Who was ‘they’?
Here’s our man lying inelegantly dead on the Somerton Beach sand with his head resting on the sharp-edged boulders of a sea wall. A couple of combs, some chewing gum and a packet of smokes in his trouser pockets plus a train and a bus ticket in the ticket-pocket of his coat, these together with a small slip of paper with the words Tamam Shud printed on it that was found later tucked deep in his fob pocket. Found by someone other than the police.
The two tickets that led the police investigation straight to the luggage office of Adelaide Train Station and the unclaimed suitcase were later to be determined to belong to the dead man. Perhaps they did so deliberately, left the two tickets to be found, knowing there was nothing inside the case that could identify him. And how did they know this? Because they were the ones who lodged it and bought both tickets. What better way to direct the initial thrust of the police investigation? Have them think he bought the tickets then waste days fruitlessly questioning railway staff, which they did, then have the police further confounded by the appearance of the TS slip..
But who was they?
Someone powerful enough to influence the police investigation? Powerful enough to plant evidence? Powerful enough to have the coroner ignore the crucial evidence that was unearthed after the adjournment of the initial hearing? Powerful enough to control the amount of information released to the Press? Powerful enough to arrange to have another man planted by the seawall earlier in the evening of the 30th, his face and head hidden in the shadow and playing the drunk? And who might have been the man wearing a suit and hat seen standing on the roadside above the steps by a witness in the early evening and looking down on the man playing drunk for a long five minutes?
But they forgot the matches didn’t they, and the dead man’s duds didn’t match the other bloke’s trousers. And someone saw someone carrying a body down the beach later that night.
And now we have the situation where the 5’11” dead man has been positively identified as Carl ‘Charlie’ Webb, despite Webb being at least three inches shorter.
The Somerton Man .. 
As Jess said – a higher authority than the police force, and higher than every other authority as well, leaving only national security and those in control of it
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And right at the time the MI5 had been invited down to Australia to shake up our ramshackle CIS
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So, I suppose a question is, why did Cleland not take the slip of paper out of the fob pocket, when he found it in the first place and, place it as a potential clue? Just makes you wonder, what if someone else had found the slip, and quietly disposed of it?
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… and at the risk of an answering an unspoken enquiry by a reader as to why the luggage ticket wasn’t found in his pockets, simple I respond, if it had of been then the police enquiry would have been able to interrogate the railway staff far too early. Best that their memories were faded as to who bought the tickets, as they were.
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Airports in Australia operated under the Commonwealth Government in that era and major airports were on Commonwealth land. The Department of Civil Aviation DCA was responsible to the Minister for Civil Aviation. Pan Am gives its passengers a run down on what to expect on arrival in Sydney and the government formalities. Commonwealth Medial Officer, passport, visa, arrival card, baggage declaration.
Pan Am Brochure:
GOVERNMENT FORMALITIES
You go directly to the Airport Health Officer’s reception lounge, where the Medical Officer makes a brief examination and inspects your vaccination certificate.
IMMIGRATION: You will then be directed to the Immigration desk, where your passport, visa and other entry documents will be examined
CUSTOMS: At the next desk, your Baggage Declaration is checked by the Customs Officer, who then refers you to a Customs Clerk for baggage inspection. It is necessary to present your baggage claim checks before he examines your baggage. When this formality is completed, your baggage will be delivered to you with a pass-out check, after which our porters will be happy to assist you.
Unless your luggage has been seized by the higher authority. But one passenger’s luggage seized would cause suspicion when all the other passengers have theirs off the baggage cart. So I think Somerton man’s luggage was genuinely lost, put on the wrong baggage cart, or the wrong aircraft. His shaving cream tube from Hotel Australia 45 Castlereagh Street in Sydney has a sketch of the arch of the Sydney Harbour Bridge on it and a blue pencil gives a clue to Pan Am. His entry to Australia was Mascot airport, he arrived on Pan Am stayed at the Hotel Australia in Sydney before heading off to Melbourne and he left a paper trail.
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Love this guy, like me he has all the answers..
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If his suitcase was lost/misplaced etc., from that particular flight, wouldn’t that start ringing bells for the SM? Of all the passengers from his flight, only his suitcase is missing-what was going through his mind? Especially, if he had a suspicion that the authorities were aware of his plans and, who he intended to meet in Australia.
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Somerton man would have gone to the Pan Am office which was on the mezzanine floor of the Hotel Australia where he stayed. My luggage wasn’t on the flight.
We got a telex from Honolulu earlier alerting us that they have your luggage there. Items were offloaded in the layover and yours missed the flight. It will be on the next flight from Honolulu to Sydney and will be here on Friday this being Tuesday. May I have the Baggage Declaration you filled in at Mascot or we can do one here if you didn’t complete one. Pan Am will clear it from Customs for you and we will get the porters to bring it here and we will hold it here for you
Ok, these things happen. I’ve got a through flight to Melbourne tomorrow. Hang on to my luggage here and I will contact you later to get it forwarded. I’ll go up the street and pick up a few things in the morning. I’m a bit light on clothes and will need to pick up some essentials and a case.
Pan Am will arrange a voucher for you. Sorry for the inconvenience.
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So, did he ever receive his original suitcase? And, if the authorities knew/suspected what was going on with this individual, what an opportunity to check his suitcase whilst it was held in Honolulu.
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‘They’ only needed his suitcase from the railway station to fabricate the story. Have everyone looking for him on ships instead of aircraft. Even GC fell for that one chasing down sailors and ships. So it did work.
‘They’ are very good at collecting the luggage of others, checking it, and then disposing of it including his lost luggage being held by Pan Am in Sydney, which he never managed to get forwarded to his final destination, Somerton beach
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Which makes you wonder, since he never received his original suitcase, was there something in that suitcase that may have foiled the reason for his trip? That ‘something’ was all that the authorities needed, to advise their counterparts in Australia.
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