G.M. Feltus - The Unknown Man: A Suspicious Death at Somerton Beach

First published in Australia in 2010 by Gerald Michael Feltus
PO Box 112 Greenacres SA 5086

Reprinted 2011

Copyright Gerald M Feltus 2010

This book is Copyright. Apart from any fair dealings for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission.

Author: Gerald (Gerry) Michael Feltus

Editing: Bernard (Bernie) ONeil MA, MPHA
PO Box 2, Klemzig SA 5087

Design: Rhys Sandery
SeeSaw Advertising Pty Ltd
Level 1, 187 Rundle Street, Adelaide SA 5000

Cover: Ashton Stepney and Rhys Sandery

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

Feltus, Gerald Michael

The Unknown Man - (A suspicious death at Somerton Park)

ISBN 978-0-646-54476-2

Subjects: Case studies Identification Death Causes Anonymous persons Missing persons Poison Codes Somerton Beach Adelaide South Australia.

Dewey Number: 614.1

Copies are available online from: www.theunknownman.com

Contact (E-mail: to contact author, to provide information, make comments or to submit requests for additional details)

This book is dedicated to the members of the South Australian, national and international law enforcement agencies, other official organisations, the media and the public who directly or indirectly over time have contributed greatly to the very frustrating investigation into the identity of The Unknown Man. Despite their commendable efforts, most of the participants have died without his identity being established.

I thank greatly those people with a genuine interest in The Unknown Man who by their many questions encouraged me to write the story. I acknowledge the help of many people and organisations in researching and producing this book, particularly the sources of information and valued assistance of:

ABC-TV archivists who located a copy of Inside Story for me years ago.

Libraries throughout Australia that provided publications with information from newspapers and newspaper cuttings and other similar sources for information that gave a timeframe for relevant events.

The Advertiser and The Sunday Mail in Adelaide for supplying photographs. Len Brown who provided information on the original police investigation.

The family of Alfred Boxall for information about their father. Dr Kenneth Brown for producing the dental record.

Dr Ross James for his assessment of the cause of death and assisting with the correct terminology for some complex words.

Bernie ONeil for his patience and exceptional editing skills in the production of this book. Rhys Sandery, Melanie Brook and all the friendly staff of SeeSaw Advertising for their designing and the final structuring of the book.

Tony Elliott for many meaningful discussions.

Margaret Williams for proofreading and contributing to the structure of the story.

My daughter, Jacqueline, for structuring the final draft presentation and to her husband Michael for scanning and reproducing material.

My daughter Karin and partner Stephen for online structuring.

My granddaughter, Ashton, for her assistance with the photographs and illustrations. My wife Lesley, and other grandchildren for their assistance and patience as I pursued The Unknown Man.

Gerald (Gerry) Feltus APM

October 2010

1. On Tuesday 30 November 1948, The Unknown Man presumably arrived per rail from Melbourne, Victoria.
2. The Unknown Man arrived at the Adelaide Railway Station.
3. A one way train ticket to Henley Beach was purchased.
4. The suitcase and contents were booked into the Railway Station Cloak Room.
5. On the same day a bus ticket to Glenelg was purchased.
6. During the morning of 1 December, 1949, the body of The Unknown Man was located on the foreshore of Somerton Beach.
7. The clothing worn by the deceased was searched.
8. An examination of the trousers revealed the name of the manufacturer and a specific item.
9. A torn piece of paper with the words Tamam Shud was located in the fob pocket on the interior of the waist band of his trousers. It was rolled in a tight circular shape.
10. Inquiries revealed that the trousers were manufactured in Victoria.
11. The unused train ticket to Henley Beach was located in the clothing.
12. The suitcase was located in the unclaimed section of the Adelaide Railway Station Cloak Room. A similar pair of trousers was located in the suitcase.
13. Inquiries revealed that the trousers were manufactured in Sydney, New South Wales.
14. Laundry or dry cleaning identification marks on a pocket of the trousers were checked throughout Australia without a result. They were suspected of being marks similar to those used in the United Kingdom.
15. A coat the deceased was wearing is believed to have been manufactured in the United States of America because of a particular style of stitching.
16. Other items in the suitcase had the name tags removed except three items that had the names Kean, Keane and T. Keane written on them.
17. A comparison of the clothing worn by the deceased and items in the suitcase identified them to the deceased.
18. The torn piece of paper with the words Tamam Shud was identified to a copy of the Rubaiyat that was found after it has been tossed into a vehicle in Glenelg.
19. Written on the back cover of the Rubaiyat were five lists of letters which were believed to be a code.
20. A telephone number also written on the rear cover of the Rubaiyat was identified to a nurse living at Glenelg.
21. The nurse stated that when she was nursing at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, she met an Army Lieutenant named Alf Boxall in the Clifton Gardens Hotel.
22. The nurse stated she later gave a copy of the Rubaiyat to Alf Boxall at the hotel.
23. Boxall was interviewed and agreed he had received a Rubaiyat from the nurse.
24. He took police to his home and produced the Rubaiyat that the nurse had inscribed.
25. After moving from Sydney the nursed lived in Melbourne and later moved to Adelaide.

CONTENTS

Events 190448

A stranger arrives in Adelaide

A bus trip to Glenelg

A body on the beach

Searching for an identity

Investigations enter a new year

National assistance sought

Attempts to locate Kean

The Unknown Man is buried

The Coronial Inquest

Investigations intensify

Code breakers and spy theories

Frustrating times

A final twist

Weather conditions

Transport

Descriptions

Poison cause of death

The Rubaiyat

The Nurse

Alfred Boxall

The code

Cigarettes

DNA Exhumation

Additional Information

Link - Chart

Map - Australia and South Australia

Map - Clifton Gardens Area

Photo - Rubaiyat given to Boxall

Map - Adelaide Suburbs

Map - Adelaide

Photo - Adelaide Railway Station

Photo - Railway Ticket to Henley Beach

Photo - Cloak Room Ticket

Photo - Glenelg

Photo - Bus Ticket

Photo - Scene where Body Located

Map - Glenelg and Somerton

Photo - Robert (Nugget) Walsh

Photo - Det/Sgt Leane and Det Brown

Photo - Suitcase and Clothing of Deceased (four)

Photo - Laundry Marks on Trousers

Photo - Queensland Truth Newspaper

Photo - NSW Police Gazette

Photo - Actual torn piece of Tamam Shud