, it’s nice to have them next to each other.
So is that the end of it? Have we driven our Holden all the way to the end of yet another Somerton Man cul-de-sac?
Well… not quite. Thomas Leonard Keane for me is emblematic of what was happening in Australia after WWII: though he had avoided front-line action, his months at the hospital in Japan must have been harrowing in a very different way. And the situation he presumably found himself in mid-to-late 1948 was surely not hugely dissimilar to that of the Somerton Man, as forensically told by his body at the time – fit, well-groomed, yet not necessarily fitting in to post-war society. They were not the same person, sure, but they may well have been “brothers in plough-shares“, or fellow-travellers in some way.
The Suitcase, Once More?
An unwritten assumption of most Somerton Man research is that the suitcase (left at Adelaide’s Railway Station) was only the Somerton Man’s. Yet even though this is a straightforward notion apparently full of common sense, it isn’t entirely as strong as you might think. It contained (if I recall correctly) clothes and shoes of different sizes: a mish-mash.
What I’m getting at here is that there’s a hypothesis that hasn’t really been considered: that the suitcase might have had more than one person’s belongings in. Might it have had some borrowed clothes, perhaps borrowed from an ally (Keane lived in the Reservoir suburb of Melbourne, and there was a good train into Adelaide from there that morning) rather than a friend? Might that person have lent his suitcase and some of his own clothes to a sick, destitute acquaintance as a short-term favour?
And then – upon the Somerton Man’s death – might the original owner of the suitcase have decided to deny all knowledge? After all, what kind of a person really wants to get themselves tangled up with a messy business like that? “Smile and wave, boys, smile and wave”, as a famous military leader put it. Would you have raised your hand?
Oh, And One Last Thing…
Finally, the last page of Thomas Leonard Keane’s file has a surprise for us all: a small sealed folder with the following stamp on it:
What information could a former nursing orderly at Heidelberg possibly have that would require being reclassified as secret until 2028?
Plenty of room for conspiracy theories, sure: but what are the odds that it gets a further thirty years of secrecy added to it even then?
Unfortunately it looks like the service record 33556 is not him. It is available online through the NZ archives, and contains a date and place of death of 19 september 1976 in Auckland, New Zealand. Interestingly enough though, it only contains records for WW1 even though the file clearly states service in both wars.
Pressed enter too soon. Yes, there are WW2 records that I missed, but they indicate he served only in New Zealand and contain dates from 1939 to 1948 in NZ military service, so almost certainly he is not the same Thomas Keane
Finally, re the sealed file, the archives act was amended in 2010 and the 30 year restriction changed to 20 years, so theoretically the sealed file could be accessible as soon as next year
Patagon: I’m fairly unsurprised that the New Zealand Thomas Leonard Keane wasn’t the same, but thanks very much for digging that up all the same. 🙂
The amended Archives Act is a piece of good news, thanks very much for that too. Nice to know there’s a reasonable chance I’ll live long enough to see what the sealed file contains! 😉
Trove has this from the Friday 6 December 1935 issue of The Age:
The Friends of Mr. and Mrs.
THOMAS LEONARD KEANE are respect- ,
fully invited to follow the remains of their
dearly beloved eldest son, Leonard Francis, to
the place of Interment in the Coburg Cemetery.
The funeral is appointed to move from their
residence, 47 Cooper-street, Preston, and on
route will pass the Sacred Heart Church,
Bell-street, for the cemetery, THIS DAY (Fri
day), 6th December, at 2 p.m.
Noticed the plaque on Keanes grave shown above lists a Francis as the eldest son.
Thomas Leonard Keane married Marie Elizabeth Obrien. His parents were Thomas Henry Keane (1866-1927) and Annie Cecilia McCarty (1874-1941). Her parents were William Obrien and Emma Clare Lee. This doesn’t really shed any light on SM but I thought I would share just in case it means something to someone else who is researching.
Might be worth trying to track down his offspring. Might get lucky with some more info or perhaps even some more writing samples to compare.
If a patient was being discharge from hospital, but had no clothes with them, could a kindly orderly have donated some of their belongings? A mish-mash of clothes could be the result of donations from different people.
Thomas Henry Keane, died October 1927: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/69523618
Annie Keane, died 21st October 1941: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/70713172
Funeral notice: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/209813271 and http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/8209747 (but not as clear)
Followed by: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/209813088
Coming in with some guesswork here .. perhaps the sealed section had something to do with the treatment of radiation victims.
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/british-scientists-secretly-used-australian-population-to-test-for-radiation-contamination-after-nuclear-tests-at-maralinga/news-story/988651beb4e94e1a4fd1b4c4649b3f03
pete: that story relates to nuclear tests in the 1950s, while Thomas Leonard Keane left working as a nursing orderly in the military in 1948, right?
right …
I noticed the difference in the tilt of the capital “T” which differs on the tie. Possibly because the twill-weave would probably skew the pen’s output of ink (opposite to the usual slant which appears in the items you’ve posted herein)?
PS: I think I’ve mentioned before that in the 1950’s, I was subjected to Co-60 radiation to the roof of my mouth (supposedly to shrink a cyst and/or scar tissue). Well, recent X-rays show that I still have the cyst — which is now interfering with my vision. So, some 70 years later, I’m probably looking at some of the ‘latest’ methods (fiberoptics & or micro-mini surgical instruments?
it would seem the WWI Keane may be different…
http://nzef.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=135161
Regimental number 33556
Occupation Bank clerk
Next of kin Father, Alfred Keane, Grosvenor Hotel, Auckland
Rank on embarkation Lance Corporal
Unit name New Zealand Expeditionary Force, 21st Reinforcements, E Company
Embarkation details Unit embarked from Wellington on board Ulimaroa on 19 January 1917
Sources Nominal Roll Vol. 3: Roll 52, p. 17
(NB: there’s also an AIF DB for Australians – records have varying degrees of detail, and I’m not sure whether they’re still being maintained and updated)
I don’t know why Margaret chose “Robert” as a name for SM but it’s not very Russian…For those who might be interested in the messy organization of the Lapstone conference and the names provided for the Russian Delegation…It can be found on the NAA by searching for barcode 197331. (No Russians named Robert there.)
Nick, it is possible that Keane could have been involved in chemical or biological warfare work, such as observing trials or nursing the inevitable casualties. Or he could have been involved at a low level in collecting radiological or health data at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Australia had a secret chemical warfare program during WW2 and, from memory, had stockpiles of 2,000 tonnes of mustard gas at the end of the war. The later cover up and the denial of repatriation care for the volunteers (about 1,000 servicemen, some of whom died of mustard gas injuries) makes for sour reading. Search Trove for Mustard Gas 1974-75.
I have previously discussed the possibility that Diphtheria toxin was manufactured in Adelaide during WW2 for possible use as a biological warfare agent. At the inquest the possibility of Diphtheria toxin causing SM’s death was mentioned. From memory Bickfords was an official distributor of the Diphtheria toxin.
The Australian authorities would have been interested in obtaining data concerning the effects of radiation, and I would be very surprised if they didn’t send a team to Japan to collect data. Remember that immediately after WW2 relations between the USA and Britain with the Commonwealth broke down, and there was great mistrust. I think it is unlikely that Australia would have missed a chance to gather its own intelligence in Japan (probably in collaboration with Great Britain and other Commonwealth countries such as Canada and New Zealand).
In the later 1940s several Australians were given free medical treatment in the USA. The “treatment” involved the injection of large amounts of Plutonium 239 so as to study the effects of plutonium poisoning. The test subjects were all thought to be fatally ill, but I remember reading that some survived the “treatment” and recovered from the illness. This is a long winded way of saying that immediately after WW2 Governments around the world were probably collecting information concerning the health effects of radiation and nuclear materials.
Looks like all we need is a copy of his Death Certificate.
B Deveson: these are all very interesting points, thank you very much indeed, even if they do form a loam rich enough for a whole gardenful of conspiracy theories to take root and grow wildly in. 🙂
By the way, do you think we have enough detail from the inquest etc to eliminate the suggestion that the Somerton man died as a result of acute exposure to Plutonium 239 or mustard gas?
Nick, yes, rich loam. But, some of it relating to SM is potentially testable. The MS hair analyses for a start. Regarding Sherby, here is another barrow load of really rich loam. Rich enough to grow triffids in.
Here is something of possible interest. Maybe it is “something nothing” as it is said in New Guinea pigin. Or maybe not.
Search Google for “Scherbakov Australia Archives” and you will find a PDF document that is titled “Applications submitted since 1 April 2000 up to 15 January 2014. Title. Applications for an update of ASIO records previously requested and made available for access through the National Archives Australia.”
On page 13/16 of this document you will find the following: “Sherbakov Vasily (Vassily Scherbakov).” date: 9 July 2013.
And, the entry immediately above Sherbakov’s is …… “Peter Robert Garrett”. This won’t mean anything to most of you, but you will find a relevant discussion on Pete’s site 2-3 years ago. I won’t rehash except to say that there was a suggestion that Peter’s mother knew Jestyn in Sydney.
And to further increase the “suspicion index”, you should note that if you search for Scherbakov or Sherbakov in the NLA you won’t find anything. You will find Nick Gatto (and a staggering 176 (!) security and Intel files relating to him and his relatives. I can’t resist repeating the lame joke that an ASIO officer tried to soften Lionel Murphy with when Murphy raided the ASIO head office looking for his own security file. Murphy started ransacking all the Murphy files, but the sheer number apparently defeated him. The ASIO guy said something along the lines “they are a bad bunch”.) And, as a lateral arabesque, as described by Peter Wright, it was suspected that Murphy’s birth record was false, and that he was born in Poland. I know from a Polish friend that Murphy spoke perfect Polish, and my friend said that Poles can recognise anyone who is speaking Polish as a second language.
For general salacious interest you will see that the following persons have ASIO files.
The Gatto and Barbero families. Langley George Hancock (!!). Rinehart/Hancock/Heywood, Georgina/Gina. And many more. Hop to it and make sure you save a copy of that document. It may disappear before long.
B Deveson: the claimed spying link to Peter Robert Garrett seems to have been part of a load of trolled kindling thrown willy-nilly onto the Somerton Man fire by that South African person who was alleging (without any obvious evidence or justification) some family connection to the Somerton Man. Never did manage to understand what that was all about… but that’s probably no great loss. 😐
Re the “secret” part of Keanes file, I suspect it is not anything particularly secret at all, just Australian government bureacracy. Archived personal information has a general 20 year restriction (30 years at the time of creation of the folder), and classified information is given a further category of exempt from release. The sealed folder does not appear to be marked as exempt and was created 25 years after his death, hence it is probably something very routine like his (grand)children reapplying for the denied service medal in order to obtain benefits for families of veterans or something similar. Even if it were exempt however this would not necessarily imply anything very interesting however, as records can also be exempt from access for commercial or personal reasons, not just national security.
I had a lot to do with the federal government in Australia back in the day and met a lot of conspiracy theories about hiding information etc, but the simple reality was that the government was(is?) highly regulated with regards to publishing information and much of what looked like keeping secrets was a simple combination of following strictly defined privacy procedures and complying with data collection laws plus general systems limitations and other mundane things, and not that the data itself was instrinsically particularly senstive or interesting.
Re Peter Garret, given that he was a prominent environmental activist for 30 years and subsequently minister for environment it would be extremely surprising if he didnt have an ASIO file – it doesnt necessarily imply anything about spy activity.
Didn’t Jestyn work for a while at ‘Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital’ (also known as ‘Fever Hospital’)? This was as an orderly, before her starting her training as a nurse at RNSH, Sydney.
I imagine she would have had some experience of dealing with Diphtheria patients.
Patagon: I couldn’t agree more – I’m merely pointing out that the presence of a “DO NOT OPEN” sealed folder in a Thomas Keane file is exactly the kind of thing that is likely to fan the conspiratorial flames.
But you don’t have to be wearing a tinfoil hat to wonder whether the folder’s contents may yet prove to be interesting. 😉
Sue: I don’t remember that at all, is it in Feltus? If not, do you recall what the source for it was?
It’s from Derek Abbott.
In his now disbanded Facebook Group
“A world search for a rare copy of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam”
There was a kind of recommended reading list in the photos section which included
“Fever hospital : a history of Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital,”
by W. K. Anderson,
Melbourne University Press, 2002,
ISBN 0522849644.
Under the photo he had written the comment…
” This is the hospital where Jestyn worked before the RNSH. The book thus gives good background information about the times and what it was like to work there. ”
(I couldn’t really afford to spend the cash to get a copy though.)
Sue: thanks very much for that. If only I had more money for books (oh, and any space left in my house to put them)…
Trollery or not trollery…… I have been following and pondering the Somerton man case (probobly like most of us) for more hours than I would publicaly care to admit! I haven’t had a chance to research this allegation that Prosper T was working with old mate Thomas Keane…..
If there is indeed some merit to this…. Does this not provide a whopping big clue!!!!
I have often wondered why the police at the time only seemed to be interested in Jessica when they followed up the phone number in the Rubiayat. Why wasn’t the lens focused on Prosper as well…. After all they both shared the same phone number….
Kean’s clothes seem to be hand me downs…. We seem to be edging closer to where our dear departed friend picked up Kean’s Togs!
Sunny: don’t forget that a quite different Thomas Kean
e(who very strongly supported various local charities) had died in Adelaide in January 1947, and so it is entirely possible that some or all of his clothes had been given to a local charity, and picked up from there by our found-dead-on-the-beach man: http://ciphermysteries.com/2014/06/17/somerton-mans-clothes-thomas-kean-deceasedIt’s never that easy in Somerton Man Land! 😐
Yes…Well played….(Has anyone found any signatures of Tom “Kean Oil” to compare?)
Still…. Seems like a VERY strange coincidence that Prosper T may have crossed paths with a Thomas Keane in the Heidelberg military hospital…..
As some other ‘dear friends’ once said….
Mycroft Holmes: Oh, Sherlock, what do we say about coincidence?
Sherlock Holmes: Universe is rarely so lazy.
However I think this particular ‘coincidence’ smells like troll!
I grew up in Adelaide and live in Melbourne; I am very familiar with all the places and geography of this case. If you ever need some local legwork on the ground; you have my email!
Sunny: thanks for the offer, much appreciated!
As to the trollery: sealed envelope speculations aside, I didn’t think that much of the rest of what was put forward, but given that that’s pretty much the default case with Somerton Man stuff, it shouldn’t really come as a great surprise.
As to the Thomas Leonard Keane sealed envelope itself (which seems genuine enough): I’d assess the chances that it contains something of relevance (however tangential) to the Somerton Man cold case as being about 10%-ish. Which is not to say that I’m going to hold my breath until it gets opened: but I’d like to know what’s inside nonetheless. 🙂
Sunny: there’s a Tom Kean signature from his WWI First A.I.F. days here – http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/NameSearch/Interface/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=7368514
I haven’t gone through it at all, but perhaps you might like to have a look. 🙂
Sunny: not trying to put you off, but most of the pages there seem to have the word “haemorrhoids” on them. 😉
if we play the coincidence game, a Thomas Keane and a Tom Kean might explain spelling variation on different possessions….(I don’t want to sound too much John Pinkey, but there does sometimes seem to be a cosmic joker that seems to ensure such synchronicities)…
What if in scrounging some clothes we got some from a charity that happen to have been donated by Kean and some from an acquaintance (or someone we happened to come in contact with at the hospital or whatever) who happens to be Keane….or I’m sure we can come up with a thousand more conspiratorial permutations too…
(NB: I’m assuming Keane/Kean derive from the Irish, and I’d imagine Australia at the time was around 25% catholic and probably similar again protestant, with a generally British flavour….I would imagine (speculation, your Honour) Kean/Keane wouldn’t have been overly uncommon, and Thomas/Tom being a reasonably common first name the odds against such a coincidence might not be as great as they first appear (and from memory we have T. Keane, Keane, and Kean on 3 separate items…..so we’re not even necessarily looking for a match on the first initial)….)
Milongil, you have to ask yourself, how hard up do you have to be to wear a second hand singlet? And our man was well togged up.
pete: it’s a good question. I call it the Somerton Skiddies Paradox. 🙂
Hi Pete,
I don’t know. Those were different times when perhaps our attitudes weren’t so much throwing things away, and were more likely to reuse things all the way to the end of their life. And people may well have been quite hard up after the war – or perhaps not entirely the full quid and getting stuff supplied from an institution that they regularly attended (or something). And yet there’s no reason why SM could have been Kean (or Keane) but not any of the Keane’s we’ve seen mentioned here – that is, what if he was a Kean who by chance found some Keane clothes at charity (and perhaps chose them specifically because of the convenient coincidence of stumbling across a name so similar at Vinnies….)
I find it extraordinary that people seem to dismiss the misspelt surname so readily. While names evolve, I find it a little strange that someone might spell their own name 2 different ways (in otherwise the same context). This suggests several ideas:
1) They are faking their name (I think this is fairly unlikely – surely an intel agent would take utmost care in knowing their identity? Unless there’s another reason to hide your name)
2) They are being deliberately deceptive (this is even more unlikely than #1, I think….how dumb would you have to be to think that sort of a misspelling will fool someone…)
3) The items belong to multiple identities with similar names (one of whom may or may not be SM) – plausible even if unlikely
4) The names (or at least whichever is misspelled) weren’t written by them (eg written instead by hospital/institution staff) – Perhaps this is the most plausible scenario [although, of course, any interaction with a hospital/institution should leave some sort of record….]
I think it’s quite difficult to explain away the misspelt name nicely (#4 above perhaps does the best job)…although of course all of this assumes the suitcase was related to him.
Milongal – it’s a tough argument when we don’t have all the marked up items to examine. Things fade over time and the laundry bag probably received a hammering.
Nice one Nick, but I already have the inside info on that subject. DA told to me that one pair of underdaks in his suitcase did indeed have skid-marks. And I’ll bet that professorial bowerbird has a few sketches by Alf Boxall in his desk drawer.
I need to see one of them.
Nick, who do you know? I’ll write a cheque.
oops … Milongil.
ta
Milongal – I enjoy researching family genealogy and have done so relating to this case as well. It is not at all unusual to see changes in surname spellings change from one generation to the next. It’s not common but definitely not unusual. I have seen this occur in more than one “KEAN/KEANE” family tree that I have researched and in other family trees as well. I have even seen it occur when one man marries two women (one has died) and the offspring of one decide to distinguish themselves from the offspring of the other.
Misca
Hi Nick, Looking at NAA and a Thomas Lawrence Keane (Svce # Q302311) DOB: 20-06-1892. Look at his signature on Page One!
Clive: yes, it was my 19 AUD that got that record scanned. 😉
http://ciphermysteries.com/2013/10/23/thomas-lawrence-keane-plague-tamam-trolls
For what it may be worth…Keith Mangnoson also recovered at the same hospital during WWII. At a different time but perhaps…interesting?
The name Scherbakov was mentioned in the Australian newspaper on 12th May 2016. Now, the surname Scherbakov is rare in Australia (four persons with that surname in Australia in 2014) and the related name Sherbakov is even rarer (none in Australia 2014. See httx://forebears.io/surnames). Vasily (?) Sherbakov (along with Miss Bogatreva) disappeared from the Russian delegation to the ECAF Conference held at Lapstone in the Blue Mountains the week before SM died. There is a good summary of these events at: http://www.anemptyglass.wikia.com/wiki/sherbakov
I note that QANTAS passenger lists for the period have a Sherbakov leaving Australia “some days later”. But the Russians would not have had any difficulty altering one of their own diplomatic passports would they ? And what about Miss Bogatreva? She just seems to have vanished from any records.
“But despite the value of the intelligence Dibb was providing, someone inside ASIO thought his relationship with the Soviets was becoming too close. Dibb did not know this at the time. It may not have helped Dibb’s cause that in 1982 he married a Russian, Svetlana Scherbakov, a laboratory technician in Canberra who was born in China and came to Australia when she was four.
However, she was a so-called White Russian whose anti-communist grandparents had fled Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution.”
The Australian. 21st May 2016. (Google Scherbakov Dibb)
I note that the NAL has only two records for a “Sherbakov” (records that are open to the public that is) and these relate to Ury Nikolaevich, Anatoly Nikolaevich and Vladimir who immigrated in 1982, apparently from Beijing. Hmm China and 1982.
And I note that the names Paul Dibb and a Vasil Sherbakov are on the list of applications submitted to the National Archives of Australia 2010-14, presumably applications to gain access to the files or to have the files opened for public view.
Google Dibb with Sherbakov or see:
http://www.naa.gov.au/Images/Applications%20submitted%20since%201%20April%202010%20up%20to%2015%20January%20-%20as%20at%2020%20January%202014_tcm16-81858.pdf
I recognisz that the names Scherbakov and Sherbakov are not the same but the “c” could easily be lost in the transliteration between Russian and English. And the KGB usually altered the names and shuffled names to muddy the water. SOP.
It is probably just a coincidence, but…..
Byron:
the 2016 Dibb article is online here – [http://]www.theaustralian.com.au/news/inquirer/paul-dibb-asio-sting-the-ultimate-betrayal/news-story/cfa09529fb6f10d7c76ccf2ba8b12c3c – butIn my opinion Dibb comes across as a bit on the thick side of naive. Checking people out is what spying organizations spend an inordinate amount of time doing, and when you jump into bed with one, you’re going to get checked out – you may as well ask a dog not to bark. 😐
Yes, a real blockhead. But he is the architect of Australia’s current defence strategy. A perfect useful idiot.
Patagon, it isn’t PG who is the actual subject. It relates to his legend. He either lied about his background, or else his mother was the most influential spy of WW2. Directly responsible for the death of 440 Australian soldiers at Balikpapan, and indirectly responsible for millions of deaths during and after WW2.
There is evidence that ASIO was penetrated at a highly level (multiply penetrated. A group of about six according to a KGB analysis. The KGB never found out who they were, and the group would mail to a Kingston post office box).
The building that housed ASIO in Canberra (cnr Anzac Parade and Constitution Ave. from memory) was found to be riddled with bugs that indicated an inside job. And I could go on, and on. I have lived in Canberra and its environs for 65 years and, although I was only a relatively junior officer (in the bureaucracy) my field was scientific and had nothing to do with intel, defence or any related areas. But I did get to know a lot of senior people, and this gossip plus knowledge from my family, clearly demonstrates that Government records are usually “weeded” before they are sent to archives. Just one example.
Australia’s manufacture of 2,000 tonnes of mustard gas during WW2 and the subsequent, almost perfect, cover up. Nobody in Defence, or elsewhere in the bureaucracy knew in 1972 and the Minister gave an unequivocal denial, but had to retract it later. My point? Despite there being 1,000+ Australian guinea pigs (and perhaps some American military prisoners who were forced to volunteer – and subsequently died from the effects of mustard gas) who kept telling their doctors their medical problems were down to mustard gas – the bureaucracy was kept in the dark. The Veterans Affairs bureaucrats would send a standard letter to the veteran’s GP saying words to the effect “it never happened, they are nuts.” Did you know that the Australian Defence Minister (that rat Malcolm Fraser from memory) said in Parliament sometime 1965-67 (my memory is a bit hazy) that Australia had the capacity to manufacture an atomic bomb withing six months. I used to read all the newspapers cover to cover, and I have never seen any reference to this since that day. Collective amnesia or a D notice.
Byron: of course, the whole blockhead thing could simply be an act, and there’s a giant statue to him somewhere in Moscow, if you just happen to know where to look. 😉
National Security is a funny thing (I worked in an agency that quite literally borders on National Security – though not in an intel role (well, they like to think they do, and certainly under our current government they’ve been given a lot more of that sort of jurisdiction as they always craved) ). My experience of the Public Service (about 10 years, always in Canberra or a “Canberra-based role”) suggests that any effort to conceal stuff is usually because of mistakes or incompetence rather than because something is actually going on. On very rare occasions my path crossed with more “important” agencies (in Canberra the importance of an agency is (unofficially) measured by its proximity to Parliament House…which is why Human Service is in Tuggeranong some 15km away), but each time they struck me as individuals who sort of had this dream that they were some sort of “super spook”, but the very fact they had such delusions of grandeur to me suggested that they didn’t really do much – I sort of figured the really cool stuff is actually totally invisible to all but the most select few. We had meetings with people who didn’t use their real names, and who played funny games (“We’d like to have a meeting”; “ok, When?”; “Can’t tell you until you need to know, but you’ll know” sort of thing – but those sort of games seemed more people thinking they were important than they actually were). I remember one particular guy from ACLEI (Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity) who I agreed to meet with, and I could spot him the second I left the building – black suit, white shirt and taking off the sunglasses as I stepped outside (I shit you not). We went to a coffee shop where he loudly (and proudly) asked me some questions that (even within the agency) were “don’t talk above a whisper” (TBH they were quite mundane, but people seemed to be very secretive because they were ‘operational’). Now the brains in this exchange absolutely blew my mind….he’d met me to put a face to a name, we had some stuff that I couldn’t put in email without adding red classification delimiters and couldn’t mention to most people (even in my direct chain of management – they knew I was helping ACLEI, but not what with), and here he was in the coffee shop most frequented by people from my agency (and a really nice place for spies, if you’re that way inclined) proclaiming to the world where there might have been bodgey parts to our agency…
Living in Canberra is a funny thing (and I’d love to move back there one day, but life is not always about what’s nice) – I learnt to recognise the truly important people (still wouldn’t have a clue who they are). Almost all agencies/departments had a policy on not wearing lanyards outside the office (and in truly ironic government style insisting that everyone wears a departmental lanyard, not one from the local footy team (and even more amusingly often insisted where they might have uniformed officers, that this applied to them too – because the public will not recognise them without their lanyards (and then name badges that didn’t have to show your entire real name, just sufficient information to identify you if someone wanted to claim, so “Jack 96865” was ok))) – but human nature is against this. Canberrans are staunchly proud of the Govt dept they work for, and would prouldy wear lanyards in public (I never really understood how (especially in winter) the Lanyard wasn’t just on, it was outside the thick coat you put on – so there was definitely a deliberate attempt to display it)). I digress. The “really important” (or “significant”, or however you measure it – the “spooks”) were the people in the supermarket who were wearing suits (or at least casual business) and didn’t have a lanyard on at all…in my mind, these were the people working for ASIO, DSD (I think they’re now ASD – I remember them having a stall at a career fair when they were at Uni, and when I later asked someone from Defence who they are he repliedd “They don’t exist”), DSTO,ASIS etc….
Now it’s POSSIBLE that the people I met are reflective of the agencies they represented – but I doubt it. I have conspiracy theories of my own about how some of those places operate (and in a weird way don’t really care much either – and let me be clear, I’m reluctant to think SM is related to anything too secretive simply because it is so clumsy and obvious (and yes I know, the world was different 65 years ago)). I met certain individuals (in mundane roles) who were mildly interesting or inspiring, but on the whole my experience of the Public Service was:
1) Hanlon’s Razor – pick incompetence over malice (and trust me, I wouldn’t for a second believe a ruse)
2) Everything was in one of two mutually exclusive buckets – it could cost money, or it could be useful – if it it fit in both it would never happen.
3) Incompetence is over-rewarded and Canberrans will “agency-hop” to get payrises – but it’s a catch-22 for the employer – someone hopping a lot might be someone who is not suitable anywhere, or not happy anywhere or not challenged anywhere….equally the people staying are often staying because they get paid well to do little (I lost some friends when there was an agreement being negotiated and I pointed out to some vocal “underpaid; underapreciated” people that if that were true they would have moved on by now….
In a curious way, though, I think the important stuff is different (and hidden from our eyes, usually for good reason). I sort of think (helps me sleep at night) that the people doing the really important stuff are quite good at what they do and we (sh|w)ouldn’t really know much if everything is going well….but I think the story of John Friedrich/Johan Friedrich (Hohenberger) also shows we can be somewhat complacent and everyone can really be anyone they want (I don’t really understand how Friedrich (if he is who people think/assume/say he is) stayed in the country and eventually rose to the heights in the Safety Council) …
I digressed a long way. I sit in a funny place when it comes to conspiracy and especially espionage stuff. Although my experience of the public service suggests vast organisational incompetence, I tend to believe that the important groups are a lot better at what they do – largely because they’ve specialised in hiding what’s going on (possibly through a layer of incompetence that appears to relate). While I’ll accept that the intel agencies were probably developing through the 40’s/50s, one of the things they have been good at from early on is not letting anything out until it needs to be let out – and for me, if we are to believe in higher powers (I think in another post Nick suggested the Vatican 😛 ) controlling this show, then we have a rather large number of occurences of unnecessary information appearing (and yeah, I know, you put out little bits and let other people create a story, and then let the public believe the whole lot like it’s an official account etc), but it just doesn’t work for me. I don’t entirely reject the idea he might have been a spy, but the idea of a government (or foreign government) cover up for me requires too much inconsistency between what was really cleverly done and what was really sloppily done….but I might be very naive especially when we talk so long ago….
milongal: my belief is that being good at covering up incompetence is not in itself a form of competence, but is rather a scaled-up janitorial skill.
By that measure, I don’t see anything qualitatively different between any two government agencies you could care to name. They all employ lots of janitors. 🙂
Going over this old stuff for the first time and my intuition is running rampant. We’ve got this old fellow way to old to be at the front and with a family heading off to Japan with the occupational forces for what purpose.Spends four months there and leaves for some unknown destination and is discharged almost a year later. His papers are marked not to be released until 2020 and as one of our contributors states thats not significant well I think otherwise. Lets go through it a little more carefully and then we’ll get to his case at Adelaide railway cloak room depository which is the key to my submission. We can forget about his ww1 service which has been proven incorrect and should have been from the start. He signs up in 1939 at ww2 outbreak giving a fake y.o.b for very obvious reasons and is discharged soon thereafter for similar reasons (to old to serve in a frontline unit for one and having a family to support for another) No problem with serving on the homefront though so he signs up again and gets a posting at 115 hospital st Heidleberg filling his patriotic fervor as well as keeping mum and the kids happy. For some reason at wars end he decides to extend his service and go to Japan with the occupation forces now we must ask ourselves why and this may be the time to wonder about what he was doing before the big bang. It appears at that he as a dispatch clerk or some thing along those lines which at first blush seems quite a mundane innocuous profession. Is it possible I wonder that he had other less patriotic feelings and that Japan was the place that the real fruits of his loyalties might be fulfilled.
Whist at work in Heidelberg he may have had opportunity to meet certain other strange bedfellows so to speak some of whom are known to us in previous postings and one in particular who is not. I’m not going to elaborate more on this particular person except to say that he probably isn’t SM having been born in Germany in 1911 of Italian heritage and that he was on staff at 115 and most likely went to Japan at the same time as the subject. I don’t know too much about what was going on in that country just after surrender but apart from total chaos and a hotbed of disenfranchised people of all political persuasions it must have been as the place to fulfill ones aspirations whatever. Tom and his buddy (?) were only there for a few months and we must ask why considering that a normal overseas military posting in those days was 1 year. Were they caught mixing with folk not to our government’s liking or something else equally outputting. Did our man spend a year in the slammer for some military indiscretion which seems possible hence the ‘do not disturb’ sign on his papers. I might add that not having the standard
Rising Sun badge on his grave marker is also somewhat inconsistent for a returned man…. I’m reasonably happy to say that I think the ‘T. KEANE’ name on the tie and one particular printed T. KEANE on an apparent military document seen on another website (Anemptyglass) are the same hand and although there is not a great deal to compare I’m impressed by the somewhat unusual squaretopped letter ‘A’. As for the contents of the case my eyes light up when I see things like the Japanese slippers soap dish and carnivalware mini saucer. The Japanese ‘lion’ toothpaste could only have gotten to Australia by someone coming from that country bearing in mind
that 1948 would not have seen such products being exported by the usual means. The Rogers brand surgical scissors and possibly the loupe are from the hospital in Kobe whilst the pencils, the unused army lighter, prepaid envelopes, Barbour housewife linen threads and sundry nickbacks would
have been the normal giveaways associated with on post Red Cross facilities.
There are other factors which are of equal import which I will elude to on another posting including the coincidental return of Jim Beaumont from his stint in Japan at around the same time as our subject herein.
Working on some interesting associates of Mr. Keane. Can anyone help me with a nominal roll website for personell attached to 130 Australian General Hospital in Kure Japan 1946/47 or other rolls for BCOF veterans. Is there any possibility that nurse Thomson could have done a stint during say 1942/43 in New Guinea or perhaps even 45/46 before Robin came along as there does seem to be periods around those times when she was off radar. What do we know about the the cipher section of the RAN code encryption office and work of its clerical staff for instance I know that our code was sent off to them by Sapol for analysis.
@Misca (a long time ago). Granted names change from generation to generation, and that wasn’t my point. Surely, though, it’s more than a little odd for someone to simultaneously be writing his own name by 2 different variations – assuming of course he’d put the name on the clothing himself (and my original post was making exactly that point – that it’s possible someone else wrote his name on one or more of the items). There are other possibilities, though, like the name is KEAN and the ‘E’ on the tie is not an ‘E’ at all (It seems a lot less legible than the rest of it, to the point where people speculated KEANIC at one stage).
Nonetheless, I stand by my earlier points that I don’t think the name variation is easily dismissed, and I think it’s particularly problematic if we are to assume that it is SM’s identity…
Milongal: Did you do the original stuff on our kiwi namesake. I’d like to see it if possible. I am not able to get the good stuff here because of money transfer problems for appropriate search sites. I seem to recall that he was only mentioned for ww1 but somewhere later there was a ww2 reference with a 1948 discharge date. It seems a bit late in the day for demobilization and perhaps I’m mistaken also why doesn’t ausie thomas get a mention on our nominal roll under his name or his numbers. In your last post I heard bells ringing but alas these days I’m a little slow and the point you raised about multiple signature forms has the best of me. Perhaps it will come to me in the morning when I’m sober. For your information just this evening I was thinking of a grand conspiracy concocted by two people of the same name meeting by chance and then planning a scam. Unfortunately the full details elude me but tomorrow should bring clarity.
@ John Sanders: I think that might have been someone else, that said, WWI records from various sources are collated online (google aif database and nzef database and look for results with domain “adfa.edu.au” (Australian Defence Force Academy) in the address.
There’s also a WWII nominal roll that I’ve come across….
Terence Henry Keane was of some interest to me even though he outlived SM, in part because of the similarity to “Torence”/”Laurence” that was mentioned elsewhere, and in part because his WWII service record had acronyms on it I didn’t understand, that I read a whole bunch of stuff into….
That said (as per my previous post) I increasingly think the Kean(e) connection is coinky dink rather than direct (that is, that SM had clothes that had been owned by a Kean, but they hadn’t necessarily been in contact – and the idea that a philanthropic Kean(e) donated them to a hospital/refuge sits comfortably with me….). I suspect the Keane connection will prove relatively mundane, other than perhaps indicating where the clothes might have been sourced from – which (if we are to believe SM was newly arrived in town that morning – although for mine the jury’s still out on a lot of things about the railway station) would likely not have been in Adelaide….
It would be interesting to find how common a surname KEAN(E) (and variants) would have been around that time – we certainly seem to be digging up a lot of different Keane’s. I think it’s entirely plausible that T Keane and Kean (no initial, I think, which increases the likelihood in my mind) relate to 2 totally separate identities.
Apologies I see now it was Patagonian did the work on our new zone fellow.
I recall that my scam was put together by two u.s. conscripts who were rear echelon soldiers in the Korean war and I think they were based in okinawa. One worked in grave registration and the other was a mortuary attendant who had access to unidentified corpses who were non battle casualties ie ones with no physical injuries. To cut a long story short they got together with others of the same ilk who in civilian life had been doctors lawyers draftsmen lithographers bankers and insurance salesman. They could could get away with just about anything as normal processing measures relating to disposal of the dead did not apply in a war zone. The upshod is that their produce was processed and distributed along the lines of a meat packing house then sent back to the states for false I.d preparation and disposal to their customer base. The goods would be dressed appropriately then dumped where they could easily be located (on the beach) and the wheels would turn and eventually lead to a large insurance payout. In order for the deal to be successful our conspirators had to rely somewhat on effective police investigation picking up on the not too obvious clues. But of course this sort of stuff only happens in America right so whats it got to do with our SM and the Keane twins who knows.
Whoops. Patagon & Newzlnd – 1 could…sorry
The Fall. (Excerpts from) Lucky Lonely Sixpence J.S. Tanned
The man had caught a fungal bug on station in New Zelnd
Have no fear says Bessie dear we’ll send you to Jack Clelnd
Professor John had dined with Kings one should not take him lightly
Was just at home with fairy rings or yeast blooms most unsightly
I’m sure I’ve seen this type of crud Jack tells our anxious friend
Old Persians called it Tamam Shud distinctly put ‘the end’
But these days we can offer hope just scrub your balls with caustic soap
And bathe your Johnson in the sea will kill the spoors worked for me
I’m sure to see you later on and we’ll settle with you then
As we now know he was’nt wrong they would meet once again
The man goes to the Henley rail but takes a bus instead
So carefull not to leave a trail a chap could wind up dead
Upon arrival checks his rear and goes to call on Bess
Can’t help but see she’s acting queer…some women I confess
He begs his leave and says that he will stroll down to the beach
She makes him take some ‘herbal tea’ the thoughtful little peach
Alas for him its now ebb tide puts aside the treat for Johnson
He shakes his thirst with glycoside prepared by Bessie Thompson
Then sits upon some seawall rocks to rest and get his bearing
Attired in fancy shoes and socks…as for the clothes he’s wearing
Marco strides elasto backing coat and vest with feather tacking
Just a credit to be seen but credit most to Thomas Keane
He dreams about a sea girt land and this new upstart nation
Then lights one up and lifts his hand in weary salutation
Now in his chest he feels a thud but does not yet comprehend
That finite statement Tamam Shud..his last words..ahh the end
So quiet the clarion mute the fife nor sensual words proclaim
No crowded hour of glorious life just an age without a name
Lets just suppose we call him Zac would it be within the law
It is not going to bring him back but he should not want for more
Whoops. J.S. Tanner, sinsinctly, slaked. Sorry about that but hope you liked the ‘ditty’ and with any appropriate apologies for offence none of which is intended.
On the evening of 30 Nov 1948 at Adelaide’s Tivoli theatre Joanna Priest presented her debute opening presentation of her ballet ‘The Listener’s which was based loosely on a poem of the same name by Walter de la Mare. The main theme involved a lone traveller who encounters two phantom females one of whome loved him and was the mother of his child. The other was a woman that he loved but could not have (possibly because he was dead). Ms. Priest’s mentor was a Polish born dancer/choreographer that she had colaborated with since the 30’s when they performed with the same touring company. Don’t know how it ended but sounds pretty grim and our SM certainly did’nt get to see it. Just as a little quite irrelevant but interesting sidelight & occurring some years later, Ms. Priest just happened to be mentor to two up and coming ballet students named McMahon (Thomson) and Egan both of whome became well known for more reasons than they would have thought at the time.
My previous posting under the T.L. Keane heading might appear to be misspaced but this is not the case as he remains the connection to the iconic suitcase and to a certain employee at a military hospital who inturn is the hook-up to a cypher clerk working within naval intelligence no less. Within this circle we also have relationships with a number of touring ballet companies who had become stranded in Australia with the outbreak of ww2, and of course the artists themselves whose allegiances would have varied. Talking of hospitals there happened to be a well loved old army nursing matron H.E.M McMahon and I wonder if she and nurse Harkness ever crossed paths prior to her confinement with young Robin.
Whoops..misplaced..And forgot to mention that Matron McMahon was Thomas Alfred Keane’s boss at 130 Australian Hospital in Kure Japan 1947. But but alas methinks I’m only talking to myself.
We’re listening…..we just have nothing to add
An invitation to the dance is a book about the history of the Australian ballet and compiled by Pamela Ruskin who worked for naval intelligence as a decoder during ww2 she was born in England whilst her husband Alfred was a German born Pole who was a Sgt. at 124 special hospital in Puckapunyal. Part of his responsibilities were to assist with patients being transferred from 115 hospital for specific treatment. Before enlistment he was a publisher of books predominantly related to poetry and the arts as educational tools. The Riskins were to become very well known in Australian /NZ Jewish circles. I’d like to be able to show that they likely knew SM a prominent and colourful character and former ballet dancer/choreographer/teacher. I can’t do this alone unfortunately due mostly to my ineptitude for research and I’m hopefull that I might be able to encourage people better equiped. If you’re interested climb aboard for an interesting journey if not I’ll cheerfully carry on regardless.
John S, (son of Bosambo), you continue to to intrigue (me, I mean) with your ‘hey nonny nonny,’ and that ancient mariner eye that fixeth one in three, you are sure digging them up! There are more suspects around here than there are for Jack the Ripper. As Milongal says, your audience awaits.
I’ve always tried (not always successfully) to adhere to the warning words of Sir Walter Scott in his immortal epic Marmion but I still think its ok to do a little stretching to get one’s point across…I was reading my copy of the B.H. miner the other day and happened on an upcoming horse race in Victoria. It was race seven at Williamstown from memory and one of the acceptors was a nag named ‘khayyam’. I forget the exact date but the year was 1944 and I recalled that a person of interest happened to be into the Melbourne racing scene at that time (actually two). I had earlier been trying for Tamam Shud but nothing came up and in my rather amateurish attempt to glean any further usefully information I was rather heartened by the revelation that another Omar Khayyam with very strong (in a round about way) Australian ties had won the Kentucky Derby in 1917. Its sire was Marco of all names and a little further dabbling revealed yet another Omar Khayyam racing in Australia about the same time. It only dawned on me then that the 1944 horse would in all probability not have been called Omar because of the same name 25 year hiatus rule. Nothing too relevant here but I’d still like it if some more enterprising sleuth could look into ownership of Khayyam and if the name ends in s k y you are in for a Tats super draw or something.
Cfn., I see you’ve jumped ship and obviously well timed. Welcome aboard schwabby you’ll be replacing Seaman Mikkelsen who appears to be missing again. Your job is to keep those darned albatross’ from nesting in the top foremast staysail rigging and the job starts now..aloft away swab.
Misca: If you’re still doing Tibor/natural/
Misca: If you’re still doing Tibor/Tatura/Dunera boys, I just picked up on something connected to my post back on 27 July. B E M McMahon was not only Alfred Ruskin’s and Thomas Kean’s boss, she was also Matron of Tatura internment camp hospital before her stint at 130 Aust. General in Kure Japan. A book has just been published titled Monica’s War by John McMahon. (Boolarong Press 2016) and it has some interesting chapter headings with many illustrations too. There is also a facebook page if you can get into that and I’m thinking you may pick up on some interesting snippets. Check it out if you haven’t already and let us know what gives.
John – The connections you’ve made here are very interesting. I did do some research on Matron McMahon a while back and I searched for a connection to Jessica as well. (I too thought that perhaps she may have done a short stint abroad.) I did not find her or anything to substantiate this possibility. That said, it’s not impossible to think that she was using a different name.
I haven’t had a lot of time to research but I’m game and will keep looking when I can.
Only a couple years after we cared…..
The middle signature (written out fully – ‘Thomas Leonard Keane’ looks to be written by a different hand. Lots of loopy bits missing, and the last ‘e’ is on a totally different angle, and the K looks more like a H…..
It might be the medium (ie it was a different type of pen), or text vs a signature (in which case it may have been entered by someone else who filled the form in and had him sign it), but to me the differences look pretty significant….
Milongal: Crikies, that’s a real blast from the past and I know that the boss was happy to crawl away from Thomas Lawrence, when he came along; all of 170cm, old as the hills and full of bullet holes. So we had both Thomas Leonard’s in Japan ’46 through ’47 and ’48; the Aussie and the Kiwi, both passing on about’73 as I seem to recall; along with John, and Ted Keane, all of them capable of writing their name on a tie and buying a tube of jap toothpaste for the boat trip home. Your Thomas was a railway clerk from memory, three stints in the army and came from Melbourne; saw a photo of him standing with his Marie, not long before he went to heaven. I noted that he was left handed which tallies with his writing, though I think there were peculiarities noted. What’s it do for us son and if so, can I be of any assistance. NB: Of course Jim Beaumont and Jessie’s brother-in-law Norm? Carr were also in Japan in the same period along with one of the Thomson lads, Chalmers I’ve been told.
According to ace researcher Rowan Holmes, In 1946, Tom Keane, a railway shop steward and secretary of Newport branch of the ALP, was sacked from the party for his alleged pro soviet marxist allegences. So happens that our namesake, a partime military hospital orderly, strangely volunteered for post war service in Japan which kept him away from the Melbourne scene for several months in ’47. I’m feeling fairly confident that Rowan’s red Tom Keane and true blue Tom Keane may well be the same Tom. Both were longtime railway clerks and both were apparently Newport boys,born and arguably ill-bred. As for mine, I’ll never forget the first time I spied that tube of Jap Lion brand fluoride toothpaste in the Keane suitcase..Still gives me goose bumps, along with the accompanying, halter nose strap lead ring etc. I also recall that the usual AIF cross, standard fare for old dead diggers, is mysteriously abscent from our Tom’s 1973 memorial plate. He was well entitled due to his WW1 service, but a communist convert in later life might not have sat well with a rightwing mob like the Victorian Returned Services League, plaque comittee and their usual dedication rites.
SM: They say you can tell all about a man by the cut of his clothes. Well you certainly have confounded that long held belief my man, managing to keep your secret intact for three score and ten years. The filth couldn’t make any headway, the coroner did no better, despite all the so called expert opinion at his disposal, and we mere mortals, have not been able to improve on that score one iota. I don’t blame you in the least for your discretion, afterall what do you have to gain from any disclosures about yourself. My advice is just roll over in your old pine box and let all of us intrusive, sticky-beak ghouls go to buggery.
By the way a belated 105 birthday wish from all at CM and don’t worry, your secrets are safe with us for a whlle; make that a long while for our beligerants over on the dark side.
Dame Margaret Hookham: Anthropologist David F.F. Thomson 1901-1970, was most certainly a patient in Heidleberg 6 RAAF (115 Hospital) and was in all likelyhood in Adelaide for much of 1948 as chief proponent for preservation of Aboriginal land entitlement, pertaining to proposed usage of their territorial homelands for rocket and atomic testing. He worked throughout NT pre war and was a prime mover for military establishment of sophisticated coast watching in Arnham land, as well as the soon to be enemy occupied regions of Soloman Islands. During the war he was a deep cover Intelligence operative working behind the Japanese lines in Dutch East New Guinea. He retired as Wing Commander OBE in 1944 due to recurring war related issues and diabetes. He does not seem to have been a fan of Bill Stanner’s so called Nackeroos which he dubbed Curtin’s Cowboys (NAOU) was his that Alf Boxall worked with in 42/43…I’d say all’s forgiven from we lovers of The Ballet if you’re still out there.
Peteb: Time and tide awaiteth no man, Time will also enable violets to bloom on an unknown grave…But alas, in some cases, time can only cast dispertion on those who wouldst wilfully misrepresent accutate date recorded historical events. In my estimation the only one you may have scored on, was numero uno…But It seems now that a consensus of all the reported facts, suggest that the morning duds may well have been lightly striped to match the coat; As opposed to a lesser nomination for merely brown and last being the dubious claim in the Unknown Man book that the trousers were fawn for both p.m. and a.m. as depicted on the cover.
Donald Finlay Ferguson Thomson (not David) OBE, in all probability went to Adelaide from Melbourne in late ’48 to protest Federal government reneging on native title, in favour of the S.A. nuke zones. The people that he would have been likely to seek out, NT cohorts from pre war days, were the Herbert brothers, Alf and Dave who came south after their Rum Jungle stint in late ‘47. Plus the three half caste McInnis (sic) bros. Joe, Val and Jack, well known land rights activists, and pre war Territory chums. The trio had likely moved in with famous mum Lucy, on her small selection near Balaclava SA after their respective war service debomilizations..We’ll never know precisely who of the friends was in Adelaide on the first day of summer 1948, though I think it’d be a safe bet that at least Alf and Don, both being Keane aviation buffs, were most likely to have been around for the air pageant at Parafields, ten days beforehand. It’s not thought that any of our rough and ready team had booked tickets for Joanna Preists ‘The Listeners’ premier ballet opening night on 30th November.