Show Notes
Cattle stations. The vast nothingness of the Central Australian bush. The past. A potential wrong conviction. Police corruption. This case TRULY has all the trappings of an #EllenEpisode. In 1958, Thyra Bowman, Wendy Bowman, and Thomas Whelan were murdered after they stopped to camp at the deserted Sundown Station just past the South Australia-Northern Territory border. All three victims had been beaten and shot. The police were on the lookout for an American-style vehicle towing a caravan that had been seen in the area on the day of the murders. In Mt Isa, Detective Glen Hallahan zeroed in on the vehicle of one Raymond John Bailey, an itinerant worker who had been seen in the area and who was carrying an unregistered rifle and driving a car that he obtained with questionable measures. Bailey was tried and convicted for the murder of Thyra Bowman, but decades and one very in-depth police corruption inquiry later, questions have risen about whether Bailey actually committed the crime, or whether he was one of the many people who were coerced into confessing to crimes they didn’t commit by the corrupt Queensland police. EPISODE NOTES: Whether you believe that Bailey committed the crimes or not, there are a lot of discrepancies and unanswered questions in the case that may have given pause to a modern jury, particularly a jury that may be a bit more well-versed on the rights of people in police custody. This episode only dipped a toe into the extent of police corruption in Australia, and you can read more about Queensland in particular by searching the ‘Fitzgerald inquiry’ or reading any of Matthew Condon’s excellent books. You can also learn more about police treatment of Indigenous people here https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jun/11/deaths-inside-how-we-track-indigenous-deaths-in-custody-and-why-we-do-it and here https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/law/aboriginal-police-relations To find out more about the Sundown Murders, please put on your reading glasses and head to Trove.nla.gov.au, your premier source for strongly-titled old-timey news articles! Some selected gems: SUNDOWN MYSTERY: ARMED MEN READY https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=EtBYAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yOQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5219,5301003&dq=whelan&hl=en OUTBURST FROM GALLERY AT SUNDOWN TRIAL https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/91250781?searchTerm=%22raymond%20bailey%22&searchLimits=notWords|||requestHandler|||anyWords|||exactPhrase=raymond+bailey+|||dateTo=1958-06-30|||dateFrom=1958-01-01|||sortby=dateAsc BAILEY FOUND GUILTY OF SUNDOWN MURDER https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/91250953?searchTerm=%22raymond%20bailey%22&searchLimits=notWords|||requestHandler|||anyWords|||exactPhrase=raymond+bailey+|||dateTo=1958-06-30|||dateFrom=1958-01-01|||sortby=dateAsc You can read more about Stephen Bishop and his petition to get Bailey posthumously pardoned here Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from Murder in the Land of Oz
As the final installment of our First Nation's themed season, we are talking about January 26th. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
We are back after a (what turned into a much bigger than intended) break!
Whoops we covered another cult. Coming for ya, Jo Thornely. Chantelle McDougall, her six-year-old daughter Leela, her partner Simon Kadwill, and their housemate Tony Popic went missing in July of 2007. Simon was the leader of an internet-based doomsday cult, who believed that through death, a chosen few would ascend to a new plane of reality and usher in the new Aquarian age of existence. So you know, normal stuff. They told friends and family they were moving to Brazil, but their was no activity on their passports. Their disappearance left police stumped. Had they committed group suicide, or had they gone even further into isolation and completely segregated themselves from society? Our main sources this week were the coronial inquest completed in 2017. You know we love an inquest document! https://www.coronerscourt.wa.gov.au/_files/Felton,%20G;%20McDougall,%20C%20J%20and%20L;%20Popic,%20A%20K%20%20finding.pdf News articles about the case can be found here https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-06/cult-leader-simon-kadwell-inquest-begins-into-missing-family/9205656 and here https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/cult-leader-simon-kadwell-inquest-hears-police-failed-to-investigate-report-of-dead-flesh-smell/news-story/b828be6ad139699e509c94ce62bc5292 The website for Simon’s “work” can be accessed via the Wayback Machine here https://web.archive.org/web/20071103141354/http://www.thenewcall.org/book_sdp.htm Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Okay, yes, every show and their dog (or podcast cat) have covered this case. But we just had to jump on the bandwagon. You may be familiar with the murder of Dee Dee Blanchard from the documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest, or the hit TV show now on Hulu The Act, or just generally from having an internet connection at any point in time over the past four years. The internet is obsessed with this case, and for good reason – the horrific murder of Dee Dee Blanchard shocked the world, not because of the brutality of the crime – but because of the scale of the abuse that Dee Dee afflicted on Gypsy, her daughter, who she had raised to believe was sick with a whole medical textbook of illnesses. Once Dee Dee was dead, the truth came out – nothing was wrong with Gypsy. She was a victim of Munchausen by Proxy, and was horribly abused by the person who was meant to care for her most. EPISODE NOTES: Friends and neighbours looked at Dee Dee and Gypsy Rose Blanchard as a perfect mother-daughter pair. Dee Dee was dedicated to her sick daughter, and Gypsy was in turn loving and devoted to her mother. When Dee Dee was murdered in 2015, people were horrified. Who was going to take care of poor Gypsy now? But as the truth came out, and Gypsy – along with her boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn – was charged with her death, people were horrified to discover that Dee Dee was not what she seemed – and neither was Gypsy. Gypsy had every disease under the sun, from cancer to muscular dystrophy. She was confined to a wheelchair, had tubes all over her body, and had no hair and barely any teeth. She never properly attended school and was in and out of hospital constantly. But none of her ailments were real. Dee Dee was forcing Gypsy to be sick, lying to her about her real age, and physically and mentally abusing her to keep up the sickness routine, so that Dee Dee could keep reaping the benefits of having a sick child. While Gypsy and Nicholas Godejohn were both ultimately convicted of Dee Dee’s murder, many people believe that Gypsy acted in self-defence, and did what she had to do to escape from one of the most horrific situations of abuse conceivable. Read Michelle Dean's incredible longform article on the case here https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/michelledean/dee-dee-wanted-her-daughter-to-be-sick-gypsy-wanted-her-mom More info about the case can be found here https://www.yourtango.com/2019322839/who-nick-godejohn-new-details-gypsy-roses-boyfriend-man-murdered-dee-dee-blanchard?fbclid=IwAR0c95is1g2caWJ1wSQX9CobuA8rK30l_Z5BDjfW4AAdf-CpbE2IlcVH7kA Information about the case and also Munchausen by Proxy can be found here https://www.yourtango.com/2019322870/what-munchausen-syndrome-by-proxy-story-gypsy-rose-blanchard?fbclid=IwAR28fu87X_aWdA9iOnfoLHevQ_bfIyiMeabBSbHo-T2YajOWh8ey3vd7YKI For some info on Hulu's stunning new show The Act (this is not a sponsored episode but also – sponsor us, Hulu?) head here https://www.marieclaire.com.au/the-act-tv?fbclid=IwAR2Ohe3PFiupYeS2rfTO3Ux9LoluGAiYbzWQMNMiQJz8RCg5iwvChcyUMHM