10 legitimate questions for Gordon Cramer..
We know Alf Boxall was employed as a mechanic in the Randwick bus sheds before the war and after joining the services spent time in the north watching and waiting for any threatening movements by the Japanese armed forces. It is assumed he was primarily involved in servicing the Nackeroos’ mechanical equipment during this posting. He then went on to serve with the Australian Water Transport Co in 1945 before joining the Crusader in 1947 as an engineer. Once he was demobbed he rejoined his colleagues at the bus depot. (Any mistakes here are mine)
During the time after leaving the Nackeroos and prior to joining the AWT Co in 1945 it is claimed Boxall was taught the intricacies of the Hill Cipher; a polygraphic substitution Cipher based on linear algebra, being the first polygraphic cipher in which it was practical (though barely) to operate on more than three symbols at once.
It is also claimed Boxall received extensive training in SOE’s InkH technique, SOE being the Special Operations Executive, the technique itself combines the use of large letters written in ink then by using a sharpened pencil, micro letters are inserted into the larger inked letters before these are inked over again. The recipient of this code would use bleach to remove the ink layers and expose the code as indentations. As a note, DS Leane who first examined the code is on record as saying it was ‘faintly pencilled’ on the back cover of the Rubaiyat.
And if that wasn’t enough Boxall was also trained to use the Morbit Cipher, which is similar to the Pollux Cipher in that it converts plain text into morse code then the morse characters are converted into a numeric cipher based on a key. But each character in the Morbit Cipher represents two morse code characters rather than one.
With me so far?
Finally, Boxall was instructed how to use anamorphism as a means of creating a distorted projection or perspective of the above three codes in such a way they only become visible when viewed in a special manner.
It is also claimed that despite the demands of his job, Boxall undertook to instruct a young trainee nurse in the above-mentioned procedures, these lessons are presumed to have taken place in a popular harbourside hotel close to Boxall’s workplace where they were known to meet regularly in the beer garden and it was where she gifted him what has been claimed to be her training manual – a copy of the Rubaiyat.
UPDATE
Given that the above claims by Gordon Cramer that Alf Boxall was qualified to engage in such complex espionage activities, it seems appropriate that he be asked the following questions.
(1) who was Boxall working for? (2) what could have been the content of his messages? (3) why was the nurse involved? (4) who trained him? (5) how long would such training take? (6) where was he trained? (7) why wasn’t the nurse trained by the same professionals rather than by somebody like Boxall who could only have been classified as a beginner in what appears to be fearsomely complicated techniques? (8) where did he train the nurse? (9) surely when someone has been as highly trained in the dark arts of espionage it would be unlikely for them to return to their original trade when further use could be made of their skills? (10) how and where could the nurse’s newfound coding skills be employed?
Header image is of Boxall’s finished product.
And yes, it’s been a pleasure.
The Somerton Man .. 
I would imagine that, after a few beers etc, anyone would be well versed in the use of secret codes.
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DA tried that with his students
Let’s all get drunk and see what we can come up with. University education at its finest moment.
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Boxall was the handler. He gets Jess who is an agent or asset (and he has other persons as well) to infiltrate and he gets the intel from them to pass on up the military intelligence channel. Could be communist meetings or whatever she goes to. Depending on the surveillance or front line work needed it could be dangerous as he alluded to because she is the front line spy. And it would have been dangerous work because if her cover was blown she would have been done in. It’s the spy ring before ASIO came to be. Boxall had done his bit for his country and went back to mechanics. Jess had to drop his name so that it would go up the chain and she would be protected when she got exposed and it all blew up after the cops started sniffing around. Cops at the top knew what went down and were part of the cover. Feltus and lower cops were kept in the dark and bamboozled
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ASIO is surprisingly open about their history (sort of). They recently introduced a museum-like display of their history in the foyer to the Chifley building. Curiously, this building (including the foyer) is off-limits to the general public so I’m not really sure who these things are aimed at – presumably visitors, but I’m not sure it’s a building where visitors are particularly encouraged.
In any case, there are multiple Government websites that openly discuss the history of ASIO and Australian espionage in a pre-ASIO world – the National Archive has a pretty thorough description of Australian Signals and Intelligence agencies over the years (and perhaps those Keane to chase a Webb of signals-related stuff should start with looking at FRUMEL which nicely brings Melbourne into the equation) and the various acronyms** associated with different departments and agencies in that space. There’s also a government site “Intelligence” (.gov.au) that not only offers a history of the Intelligence Community in Australia, but even offers the opportunity to apply to work with them.
Oops, apologies for the segue, my original point was…. given the (relative) openness about that era (Petrov defected with his wife unsafe overseas and one of his first concerns having defected was whether his dog was safe….or something), it would be a very unusual case that still demands the level of secrecy that these sort of stories imply. Especially when you take into account even far more recent classified operations are constantly under pressure to be more transparent about what happened, where, why and with whom.
I would be a little surprised if events from 75 years ago still reached the threshold of needing to remain classified – unless they are incredibly signficant. In general, classifications are based on the damage publicity could cause the CoA. The lowest of these are “embarassment” the highest are “significant damage or threat to National Security”. As time passes, things shift to lower classifications (e.g. what could have caused an international incident in 1970 just causes a bit of embarassment as a story in 2000). When you consider the gradual declassification and publicisation of events around Australian peace-keeping missions (some of which probably still cause some embarassment in the region and beyond for the Government) it seems unfathomable that Boxall, Harkness and Somerton Man were part of some sort of shenanigans that were so secret even today we don’t even hear whispers of them. In fact one of the only conclusions I’d be inclined to form is that *if* they were involved with something the only reason we haven’t found it is because someone hasn’t made the right FOI request *otherwise* there is literally nothing to see here.
That said, I do recall some interest on CM around a Keane whose NAA file seemed to keep getting reclassified for longer and longer periods of time, so maybe some big shirt really went down….
**Off-topic, I know, but the Government (maybe all Governements?) are obsessed with Acronymns. The Department of Immigration (or whatever you call it now) was for a while the Department of Immigration and Citizenship – which some might remember being referred to as DIAC. But when it was originally given that name, the acronymn they originally used was DIC….until someone referred to big bossman there as the “DIC-head”.
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Black ops are not documented
You won’t find anything and you won’t find any mention of the players because that would lead to incrimination
Boxall said Jess had great courage
Jess said it was known at a higher level than the police
That’s not fantasy to create intrigue or draw attention to yourself because that is the last thing you would want to do. It’s the offer of an explanation of what went down by allowing you to read between the lines.
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No. 1: “Jess had great courage”, if so, why didn’t Littlemore ask Boxall outright what he meant?
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Littlemore twigged to things but didn’t probe.
You tell me why
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Maybe Boxall was alluding to the pressure he knew the police would subject her to, and did with three detectives taking her to view the bust, and remembering Jessica was just a relative youngster when they met at the Clifton Gardens hotel and he no doubt recollected the drama he was faced with when he accompanied the police back to his home in Maroubra to view the Rubaiyat she gave him. He was reported to say Parer St was jammed with cameramen and police.
Trove may have some record of the day.
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Speaking about assassination attempts, is it unusual that Sen Richard Valentine Keane died of a slowly developing heart attack on 26/4/1946 after going against the majority by requesting “lend lease” be continued? Air Marshall Wrigley was on the same bus. Strangely, RVK’s Jewish business partner suffered a near fatal, and lifelong debilitating, heart attack the next day? He was staying at the same hotel as RVK.
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lonerangeraus: Wasn’t Senator Keane about 280Pounds in weight? Or, it could have been a suspect ‘Waldorf’ salad?
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He was
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One day Cramer writes that he doesn’t like to involve himself in derogatory name-calling, the next he is calling yours truly a ‘parasitic troll’ … however what is most intriguing about the man is he writes that I ‘have all the questions but no answers of my own’ .. talk about missing the point, you see Gordon old boy, the questions above are here for YOU to answer.
It would now appear you are unable to do so …
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Lifted from Tamamshudblogspot
‘Last comment on this subject regarding you Pete Bowes. You need to understand that I own my content, all of the research and information I have gathered and assessed over the past 15 years belongs to me. I get to decide what, when, how and if I publish any of it. You seem to hold the view that you can demand answers from me which, seriously is nonsensical. I have called you out and described you as a ‘parasitic troll’ because that’s a term used to describe people who behave in the way you do. Take a few minutes and look at that behaviour. Material that came from this blog was lifted and used without permission and posted on your blog, that’s plagiarism and you are apart from being a self acknowledged troll, also a self acknowledged plagiarist. All of my material is copyright that includes any of the photographs I have taken.
In recent times you have described yourself as a ‘fox’ and myself as the ‘rabbit’, in an earlier version of that post you described how you were going to pursue me. Right there you effectively stated that you were in control and would pursue me as your victim. That’s a symptom of extreme narcissism. You go on to demand answers of me to which you believe you’re entitled. That sense of entitlement is another aspect of narcissistic behaviour. Because I confronted you with a some realities, you tried to shift the blame onto me as in your demand and I quote, ‘..the questions above are for YOU to answer’. Blaming your victim is yet another example of narcissistic behaviour. You won’t be getting those answers from this blog, you are simply not entitled to them. If you want to know more then you will be able to find them and answers to many questions about the case in the book scheduled to be released before Christmas.
Despite your accusations to the contrary, truth and honesty are core values for me, they’re at the centre of my beliefs. Those beliefs govern my behaviours and I continually strive to live up to them. I don’t claim to be perfect, I’ve made my share of mistakes and mis-steps in my lifetime when that happens, I acknowledge them, learn from them and move on. I don’t hold grudges nor do I attempt to discredit or defame anyone but I do have the right to respond. Forgiveness is a key element of my beliefs and I forgive you for the treatment you have handed out to me. My beliefs also mean that I should pray for you which I have and I will continue to do so. Take care of yourself Pete, I wish you well and I hope you seek the help you need.’
My belief Gordon is that you are both sanctimonious (ie;making a show of being morally superior to other people) and hypocritical (ie; behaving in a way that suggests you have higher standards or more noble beliefs than is the case)
And don’t bother with the prayers old son, others need them more than me.
… and by the way, if you think copying cipher definitions from Google is a form of plagiarism of your site’s content then you need to look up the meaning of paranoia.
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can you actually copyright info that’s already on the internet? That Gordon Cramer is something else!!
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No, you cannot
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book scheduled to be released before Christmas
The Christmas edition of the book to go under the tree, that will show us all the hidden messages in the micro code and reveal who Somerton man is. Is that the book ?
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Well, Jessie may have been a relative youngster but, I suspect she was a lot more tougher than Boxall realised. And, as far as we know, the police didn’t make any headway with her following the trip to see Lawson’s handiwork.
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Agree there, plus she pinched Prosper from Queenie .. the minx
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Jessie & Prosper-partners in underhand activities? I wonder if Queenie fought to keep Prosper?
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