Australia's Sordid Past: 4 Trivia Quiz

Answer: The only door to the room that he was murdered in was nailed shut from the inside.

67-year-old Salvatore Tabone (also known as Samuel Borg, his anglicised name) lived by himself in North Melbourne, Victoria. He owned a café in the city and had a distrust of banks. He refused to keep his money in a bank and would store it at home. Friends started to worry about him when he had not been seen for a few days, so the police attended to check on his welfare. Police managed to get into his residence and when they tried to open the bedroom door they found it was unlocked, but attempts to open the door failed.

In the end the police had to break the door down and found that it had been firmly nailed shut (with roofing nails) - from the inside. Tabone's body was found hidden under a bed. He had been beaten to death with a wooden table-leg, and it was established that the killer then left the room via a skylight. Although £1,000 was supposedly taken, substantial sums of money were later found in various locations inside the residence, and a loaded pistol belonging to Tabone was located under the mattress.

The killer was never caught.

Answer: It was the first known kidnapping to take place in Australia that incorporated a ransom demand.

Graeme Thorne will sadly be remembered as the 8 year old boy that was kidnapped while on his way to school. His parents, Basil and Freda, had just won £100,000 in the Opera House lottery. Back in those days an amount of cash like that would be the equivalent of winning a million dollars in this day and age.
The Thorne's fortunate win did not go unnoticed by Stephen Leslie Bradley. His devious mind hatched a plan to make an easy score of cash and that resulted in the kidnapping of little Graeme. Soon after the kidnapping Graeme's distraught parents got the phone call that every parent would dread, "I have got your boy, I want 25,000 pounds by five o'clock or I'll feed him to the sharks".
A massive search for the child followed, but 5 weeks later his body was located. Evidence was collected and it was not long until detectives had pieced together the clues and were knocking on Bradley's door. Bradley was aware that the net was closing and had already fled the country. His freedom was short lived and he was arrested in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and an extradition order granted. He got a life sentence and died in gaol.

Answer: William MacDonald

The twisted William MacDonald (also known as Allen Edward Brennan) committed his first murder in 1960 in Queensland. He befriended Amos Hurst and during a drinking session he began to strangle his victim. MacDonald then punched Hurst in the face and the blow killed him. A quick clean up followed and Hurst was left in bed. MacDonald could not believe his luck when he read the obituary in the newspaper - the crime had not been detected and it was ruled a heart attack.

On the 4th of June, 1961, in Sydney, MacDonald resumed his crime spree, but in a much more brutal fashion. He killed Albert Greenfield by a violent, frenzied attack with a knife, leaving a terrible calling card.
It was not until November 1961 that MacDonald would strike again. His next victim was William Cobbin and the M.O (modus operandi) was the same as that of Greenfield.
On the 31st of March, 1962 victim number three of his Sydney killing spree was found. Frank Gladstone McLean died in the same horrid fashion as the previous victims. Patrick James Hackett would become the last victim in June 1962.

Answer: They were both convicted and incarcerated for crimes committed by Cooke

In 1961 Darryl Beamish was convicted of the murder of Jillian Macpherson Brewer that took place in 1959. John Button was convicted of killing his girlfriend, Rosemary Anderson.

Both men spent a substantial time in prison for their 'crimes'. Many years later evidence surfaced that vindicated both of them. It turned out that Cooke had actually committed the crimes.

Answer: Australia's first aircraft hijacking

Flight 408 was a Trans-Australia Airlines (TAA) flight that left Sydney, new South Wales bound for Brisbane, Queensland. The hijacker, Alex Hildebrandt, had managed to smuggle a bomb and a .22 calibre sawn-off rifle on-board. Forty nine passengers and crew were on the flight and even though Hildebrandt fired a warning shot to show that he wasn't mucking about, his plan failed. A brave crew member punched Hildebrandt, disabled the bomb and with the assistance of other crew members, restrained Hildebrandt.

Hildebrandt was jailed for his crime in Queensland for 3 years and after his release was re-arrested by New South Wales police and tried for the same incident in New South Wales. He then spent 7 more years as a prisoner, this time courtesy of the New South Wales government.

Answer: It has never been established

The forensic tests established that potassium cyanide was the cause of death. The body of the two year old had to be exhumed a month later for further testing. An anonymous phone call to police in 1972 claimed that the death was an accident and that a different child had been the intended victim.

A name was supplied nominating a suspect, but the police investigation failed to produce a killer. The murder remains a mystery.

Answer: Wanda Beach - Murder.

The case is known as the Wanda Beach Murders. On that day the two girls took Marianne's younger brothers and sisters to Wanda Beach for a day trip. The weather was not too good and in the early afternoon Christine and Marianne left the younger children near a sand dune and set off to collect their hidden bags. By 5pm they had not returned and the alarm was raised. Christine and Marianne were found partially buried on Wanda Beach the following day.

The girls had been bashed and stabbed repeatedly, Marianne's throat was slashed.

Despite a 10,000 pound reward and a massive police investigation, the killer was never identified. The case remains unsolved.

Answer: Glenelg Beach, South Australia - The Beaumont Children.

Just about every Australian would know the name of the Beaumont children. On Australia Day, 1966 Jane (9 years old), Arnna (7 years) and Grant Beaumont (4 years) went to the popular beach of Glenelg in Adelaide's western suburbs. That was the last time they were ever seen. The children had been seen playing with a blond haired man on the beach earlier in the day and were last seen in the late afternoon walking up the main street of Glenelg away from the beach. To this day it is not known what happened on that afternoon, who took the children, who the blond man is, or if the children are dead or alive.

Harold Holt disappeared from Cheviot Beach in 1967 when he went swimming. His body was never found.
Vicki Barton was 8 years old when she went missing from outside a hotel in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales in January 1969. Her body was located in the Blue Mountains, 19 months after her disappearance.
Anita Cobby was 26 years old when she was abducted from the Blacktown Railway Station, New South Wales in 1986. She was raped, murdered and dumped in a paddock. Police managed to catch and convict the five men that killed her.

Answer: Assassinate an Australian politician.

Peter Kocan attempted to assassinate Arthur Calwell, the leader of the Labour Party. Kocan managed fire a shot while Calwell was seated inside a car, but he ultimately failed in his attempt. Luckily, the closed car window deflected the bullet and he only sustained injuries from the broken glass.

At the time Calwell was the first Australian politician to be the subject of an assassination attempt.

Answer: He was the last person to be executed in Australia.

On 3rd February 1967 Ronald Ryan dropped to his death at the gallows at Pentridge Gaol. He would be the last person to be executed in Australia due to heavy public protests. He was tried and convicted of murder for the shooting death of a prison guard during an escape from Pentridge Prison with fellow inmate, Peter John Walker, in 1965.

The public protests centred on the doubts raised that Ryan had not fired the fatal shot. Ryan's last words were directed to the hangman, he said, "God bless you, please make it quick."