CH 5 – Implications. Walls and cars have ears ..
1946
Jessica Harkness becomes pregnant.
She leaves Sydney for Melbourne.
Carl Charles Webb drops off the map.
Norman Frederick Webb (pictured) submits a ‘Cancellation of Application to Join Interim Air Force’ where he was employed primarily as a driver* effective from 1947 (below).
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“When Brigadier Spry, Director General of ASIO, asked the Secretary of the Department of Defence, Sir Frederick Shedden, for Chilton to testify against Milner, Shedden protested that there was no evidence against Milner.”
“Sir Frederick had a long and distinguished career in the Commonwealth Public Service and was an eminent figure in defence administration. He was Secretary of the Defence Department from 1937 to 1956, spanning the critical years of World War 11 and the unsettled period which followed. From 1939 to 1946 he was Secretary of War Cabinet and from 1943 to 1945 Secretary of the Advisory War Council. Earlier in his career Sir Frederick Shedden was attached to the British Cabinet Office and the Committee of Imperial Defence where he was closely associated with Lord Hankey. Sir Frederick participated in many important overseas missions with the Prime Minister and Minister for Defence. On the basis of experience during World War II, Sir Frederick Shedden had developed arrangements in the Defence Department which had laid the foundations for closer co-ordination and direction of defence policy and administration”
“IN YET one more of the eerie coincidences surrounding Australia’s greatest spy drama, the Petrov affair, the Soviet defector at the centre of the scandal, Vladimir Petrov, died late last week, only days after the death in Prague of former Australian diplomat, Ian Milner, the man whose reputation in Australia Petrov destroyed by claiming he was a Soviet spy.”
Norman
Now all ^ that is well and good but if you were looking for an opportunity to get a little close to a venerable gentlemen such as Sir Frederick Shedden for the purposes of gathering information not readily available to the general public, what might be the best way to go about it?
*Cosying up to Shedden’s regular driver might be one way and Carl Webb’s nephew Norman Frederick Webb was just that, Shedden’s driver, though how close Norman was to his uncle is not known. But nobody really believes Carl Charles Webb was a spy anymore, do they? Just like nobody really believes Jessica Harkness was the eyes and ears of the Communist Party when in Sydney.
And who believes the 2013 Advertiser article where it stated: Her daughter, Kate Thomson, says she accepts her mother was a Soviet spy who may have had a hand in the murder of the Somerton Man, also a suspected Russian agent.
Because if it was learnt during the investigation of the mysterious death of Carl Webb that Shedden was in some way innocently implicated in the spying business of the day, whether through carelessness with transporting his files or being too open in conversation with a colleague whilst being driven from here to there by Norman then little wonder the police investigation appeared to be not as thorough as you would expect and what was thought to have been carelessness was in fact deliberate.
Either way it’s food for thought.
The Somerton Man .. 
Russell , Normans father, married his second wife Josephine in 1944. In March of 1946 Norman writes that Russell is a cripple and living in a boarding house living off his savings.
Norman writes he needs to leave the forces so his father can buy a business which Norman will run and Russell will live with him and his wife.
Yet when Russell dies his death notice reads, ” beloved husband”.
Russell died in 1949
Josephine in 1955
Could it have been Carl who needed family support as March 1946 was his first suicide attempt?
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Shabs, how long was Norman driving Shedden around?
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Not sure, his record file is huge but seems to contain another Norman Webbs information too.
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Shabby: Probably the other Norman F. Webb you mention is I.d. 32854265 (1947-2007) no access at present.
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@ Clive – the other Norman, Norman Frederick Webb was a British born cryptanalyst, based at Central Bureau on Domain Road, South Yarra. Both he and his wife – Linda nee Paton, were involved in signals intelligence work. Webb was fluent in Japanese and had worked for ICI in Japan prior to WWII. Some 1990s correspondence from their daughter, relating to Linda’s service medals, ended up on the file of Norman Fredrick (sic) Webb. There are a few references to Norman Frederick Webb on Peter Dunn’s excellent Oz at War site, including the Central Bureau Intelligence Corps Association Newsletters. https://www.ozatwar.com/sigint/cbicanewsletters.htm
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Thanks Jo, Interesting info. Perhaps the Webb’s are interconnected down the track? Bit of a coincidence the same names?
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I don’t think the two Norman Webbs were related. The mis-filed correspondence related to Linda Webb, née Paton’s Bletchley Park medal. Imagine if Norm & Val Webb of Dromana had turned up to claim it!
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Jess doesn’t fit the profile of a Russian spy
A spy for Australian intelligence gathering, yes
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