Unsolved Taman Shud Case - The Somerton Man

[petedavo]

Born in 1910 makes him younger than about 48

39.
If he was SM, which seems unlikely.
But I think it's unlikely, that he's the same dude from Queensland with an ASIO file, as there's a Tom Keane still at Newport Victoria, when this ASIO file was opened in Queensland in 1942.

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[petedavo]

Another? Thomas Ambrose Keane, born 1910, residing with an Aunt at 2 Speight St Newport, and working at Newport Workshops Victoria joined the Army Cadets in 1923.
http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/scripts/AutoSearch.asp?O=I&Number=30986094
Check the handwriting at the top of the form against the clothing label to confirm any difference. However it might not be Thomas that filled in the form.

No 2 Speight St Newport, as it looks today. (Not much difference to the 1920's, except for the car port)

In 1918 a "T Keane" was at 2 Speight St Newport

By October 1943, a family named "Tyrer" were living at 2 Speight St Newport.

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[petedavo]

Another Thomas Keane, and a mysterious disappearance. He'd probably be too old to be Somerton Man though.

18 Jul 1908 - STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE. - The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld) http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article21815014 via @TroveAustralia

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[sprockets]

Same man

 

[sprockets]

 

[petedavo]

I found a website that names Senator Richard Valentine Keane's son. It's Rex.
Just leaving these pictures of Senator Keane here to determine at some point if there's any possible hereditary similarities to Somerton Man. I haven't found any pictures of his son, Rex, as yet, or any of his brothers or nephews and I have no information as yet on whether any have the first initial T. It would seem unlikely, that there would be an reason to withhold the identity of Somerton Man if the only reason is that he was related to a cabinet minister who died 2 years before. I'm happy to rule this out without any further delving, but I'll park this here in case someone else wants to delve into some genealogical research.

KEANE, Richard Valentine (1881–1946) Senator for Victoria, 1938-46 (Australian Labor Party) | The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate

biography.senate.gov.au

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[petedavo]

Talking of Rabaul and Spies.
A tale of espionage in the 1940's (the bloke is too young to be Somerton Man, and anyhow appears to have died before 1948).

My Grandfather's cousin, Cyril Burley, had an interesting experience with an Australian Intelligence Officer whilst a war correspondent in New Guinea.

This one involved an intelligence officer named Captain John Joseph Murphy, who was eventually honorably acquitted of a treachery charge.
News clippings»

Part of RecordSearch unavailable

Court Marshall records»

Part of RecordSearch unavailable

This one has "Dead" written across it

Part of RecordSearch unavailable

Murphy's Service Record (which strongly suggests that he was actually passing information to the Japanese)»

Part of RecordSearch unavailable

Most interesting, is the accusations by Cyril about censorship of his stories and the exposure of his sources. See page 19»

Part of RecordSearch unavailable

It reads as though, Cyril might of believed that someone was trying to disrupt the court Marshall process and cover things up.


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[BlueE]

I hate to tell you, BlueE, but I burnt everything except GF's book ... including a copy of the paper that had the Harvey interview, although I do know you can get a copy from the archives in SA but it can only be done in person.
The one thing I noted was that Harvey described a small leather case that looked like a doctor's bag -- you know, the one with a needle -- well, a flute case is about the same size, and flutes have cleaning needles.
Then the conspirator then in me wondered why a man would book into a hotel for a few days with only that as his luggage .. and spend a couple of hours each day sitting in the lobby .. while staying elsewhere. Harvey said he didn't even take a drink, but they spoke from time to time, she was the receptionist.
The small leather case may have been his indicator, the Kensitas smokes in the Army club pack an indicator for the other man - two men, unknown to each other, in town to meet and exchange something.
Believe me, I figured it all out and wrote a book that has everything in it but the truth.

GF book reprinted the whole interview pp 197 -200 apparently. If you could take some photos and post those pages, it would be good to look at the whole interview.

Needle or hypodermic needle? Doctors case or flute case? I think this was SM. Her brother embalmed the body and she sound like the nosy type who may have asked her brother for a look at the body. It would make her certain in her own mind if no one listened to her at the time or she was warned off ID'ing.

It would narrow the search if it was determined he spoke English with an accent, which is how I take her statement that he didn't exactly mangle the English language. My guess at the moment is German (with American connections) and the communists involved with his murder.

Is it possible he stayed with Jo Harkness for those nights which is where his suitcase was and where he shaved. Went back to the hotel for whatever he had to do during the day, hanging around in the lobby?

 

[BlueE]

Same man


View attachment 738391

No nothing like it. Different nose, mouth, hairline, jaw, different coloured hair in real life compared to photo and no mole for a start.

Of course this is just my opinion, but I have experience in anlaysing images. I think someone with the excellent police identikit equipment should so another based on the bust, written descriptions and hair samples.

Also to have 3 eye witness regonising the photo and the woman bursting into tears when she viewed the body make me think she did recognise the body as Robert Walsh to have that visceral emotion connection. However it would be impossible for Robert Walsh to be SM but not impossible for there to be another body.

Lawson the man who made the bust mentioned the second body in his notes.

 

[BlueE]

Talking of Rabaul and Spies.
A tale of espionage in the 1940's (the bloke is too young to be Somerton Man, and anyhow appears to have died before 1948).

My Grandfather's cousin, Cyril Burley, had an interesting experience with an Australian Intelligence Officer whilst a war correspondent in New Guinea.

This one involved an intelligence officer named Captain John Joseph Murphy, who was eventually honorably acquitted of a treachery charge.
News clippings»

Part of RecordSearch unavailable

Court Marshall records»

Part of RecordSearch unavailable

This one has "Dead" written across it

Part of RecordSearch unavailable

Murphy's Service Record (which strongly suggests that he was actually passing information to the Japanese)»

Part of RecordSearch unavailable

Most interesting, is the accusations by Cyril about censorship of his stories and the exposure of his sources. See page 19»

Part of RecordSearch unavailable

It reads as though, Cyril might of believed that someone was trying to disrupt the court Marshall process and cover things up.


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Mjr William Jestyn Moulds and Alf Boxall served in the same small unit at the end of WW2.

Still wonder if there is a connection between Ernest Moulds and Jessica Harkness that Grey Crow found were married in England? It's very strange when she became pregnant around October of 1945 that she chose to have the baby as a single woman, unable to finish her nursing, with the social stigma and no obvious financial support, leaving her parent in Mentone, Sydney and going to Adelaide.

This may be incorrect but I read she went to Adelaide in March 1946 and gave birth to Robin in July 1946. Prosper Thompson was still married and living with his wife where they lived together in Mentone for at least 10 years, but he or both also went to Adelaide sometime in late 1946.

https://tamamshud.blogspot.com/

 

[BlueE]

View attachment 738392

One looks like an older version of the other, with the older one's hair been most like the actual SM hair.

 

[petedavo]

Mjr William Jestyn Moulds and Alf Boxall served in the same small unit at the end of WW2.

Still wonder if there is a connection between Ernest Moulds and Jessica Harkness that Grey Crow found were married in England? It's very strange when she became pregnant around October of 1945 that she chose to have the baby as a single woman, unable to finish her nursing, with the social stigma and no obvious financial support, leaving her parent in Mentone, Sydney and going to Adelaide.

This may be incorrect but I read she went to Adelaide in March 1946 and gave birth to Robin in July 1946. Prosper Thompson was still married and living with his wife where they lived together in Mentone for at least 10 years, but he or both also went to Adelaide sometime in late 1946.

https://tamamshud.blogspot.com/
View attachment 738999

Someone advertised a couple of prams for sale using the address of 19 Abingdon St Wooloongabba during 1946. The same address used in adverts to sell a piano and other musical equipment then all the rest of their worldly goods up-to 1948, including a caravan. The same address listed on the ASIO file for a Thomas Ambrose Keane, that shows that there was an inquiry into his whereabouts made in 1950. The file that was closed in 1952.
Presumably he disappeared and couldn't be found, or was declared deceased, otherwise the file would've kept going as surveillance into the EYL went on until it wound up well over a decade later.
And maybe it was a false name because the only other Thomas Ambrose Keane that could be found recorded was alive and still living in Victoria and had become a Catholic Priest. I think Thomas Ambrose Keane of 19 Abingdon St South Brisbane / West Gabba / Wooloongabba is the Somerton Man and is possibly one of his Aliases. He may of passed himself off as different characters in different states, like Walsh, the woodcutter, Reynolds the former seaman, etc. Maybe one of these is his real name. The real mystery is how and why he died, and why the obfuscation & subterfuge over his identity?

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[petedavo]

On the other hand...
Maybe Somerton Man was redressed and placed upon the beach.
Maybe the suitcase was also left to be found as a decoy. Maybe the clothes and the suitcase actually belonged to someone else. The Thomas Ambrose Keane of Queensland?
Did Prosper Thompson kill Keane and dispose of him too?
Maybe Somerton Man will remain forever some poor unknown cove dressed in another victim's clothes?
Maybe there are other victims. Was Thompson a serial killer?
Poison however is the method usually of the female serial killer.
BTW, no one has asked the obvious yet.
If Somerton Man ate a pastie 2 hours before he died. And he supposedly died at 2am. Where did he buy a pastie at midnight?
There's only 1 possible answer...
He was invited in and served a pastie in someone's home.
Yes, he was murdered.
And the bloke on the beach, the night before? Was probably Prosper, setting up the scene so people would think that the Somerton Man was there all night and died there, when in fact Somerton Man was waiting inside Jessica's house whilst Prosper "went to buy some ****" to replace the one's that he bummed off Somerton Man.


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[sprockets]

No nothing like it. Different nose, mouth, hairline, jaw, different coloured hair in real life compared to photo and no mole for a start.

Of course this is just my opinion, but I have experience in anlaysing images. I think someone with the excellent police identikit equipment should so another based on the bust, written descriptions and hair samples.

Also to have 3 eye witness regonising the photo and the woman bursting into tears when she viewed the body make me think she did recognise the body as Robert Walsh to have that visceral emotion connection. However it would be impossible for Robert Walsh to be SM but not impossible for there to be another body.

Lawson the man who made the bust mentioned the second body in his notes.

IMO it's clearly the same man, given the similarities I pointed out with the arrows (ie, the whole of his face), but let's agree to disagree, as usual. So your theory is they released, even though they didn't have to, a picture of a man that obviously no-one knew but who wasn't Somerton Man, even though witnesses saw Somerton Man and would likely dispute the picture that was him? Why would they? What end would it serve? Why not just release a picture of the 'real' Somerton Man?

 

[peteb]

GF book reprinted the whole interview pp 197 -200 apparently. If you could take some photos and post those pages, it would be good to look at the whole interview.

Needle or hypodermic needle? Doctors case or flute case? I think this was SM. Her brother embalmed the body and she sound like the nosy type who may have asked her brother for a look at the body. It would make her certain in her own mind if no one listened to her at the time or she was warned off ID'ing.

It would narrow the search if it was determined he spoke English with an accent, which is how I take her statement that he didn't exactly mangle the English language. My guess at the moment is German (with American connections) and the communists involved with his murder.

Is it possible he stayed with Jo Harkness for those nights which is where his suitcase was and where he shaved. Went back to the hotel for whatever he had to do during the day, hanging around in the lobby?

Harvey also remembered him giving her a small blue (powder?) container before saying goodbye ... now that proves he wasn’t Australian, we only do that sort of thing for the little woman on her birthday or for mum on Mother’s Day.

 

[BlueE]

Harvey also remembered him giving her a small blue (powder?) container before saying goodbye ... now that proves he wasn’t Australian, we only do that sort of thing for the little woman on her birthday or for mum on Mother’s Day.

Careful Pete

Does suggest she had time over a few days to see him, talk to him and observe what he was doing!

 

[BlueE]

IMO it's clearly the same man, given the similarities I pointed out with the arrows (ie, the whole of his face), but let's agree to disagree, as usual. So your theory is they released, even though they didn't have to, a picture of a man that obviously no-one knew but who wasn't Somerton Man, even though witnesses saw Somerton Man and would likely dispute the picture that was him? Why would they? What end would it serve? Why not just release a picture of the 'real' Somerton Man?

I do think the actual hair samples are a deal breaker for the brown haired man in the photo.

What I believe is his identity was known to those higher up that the Adelaide police. That either his identity or what he was doing around Adelaide at the time was such a huge secret that is still being kept today.

I don't think it's a co-incidence that ASIO was formed a few months later in March 1949 and this wasn't isolated spying but an important culmination or escalation so the head of British Intelligence and CIA were summoned to Australia.

Initially ASIO was to protect from foreign spying, sabotage and espionage and the big ass secret is either his identity or whatever spying or sabotage he may have been involved in. This also suggests he was foreign and either Nazi German or Russian would have been still enemies of Australia at the time.

ASIO: The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation is Australia's national security agency responsible for the protection of the country and its citizens from espionage, sabotage, acts of foreign interference, politically motivated violence, attacks on the Australian defence system, and terrorism.

 

[BlueE]

On the other hand...
Maybe Somerton Man was redressed and placed upon the beach.
Maybe the suitcase was also left to be found as a decoy. Maybe the clothes and the suitcase actually belonged to someone else. The Thomas Ambrose Keane of Queensland?
Did Prosper Thompson kill Keane and dispose of him too?
Maybe Somerton Man will remain forever some poor unknown cove dressed in another victim's clothes?
Maybe there are other victims. Was Thompson a serial killer?
Poison however is the method usually of the female serial killer.
BTW, no one has asked the obvious yet.
If Somerton Man ate a pastie 2 hours before he died. And he supposedly died at 2am. Where did he buy a pastie at midnight?
There's only 1 possible answer...
He was invited in and served a pastie in someone's home.
Yes, he was murdered.
And the bloke on the beach, the night before? Was probably Prosper, setting up the scene so people would think that the Somerton Man was there all night and died there, when in fact Somerton Man was waiting inside Jessica's house whilst Prosper "went to buy some ****" to replace the one's that he bummed off Somerton Man.

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No indication that Jessica and Prosper were living together at the time as Prosper was advertising giving another address. However Prosper seemed to come into money the following year I think.

1,200 pounds which was enough to buy a basic house at the time. He placed an advertisement in the classified to buy a house, saying he had 1,200 pounds and was asking if anyone had a house to sell.

Enough to keep him quiet although keeping Robyn safe would be a deterrent for not talking.

Not even close to the 50,000 pounds that Elliott Johnson was said to have been given in 1949!

 

[peteb]

Careful Pete

Does suggest she had time over a few days to see him, talk to him and observe what he was doing!

That she did, she also said he looked very tired on the last day she saw or spoke to him, 'distraught' was the word she used.

 

[peteb]

That she did, she also said he looked very tired on the last day she saw or spoke to him, 'distraught' was the word she used.

The conspirator in me says his state of mind may have been caused by reading a newspaper account of the death of the Somerton Man and a description of what was found in his pockets.

 

[sprockets]

I do think the actual hair samples are a deal breaker for the brown haired man in the photo.

What I believe is his identity was known to those higher up that the Adelaide police. That either his identity or what he was doing around Adelaide at the time was such a huge secret that is still being kept today.

I don't think it's a co-incidence that ASIO was formed a few months later in March 1949 and this wasn't isolated spying but an important culmination or escalation so the head of British Intelligence and CIA were summoned to Australia.

Initially ASIO was to protect from foreign spying, sabotage and espionage and the big ass secret is either his identity or whatever spying or sabotage he may have been involved in. This also suggests he was foreign and either Nazi German or Russian would have been still enemies of Australia at the time.

ASIO: The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation is Australia's national security agency responsible for the protection of the country and its citizens from espionage, sabotage, acts of foreign interference, politically motivated violence, attacks on the Australian defence system, and terrorism.

What about the mystery man in the picture that wasn't Somerton Man? Did they keep him on hand for when a spy that looked like his identical twin came along and was murdered? No-one knew who he was? Where did he come from? If it's not SM it's just as big a mystery.

BTW. I also believe SM could have been a spy. It's not like there have never been any, even murdered ones, in Australia.

 

[BlueE]

The conspirator in me says his state of mind may have been caused by reading a newspaper account of the death of the Somerton Man and a description of what was found in his pockets.

But didn't she say he checked out on the 30th November? Then was found the next morning? No chance to read the papers

Appreciate your knowledge Pete. Did Ina report her sighting immediately or did she wait for years until she gave that news paper interview?

 

[petedavo]

What about the mystery man in the picture that wasn't Somerton Man? Did they keep him on hand for when a spy that looked like his identical twin came along and was murdered? No-one knew who he was? Where did he come from? If it's not SM it's just as big a mystery.

BTW. I also believe SM could have been a spy. It's not like there have never been any, even murdered ones, in Australia.

Photography is a funny thing. Especially in the days before automatic exposures. The f stop, shutter speed, lighting, the type of film, and how it's developed all make huge differences to the final photograph. It could well produce vastly different images of the same subject. The black and white photos I suspect were over exposed or over developed. The colour photos give a vastly better rendition of what Somerton Man might of looked like.

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[BlueE]

What about the mystery man in the picture that wasn't Somerton Man? Did they keep him on hand for when a spy that looked like his identical twin came along and was murdered? No-one knew who he was? Where did he come from? If it's not SM it's just as big a mystery.

BTW. I also believe SM could have been a spy. It's not like there have never been any, even murdered ones, in Australia.

I don't think they look anything alike or are physically compatible as the person in the photo doesn't have broad shoulders. But I believe that Mr Walsh had an accident just before SM was discovered and word came from higher authorities that SM's identity was not to be disclosed, so someone decided to photograph his face.

A photo was taken of Mr Walsh, the photographer was very vague in his Inquest statement that he was told to take a photo of a person and he was told this person was found on the beach at Somerton. Mr Walsh with his hair dyed ginger (although that's not very successful on brown haired people) and his facial features touched up was said to be SM.

I don't think you can fake the reaction the widow that he'd boarded with for years had when she saw his body or Jessica's reaction to the bust she saw, even though the photograph had been in circulation for months.

 

[BlueE]

Photography is a funny thing. Especially in the days before automatic exposures. The f stop, shutter speed, lighting, the type of film, and how it's developed all make huge differences to the final photograph. It could well produce vastly different images of the same subject. The black and white photos I suspect were over exposed or over developed. The colour photos give a vastly better rendition of what Somerton Man might of looked like.

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The colour impressions are from artists drawings of what SM may look like using the bust made of him.