Murder in the Land of Oz

On April 20, 2012, Gerard Baden-Clay phoned the police. His wife hadn’t come home from her morning walk, you see, and it wasn’t like her to be late. She had a big day ahead, and he didn’t want to cause a fuss, but he was getting worried. When the police arrived at the Baden-Clay household in Brookfield in Brisbane’s west, Gerard greeted the officers, gesturing apologetically at his face. “Cut myself shaving,” he said. He needn’t have pointed it out. Officers immediately noticed the long, ragged scratches on the side of Gerard’s face.And they knew they weren’t from shaving.The investigation into Allison’s disappearance would become one of the largest in Brisbane’s history, in man hours and in media coverage. The people demanded to know what happened to Allison, a much-loved mother, friend, and member of the community. People who had never met her joined a crowd of hundreds at the Brookfield Showgrounds to volunteer their time to search for Allison. Her husband Gerard was not amongst them.When Allison’s body was found, days later, dumped in a creek under a bridge, miles from her home, there was one person the police and the public were sure was responsible.Sources:The bulk of the information for this episode was taken from David Murray’s outstandingly excellent book, The Murder of Allison Baden-Clay, a fantastic addition to anyone’s true crime library.The Courier-Mail archives have a huge range of articles written by David Murray and other journalists which can be accessed here http://www.couriermail.com.au/?s=allison+baden-clay if you have a Courier-Mail subscription.Allison’s autopsy report can be found at https://aussiecriminals.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/autopsy-report1.pdf.The judge’s summary for the jury at Gerard’s trial can be found here https://archive.sclqld.org.au/qjudgment/2014/QSC14-154.pdfFind us on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM or EMAIL us on murderinthelandofoz@gmail.com Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz.

In Part Two of our investigation into the murder of Allison Baden-Clay, ya girls discuss the absolute gall of a man who so obviously killed his wife to appeal that decision in the first place, the absolute legend that is Bevan Slattery, and we get a little serious to discuss domestic violence and the impact this case has had on Australia’s slow but steady change in the way we understand domestic and family violence.Gerard Baden-Clay was found guilty of Allison’s murder, but you know what they say: you can never keep a good Scout down. Or a very, very bad one.People were horrified when Gerard successfully appealed his murder conviction. Manslaughter didn’t seem to really apply to a guy who hid his wife’s body in a creek bed and then lied about it for two years. The people weren’t satisfied with the resolution, and they let their voiced be heard. Thousands gathered for a protest in Allison’s honour, a petition garnered tens of thousands of signatures, and the message went all the way up to future Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull who, in a move that should have been an indication of his tenure of PM, did absolutely nothing.This episode is dedicated to Allison Baden-Clay and all the victims of domestic violence who have had their lives taken away. We hope that by keeping the conversation going, we can educate and inform others so that what happened to Allison never happens again.Sources:The bulk of the information for this episode was taken from David Murray’s outstandingly excellent book, The Murder of Allison Baden-Clay, a fantastic addition into anyone’s true crime library.The Courier-Mail archives have a huge range of articles written by David Murray and other journalists which can be accessed here http://www.couriermail.com.au/?s=allison+baden-clay if you have a Courier-Mail subscription.The judgement from Gerard’s appeal can be found here https://www.sclqld.org.au/caselaw/QCA/2015/265You can donate to the Allison Baden-Clay Foundation here https://www.allisonbadenclayfoundation.org.au/donate/Find us on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM or EMAIL us on murderinthelandofoz@gmail.com Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz.

A corrupt police force. A violent murder staged to look like a suicide. A wrongful conviction. And a suicide in custody. It’s not a Netflix series, it’s the new episode of Murder in the Land of Oz, and this week your girls are solving a mystery. Reg Brown was convicted for the 1947 murder of his typist, Bronia Armstrong. But was he really guilty, or were the notoriously corrupt Queensland Police feeling lazy that day and just decided to arrest the first bloke on the scene? For sixty years the conviction was unquestioned until Reg’s granddaughters decided to dig a little deeper and find out what really happened to the grandfather they never knew.In this episode, we blow a little dust off the photo album and take a look back into Brisbane’s past, from the post-war era right up to the seedy underbelly of the Fitzgerald Inquiry years. A lot has changed in this big country town, and an awful lot has stayed the same.Bronia Armstrong was nineteen years old when she was found murdered in Room 5 of the Brisbane Associated Friendly Society’s doctor’s surgery, in the Wallace Bishop arcade in Brisbane’s CBD. Police quickly zeroed in on her boss, Reg Brown, who had suspicious injuries on his hands. The police concocted an elaborate fantasy, wherein Reg was the older, sexually frustrated boss who controlled Bronia, and was driven mad with lust and forced to kill her. Brown was convicted for her murder and committed suicide in custody nine days later.There was no physical evidence. No forensics. No blood typing was done, despite blood from both the crime scene and the perpetrator being available. No one saw Brown and Bronia alone in the rooms together. There was no evidence that they had any relationship beyond fairly chummy boss and employee....but there’s also no evidence pointing to anyone else. Brown was allegedly attacked the night before, by two men and a woman, who bashed him and bit his fingers but didn’t rob him. There were no witnesses to this alleged attack, despite there being multiple people on the street at the time. So if the attack didn't occur... how did he get the injury on his hands?For sixty years, the conviction has gone untested, until Brown’s granddaughters wrote a book, Lingering Doubts, questioning their grandfather’s guilt. In the book, they uncover a wildly flawed police investigation, exacerbated by the key roles of police officers that would later be fingered by the Fitzgerald Inquiry played in the investigation.Sources:Our info this week was mostly taken from Lingering Doubts, by Deb Drummond and Jan Teunis, Reg Brown’s granddaughters. You can find the book here www.lingering-doubts.com/Articles from the time can be accessed from herehttps://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/186693649The Fitzgerald Inquiry can be read in full herehttp://www.ccc.qld.gov.au/about-the-ccc/the-fitzgerald-inquiryMatthew Condon’s books can be found in the true crime section of literally every bookshop in Queensland, they’re very popular.Find us on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM or EMAIL us on murderinthelandofoz@gmail.com Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz.

Something a little different this week, friends.Your girls do like to talk about murders, but we are not excited when they happen. Twenty-two year old aspiring comedian Eurydice Dixon was brutally raped and murdered by a stranger walking home from a comedy gig in Melbourne in June 2018. Her death has sparked outrage nationwide, particularly after police superintendent David Clayton advised women to "take responsibility" for their own safety.We are tired of hearing about the deaths of so many wonderful women and even more tired of women being blamed when a man decides to cut their life short.This week we share our thoughts, our sadness and our anger in a little bonus episode. We will release a full-length episode on the tragically short life of Eurydice Dixon after the trial.You can read about Eurydice’s impact here https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jun/19/eurydice-dixon-death-male-rage-australia-women-men-attitudesYou can learn more about Destroy the Joint’s Counting Dead Women project on their Facebook page www.facebook.com/DestroyTheJointFind us on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM or EMAIL us on murderinthelandofoz@gmail.com Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz.

Some towns become synonymous with the crimes that happen in them - Salem. Waco. Snowtown.In Queensland, we have Gatton. When the bodies of Michael, Ellen, and Norah Murphy were discovered in a field the day after Boxing Day, 1898, the little agricultural town would become forever linked to one of the most famous unsolved crimes in Australian history.For years the murders were considered by police to be a crime of opportunity - the act of a desperate man from out of town, wanting to rob the well-off siblings. Or perhaps some madman, killing for a thrill. But was the crime actually perpetrated by a member of the Murphy family? Or worse, was it committed by a conspiracy of townspeople, determined to get revenge upon the alleged seducer Michael Murphy?This week your hosts saddle up the horses and set out west to investigate this murder most foul. On this treacherous journey, we encounter suspicious swagmen, incompetent police work, the horrors of a 19th-century autopsy, and some good old-fashioned Catholic and Protestant religious tension.In 1898, in Gatton, west of Brisbane, the bodies of Michael, Ellen, and Norah Murphy, along with their horse, were discovered lying in a field. Michael had been shot through the head, while Ellen and Norah had been raped and bludgeoned to death. Suspects ranged from their brother in law William McNeil, to the butcher’s man Thomas Day, to a number of swagmen who were waltzing in and out of town.Due to the unfortunate state of telecommunications infrastructure in the late 19th century, no police officers from the CIB were sent out to investigate the crime until two days after the bodies were found. The chief inspector never even saw the bodies of the victims. And the investigation became hyperfocused on one particular suspect, who had an alibi for the time of the murder, leaving any number of potential suspects uninvestigated.The Gatton murders have captured the imaginations of Australians for the past hundred years. No one has ever been found guilty of the murders, although armchair sleuths in modern times come up with different suspects and different explanations for the crime every couple of years. In this episode, we consider each of the main suspects, as well as a new theory put forward by Stephanie Bennet in her book The Gatton Murders: A True Story of Lust, Revenge and Vile Retribution.Who do you think killed the Murphys? If you've got a theory or know of a suspect we didn’t mention, get in contact with us via our email, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter!Our main source this week was the aforementioned The Gatton Murders: A True Story of Lust, Revenge and Vile Retribution, which can be purchased here https://www.amazon.com.au/Gatton-Murders-Story-Vengeance-Retribution-ebook/dp/B00GMSZOX2You can get all up in some great information and also revel in some peak Internet 1.0 web design at http://www.gattonmurders.com/If you want to delve deep into the Oxley-Gatton connection, you can read Neil Bradford’s book The Oxley-Gatton Murders: Exposing the Conspiracy which is out of print but can be found in a few libraries around Brisbane.Find us on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM or EMAIL us on murderinthelandofoz@gmail.com Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz.

Betty Shanks was twenty-two years old and walking home from work when she was attacked, beaten and left for dead. Could be the first line of any article in the Courier Mail today, unfortunately, but this attack happened in 1952, and her killer was never found.This week your girls talk exhaustively about Jess’s childhood, just how dirty motorbikes are, and just how unbelievably shitty it is to be a woman sometimes, regardless of what decade we’re in.In 1952, a young woman named Betty Shanks was walking home from work when she was attacked, beaten, and left to die on the side of the road.I have now told you literally everything there is to know about this case.There are no suspects, really, despite the fact that every couple of years someone pops out of the woodwork claiming they know who did it.There isn’t much information to be found out there about this case, due to the age and the unsolved nature of the crime. No one was ever brought to trial or even charged with ending the life of Betty.Our main source this week was I Know Who Killed Betty Shanks, by Ted Duhs, which can be found here https://www.amazon.com.au/Know-Who-Killed-Betty-Shanks-ebook/dp/B0732NTR3K, although fair warning, there’s some graphic imagery and also, we didn’t love it as a read.If you want to read another book about the case, you can’t cause it’s out of print, but the title to search the library for is Who Killed Betty Shanks? By Ken BlanchFor some lighter reading, we have the following news articleshttps://www.qt.com.au/news/author-to-name-former-cop-as-betty-shanks-killer/3043045/https://www.qt.com.au/news/betty-shanks-murder-case-cracked-by-lyle/2863230/https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/the-1952-unsolved-murder-of-betty-shanks-in-brisbane-sparks-battle-between-publishers-of-rival-books/news-story/23e072af565c0398f05b04efe5f6cbddAnd ya primary sources, if you’re doing a school essay https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/101721302Find us on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM or EMAIL us on murderinthelandofoz@gmail.com Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz.