Unsolved Taman Shud Case - The Somerton Man

[BlueE]

One of the many Commonwealth Investigations Branch (Predecessor of ASIO) files on NAA of surveillance of Zionist organizations in Australia. This one contains details of Communist Party links, and reports from Agents sent to infiltrate meetings and report transcripts of meetings and membership lists.

Part of RecordSearch unavailable

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So why was Communist Party member and organisor Elliott Johnston who spent 18 months training in China in 1950 and years up until 1957 after the war, travelling around promoting the Communist party able to succeed as a lawyer, QC and be a Supreme Court judge in Adelaide?

 

[BlueE]

Is is a capital T or a Hasidic ך "ende khuf."?


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The T has always looked strange, so don't know. However I'm suious why the name was just on one out of three ties and question whether the name Keane is really a Leane?

Det-Sgt Raymond Lionel Leane's signature with the writing found on the tie. Not even sure if the E at the end of Keane is an E and not a JR.


So don't know how much weight you can put on the name T Keane being attached to this man?

 

[Redacted]

So why was Communist Party member and organisor Elliott Johnston who spent 18 months training in China in 1950 and years up until 1957 after the war, travelling around promoting the Communist party able to succeed as a lawyer, QC and be a Supreme Court judge in Adelaide?

It's a bit difficult to understand why some people prospered yet others went to gaol for doing much the bloody same. Go figure. Archbishop Dr Mannix was under active surveillance as he was suspected of treasonous activities and publicly supported the Irish Republican cause. yet Albert Dryer & 5 other INA office bearers were the ones that were arrested and iterned upon allegations of using invisible ink and writing coded messages to each other.

Irish National Association | The Dictionary of Sydney

dictionaryofsydney.org

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[Redacted]

Apparently British Authorities refused to release the Body of Thomas Keane after he was allegedly executed. No civilians were allowed to witness the execution, including his wife nor the priest, although apparently the priest was reportly allowed to annoint his body. There's no report from the priest to confirm that he saw any gun shot wounds though. Whether Thomas Keane was actually dead does not seem to have any independent verification.

http://www.limerickcity.ie/media/wain083.pdf

View attachment wain083.pdf

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[BlueE]

Apparently British Authorities refused to release the Body of Thomas Keane after he was allegedly executed. No civilians were allowed to witness the execution, including his wife nor the priest, although apparently the priest was reportly allowed to annoint his body. There's no report from the priest to confirm that he saw any gun shot wounds though. Whether Thomas Keane was actually dead does not seem to have any independent verification.

http://www.limerickcity.ie/media/wain083.pdf

View attachment 750609

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If your Irish Thomas Keane didn't actually die in 1930 he would have been 57 in Dec 1948. Too old for SM. Also I don't think he looks like SM at all and doesn't have the same coloured hair.

The description of SM's body being 5 foot 11 inches and very broad shoulders with narrow hips and pronounced calves, is of an extremely fit athlete, that looked so out of place in 1948 that Lawson (who took the plaster cast), had only seen his calf muscle definition in women that had worn high heeled shoes all their lives.

That doesn't mean he had, but this calf muscle definition and his full body physique was so out of place that it was worth commenting on it in 1948/49. In our days we might think a highly trained athlete or swimmer or ballet dancer.

 

[peteb]

Put it another way ... would a NAA file be restricted, such at TA Keane's is, if it contained a war record?

 

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During the Irish Truce 11/7/1921 - 6/12/1921, Captain Thomas Keane's body was apparently dug up by the IRA, placed in a new coffin and reburied elsewhere. This maybe the only clue to confirm that this Thomas Keane could be ruled out of contention.

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[BlueE]

Put it another way ... would a NAA file be restricted, such at TA Keane's is, if it contained a war record?

During the Irish Truce 11/7/1921 - 6/12/1921, Captain Thomas Keane's body was apparently dug up by the IRA, placed in a new coffin and reburied elsewhere. This maybe the only clue to confirm that this Thomas Keane could be ruled out of contention.

Not the only clue as his age, facial features, hair, and body type didn't indicate he was SM.

Talking abut restricted war records. Would Elliottt Johnson's record be restricted? Elliott gave an interview which included only the dates and place of his war service in New Guinea from 1943 to 1945.

It's hard to get any information about which unit he served in and I'm curious if it was the same as Alf Boxall and Mjr William Jestyn Moulds?

 

[Redacted]

Put it another way ... would a NAA file be restricted, such at TA Keane's is, if it contained a war record?

A lot of individual War records form WW2 have already been digitised and are available in full. More recent war records, like Vietnam are embargoed where people are still alive. Mainly because NAA can still find people interested enough to pay the money to digitise them. Having said that, the curators were most kind to digitise my grand uncle's record upon my request for free, once they read his autobiography.

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[Redacted]

Not the only clue as his age, facial features, hair, and body type didn't indicate he was SM.

Talking abut restricted war records. Would Elliottt Johnson's record be restricted? Elliott gave an interview which included only the dates and place of his war service in New Guinea from 1943 to 1945.

It's hard to get any information about which unit he served in and I'm curious if it was the same as Alf Boxall and Mjr William Jestyn Moulds?

Johnson's file hasn't been digitised as yet, if this is him

Session expired | RecordSearch | National Archives of Australia

recordsearch.naa.gov.au

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[Redacted]

Johnson's file hasn't been digitised as yet, if this is him

Session expired | RecordSearch | National Archives of Australia

recordsearch.naa.gov.au

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Boxall's war records are freely available though

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[BlueE]

Boxall's war records are freely available though

Part of RecordSearch unavailable

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What about Mjr. William Jestyn Moulds?

 

[Redacted]

What about Mjr. William Jestyn Moulds?

Dunno why you don't just look it up yourself.
Comes up without a hitch.

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[Redacted]

There's lot's of Keane's to go through. .

This Thomas Leonard Keane would be 100 in 1998. So why is there stuff in his file from 1997-1998?

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[Redacted]

I was pretty sure that all potential records were at least listed, even if not digitised, on NAA. However, I did an experiment to make sure.
I checked my dad, National Service - No /RAAF service - No / immigration - yes.
I checked my wife's uncle's Army service record - No / immigration - No
I checked my mum's cousin National Service - Yes / Army personnel - No.

So it seems that not everyone's records are in NAA and some are not even listed at all, when I know for a fact that they do have records deposited at NAA

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[BlueE]

Looked up Elliott Frank Johnston because of my curiosity with why Jessica Harkness moved to Adelaide to have her baby as a single Mum with the suspicion she may have had Russian connections. Moved away from her parents in Mentone, Sydney and Proper Thompson who had lived at Mentone with his wife for the previous 10 years. He also moved to Adelaide by the end of 1949 but had another address that he gave as well as Jessica's.

Elliott Johnston managed to thrive and become a successful QC and Supreme Court judge while being a card carrying, out and proud communist in an era where Communists were imprisoned or deported.

Elliott has three volumes of documents on his war records, covering around 400 items of which 330 are permanently closed. The following reasons are given by ASIO for them never to be seen.

33(1)(a) - would damage Australia's security, defence or international relations;

33(1)(d) - would be a breach of confidence;

33(1)(e)(ii) and 33(1)(a) - would, or could reasonably be expected to disclose the existence or identity of a confidential source of information, including a person providing confidential information to the National Crime Authority or the Australian Federal Police or a witness under the Witness Protection Act 1994;

33(1)(g) - would unreasonably disclose information about the personal affairs of a person;

For the 70 or so items that are able to be seen are mainly his military timetable, newspaper clippings of ASIO mainly following his Communist party meetings for "World Peace" and reports of his travels by ship to Russia, Korea, India, about 6 months he spent in China.

It seems letters to his wife Elizabeth back in Adelaide were opened and the contents typed out and kept, with a couple of examples.

Born in 1918 Elliott was at University studying law when war broke out and he was reluctant to enlist. There is a record of him on 8th Jan 1942, being approached as a person evading universal training and telling the person, he'd "been busy". It was noted he was prominent in communist circles and likely to give any excuse to evade military duties, and likely to have a detrimental effect on the war effort.


He eventually went into training and his letters still being recorded show he was looking forward to being transferred to Education Service.


He did embark on two tours to Papua New Guinea 31st March 1943 - 16th April 1944 and 29th December 1944 - 22nd December 1945.

Discharged by Termination of Appointment on 3rd January 1946.

Elliott was actively involved in organising meetings for the Australian Communist Party to discuss "The Fight for Peace". There are records of a meeting in Adelaide on 7th September 1948 and 12th October 1948 as examples. There could be meeting every month but many documents from after 12th October 1948 until 1951 are closed under ASIO. This is also the time that includes when SM was discovered on 1st December 1948.

 

[BlueE]

The Somerton Man Mystery with Fiona Ellis-Jones - ABC listen

In one of Australia's most perplexing cold cases, post-war Adelaide is stumped by the discovery of a body on Somerton Beach.

www.abc.net.au

RN Presents The Somerton Man Mystery ABC

Presented by Fiona Ellis - Jones

This looks like a well researched podcast giving an over view of the SM case. Has some interviews with experts analysing evidence, interviews of witnesses with first hand accounts and audio of Stuart Littlemore's 1978 documentary as a basis.

 

[Redacted]

It seems there are quite a few links between Australia and the IRA, but there are some that are consequential rather than direct.

41. Archbishop Patrick Clune

www.mcb.wa.gov.au

Patrick Clune - Wikipedia

www.wikipedia.org

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Conor Clune - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Cairo Gang - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

NB. The name Mannix pops up when looking at the assassination of British Intelligence officers in 1920. Any relation to Archbishop Mannix yet to be confirmed, but it may well be the reason that Australian Attorney General's Dept put him under surveillance in 1920 as per the file on him and Irish Republican organisations found in NAA.

Which only makes me wonder whether The Deceased found upon Somerton Beach in 1948 was Irish as would the name tags in the name of Keane might suggest, and kept a low profile due to some previous history or run ins?

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[Redacted]

The weird things one finds in NAA.

Torn words from pages, just like the Rubyiat

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And then this, 212 pages in the 1st volume of Queensland File on Sinn Fein with gems like "be careful to throw this letter in the fire when finished"

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[BlueE]

The Somerton Man Mystery with Fiona Ellis-Jones - ABC listen

In one of Australia's most perplexing cold cases, post-war Adelaide is stumped by the discovery of a body on Somerton Beach.

www.abc.net.au

RN Presents The Somerton Man Mystery ABC

Presented by Fiona Ellis - Jones

This looks like a well researched podcast giving an over view of the SM case. Has some interviews with experts analysing evidence, interviews of witnesses with first hand accounts and audio of Stuart Littlemore's 1978 documentary as a basis.

Recommend anyone interested has a listen to this new podcast. They will be discussing DNA evidence in the next ones.

I'm hoping it will follow up on the new DNA analysis that was undertaken in June 2018.

Renee and Aimee are hoping they can also contribute fresh evidence by using a world-first trace DNA sampling technique that has been developed in part by Renee at the Flinders University Forensic DNA laboratory.

By using a more direct approach and amplifying DNA information from a sample instead of extracting it first, the technique allows for accurate DNA results to be obtained even when there are only very small samples available.

Last week, Renee – after seeking the proper permissions – extracted a hair sample and took numerous swabs from the cast so it could be analysed using this technique. ...

“Best case scenario would be to get a match on a database to a possible living relative, it may even narrow down the location of where he might have come from in the world,” says Renee.

“That would obviously be able to help police in their investigation if they have a list of individuals who they think he might be – it might help them narrow that down or point them in a completely different direction.”

New hope in Adelaide cold case of the Somerton Man - CityMag

Writer Aimee Knight (on the right in the image above) and doctor of forensic science Renee Blackie were initially drawn to the Somerton Man case for the same reasons most of us are. “It’s like any good mystery,” says Renee. “I always look at mysteries like a puzzle and I feel like with this case […]

citymag.indaily.com.au

 

[Redacted]

Has anyone got a copy of copy of this book?

Empire of Secrets: British Intelligence, the Cold War and the Twilight of Empire

The winner of the 2013 Longman-History Today Book Prize is the gripping and largely untold story of the role of the intelligence services in Britain’s retreat from empire. Against the background of the Cold War, and the looming spectre of Soviet-sponsored subversion in Britain’s dwindling...

books.google.com.au

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[Redacted]

Australian files on Irgun

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[Redacted]

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Is it Courtney Young, whose name is redacted in this file?

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[BlueE]

Part of RecordSearch unavailable

Is it Courtney Young, whose name is redacted in this file?

But there is nothing relating to the time period of the Somerton man so does it matter whose name is redacted? Same with the Irish research as when you listen to the podcasts seems most think the items with Kean on it was either planted or not an indication of the unknown man's name.

It would be a good idea to keep this thread for SM and start a different thread with your research on them and Menachem Begin who still seemed to be around in 1953.

You might want to add the Jewish Marshall brothers and their father who fled to Perth from Singapore at the start of WW2, set up a men's clothing store Perth and traveled smartly dressed around Australia.

"George" Joseph Saul Haim Marshall travelled often to Sydney and was found dead in Ashton Park, Mosman, on a ledge of rock over-looking Taylor Bay on the 3rd June 1945. His Hebrew name was Yosef Chaim Saul ben Yisroel and his brother David Saul Marshall, became Singapores first Chief Minister after WW2.

A copy of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam lay on his chest.

The book had a pencil mark against the lines:

Ah make the most of what we yet may spend,
Before we too Into the dust descend;
Dust into dust, and under dust to lie.
Sans wine, sans song, sans singer and-sans end.

Strangely his time of death was estimated to be two weeks earlier and his was badly decomposed. The winter weather had been wet and windy weather and animals had been feasting on his body. However the Rubaiyat was not weather damaged and lying on his chest when he was discovered.

The other strange connection to SM was that his feet and presumably his head, were facing due east looking over the water at Taylor Bay in Sydney.

Somerton Man was facing due west looking over the water at Glenelg beach when discovered.

 

[BlueE]

04 | The Somerton Man Mystery — a family connection could hold the answer - ABC listen

Derek Abbott has spent decades trying to identify the man found dead on Somerton Beach. If his theory is correct, he's married to the unknown man's great granddaughter. But to prove it, he needs the Somerton Man's DNA.

www.abc.net.au

Episode 4 has interesting interviews with Rachel Egan and others who give insights on "Granny Jo" and starts to discuss what the possible DNA of the unknown man can tell them.

Recommended listening.