1 00:00:01,240 --> 00:00:04,080 Speaker 1: Because then they'd swap in. The informer gets out of 2 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:07,080 Speaker 1: doing time for the crime that he did, and the 3 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:09,639 Speaker 1: bloke who didn't do the crime goes inside. 4 00:00:09,880 --> 00:00:10,440 Speaker 2: They would go. 5 00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:13,080 Speaker 1: Outside in the morning there would be three inch nails 6 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:17,119 Speaker 1: jammed under the tires of their car, so that if 7 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:19,639 Speaker 1: you drove the car forward or back, the nails would 8 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:22,800 Speaker 1: pierce the tires and flatten them. They drive off around 9 00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:24,840 Speaker 1: the corner and by the time they've gone, you know, 10 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:30,160 Speaker 1: one hundred meters, they hear a massive explosion, kaboom. I'm 11 00:00:30,200 --> 00:00:34,840 Speaker 1: Andrew Rules, Life and Crimes. It's staggering just how much 12 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:38,920 Speaker 1: policing and law and order have changed in a lifetime. 13 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:43,840 Speaker 1: And I was reminded of this recently when the names 14 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:47,960 Speaker 1: of Joey and Shirley Hamilton came up. I'm not sure 15 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:50,239 Speaker 1: even why they came up, but as soon as I 16 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:55,400 Speaker 1: heard those names, those words, I thought of that couple 17 00:00:55,520 --> 00:01:01,080 Speaker 1: and how famous or notorious they were in the mid 18 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:02,640 Speaker 1: to late seventies. 19 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:03,840 Speaker 2: And very early eighties. 20 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:07,559 Speaker 1: For about six or eight years, they were extremely well 21 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:12,160 Speaker 1: known in Victoria. They had a sort of an outlaw 22 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:16,319 Speaker 1: edge to them that was part Bonnie and Clyde. There 23 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:18,880 Speaker 1: was a little bit of Sonny and sher because Shirley 24 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:23,319 Speaker 1: was a well known folks singer called Shirley Jacobs before 25 00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:27,399 Speaker 1: she married Joey Hamilton, the criminal and getaway driver and 26 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:30,520 Speaker 1: all that sort of stuff. And they were an odd 27 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:34,640 Speaker 1: couple who made the news for all the wrong reasons, 28 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:40,600 Speaker 1: mainly because they became the target of a sustained campaign 29 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:45,640 Speaker 1: of harassment and violence that could have cost them their 30 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:50,520 Speaker 1: lives and indeed ended up causing them to go on 31 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:54,440 Speaker 1: the run. And that is a staggering thing that two 32 00:01:54,480 --> 00:02:00,720 Speaker 1: people in Melbourne, Victoria were pursued by rogue police blatantly 33 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:08,040 Speaker 1: and openly for at least two years and lived literally 34 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:12,280 Speaker 1: in fear of their lives. People might find that hard 35 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:14,760 Speaker 1: to believe, but trust me, it's true. 36 00:02:14,919 --> 00:02:15,160 Speaker 2: Now. 37 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:18,400 Speaker 1: Joey Hamilton, as I mentioned, he was at Krim. He 38 00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:21,679 Speaker 1: was a pretty dashing sort of crook, sort of ruggedly 39 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:25,720 Speaker 1: handsome bloke. His reputation according to senior police one told 40 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:28,359 Speaker 1: me once he said he was a wheelman. He was 41 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:31,600 Speaker 1: a getaway driver, which he may well have been, like 42 00:02:31,639 --> 00:02:33,600 Speaker 1: a lot of other crooks of that time, you know, 43 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:37,560 Speaker 1: Russell Cox and Raymond Patrick, Chuck Bennett and a. 44 00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:38,240 Speaker 2: Lot of those guys. 45 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:41,200 Speaker 1: He had come up through the boys' homes. He had 46 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:44,640 Speaker 1: learned his stuff in the boy's homes because he'd started 47 00:02:44,639 --> 00:02:46,600 Speaker 1: out as a poor boy on the wrong side of 48 00:02:46,639 --> 00:02:50,239 Speaker 1: the tracks, had stolen something and it went from bad 49 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:54,760 Speaker 1: to worse. Christopher Dale Flannery a lot of these guys kids. 50 00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:56,160 Speaker 2: With a bit of dash. 51 00:02:56,600 --> 00:02:59,040 Speaker 1: And they got into trouble young and then they would 52 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:02,200 Speaker 1: be sent to boys home and then the treatment they 53 00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:06,480 Speaker 1: got into boys' homes which was uniformly vicious, nasty, brutal, 54 00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:11,200 Speaker 1: and often sexually deviate. They were often the subjects of 55 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:13,120 Speaker 1: sexual abuse and physical. 56 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:13,760 Speaker 2: Abuse these boys. 57 00:03:14,320 --> 00:03:18,760 Speaker 1: That turned some of these guys into lifetime crooks, and 58 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:24,520 Speaker 1: often very dangerous lifetime crooks. Now Joey Hamilton, Joey Hamilton 59 00:03:24,919 --> 00:03:29,440 Speaker 1: wasn't a vicious killer. I don't believe he probably didn't 60 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:32,519 Speaker 1: mind a fight. I think he probably knew his way 61 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:37,320 Speaker 1: around guns. But as a crook, I think probably his 62 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:41,280 Speaker 1: go was more to use his brain more than he's 63 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:45,160 Speaker 1: braun and he did have some elements of charm and 64 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:49,800 Speaker 1: intelligence despite the fact he'd left school at what he 65 00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:52,800 Speaker 1: called form two year eight. He could read and write 66 00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:57,120 Speaker 1: recentably well, and he did have a sort of Native Intelligence, 67 00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:02,320 Speaker 1: and it was when Shell Jacobs, who is forgotten now, 68 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:05,600 Speaker 1: but Shirley Jacobs was a pretty big deal folks singer 69 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:10,000 Speaker 1: in Victoria, particularly back in the sixties and seventies. 70 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:11,480 Speaker 2: Shirley Jacobs. 71 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:15,000 Speaker 1: That was a married name. Her first husband's name was Jacobs. 72 00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:18,800 Speaker 1: She was born and bred in Euroa in Victoria and 73 00:04:18,839 --> 00:04:22,560 Speaker 1: then was Shirley Gilbert. She was the daughter of a 74 00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:26,600 Speaker 1: former British Army officer. She was probably the smartest kid 75 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:27,920 Speaker 1: in the class at EUROBA. 76 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:28,680 Speaker 2: I think she was a. 77 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:31,800 Speaker 1: Spelling champion, and very good at music and all that 78 00:04:31,839 --> 00:04:35,640 Speaker 1: sort of stuff, reading, writing music. She's the sort of 79 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:37,200 Speaker 1: girl that may well have been, you know, ducks of 80 00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:40,480 Speaker 1: her class up in the Bush. She comes to Melbourne, 81 00:04:40,480 --> 00:04:44,400 Speaker 1: she goes to i think a legal and secretarial school 82 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:51,120 Speaker 1: for legal secretaries, something like that. And she was vivacious, 83 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:56,600 Speaker 1: good looking, interesting, and she married young. She married a 84 00:04:56,640 --> 00:05:01,480 Speaker 1: young dentist called Horst Jacobs, who was a respectable dentist 85 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:03,960 Speaker 1: who made a good living and all the rest of it. 86 00:05:04,279 --> 00:05:07,080 Speaker 1: And she had two daughters and might have been Debbie 87 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:09,480 Speaker 1: and Jesse. Their names don't matter, but Debbie was certainly 88 00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:12,720 Speaker 1: one of them. And of course the daughters were born 89 00:05:12,839 --> 00:05:16,240 Speaker 1: when Shirley was quite young. She later split up with 90 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:19,880 Speaker 1: her husband Horst, and she became this folk singer who 91 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:23,080 Speaker 1: used to play on television. She made records, she appeared 92 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:27,440 Speaker 1: live at a lot of pubs and little folk festivals 93 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:29,880 Speaker 1: and all that sort of stuff. She was quite well known, 94 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:32,560 Speaker 1: and it was in the course of this that she 95 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:36,839 Speaker 1: became a sort of activist, slightly left of center figure, 96 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:41,479 Speaker 1: a bit bohemian, a bit intellectual, a bit against the 97 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:45,120 Speaker 1: government type of person. And like a lot of people 98 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:49,160 Speaker 1: in that era when the Vietnam War provided a flashpoint, 99 00:05:49,400 --> 00:05:54,160 Speaker 1: she was someone who beat anti war and anti conscription. 100 00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:59,159 Speaker 1: And like a lot of other people of her ilk 101 00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:02,120 Speaker 1: who lived in the in the suburbs and followed the 102 00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:06,240 Speaker 1: things that she followed, she had a leaning towards the 103 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:10,359 Speaker 1: rights of prisoners and the criminal classes, because prisoners in 104 00:06:10,400 --> 00:06:16,440 Speaker 1: those days were treated pretty badly, treated violently. They were 105 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:20,479 Speaker 1: treated essentially as if they had no rights, and they 106 00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:24,080 Speaker 1: pretty well were at the whim of the people in 107 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:26,560 Speaker 1: charge of the system, that is, the police on the 108 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:31,520 Speaker 1: outside and the prison officers on the inside. And I 109 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:34,760 Speaker 1: have to say, looking back on it, that a lot 110 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:37,200 Speaker 1: of stuff that happened to people in boys homes and 111 00:06:37,279 --> 00:06:42,880 Speaker 1: in jails was pretty bad news. Shirley was abreast of 112 00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:46,520 Speaker 1: all that sort of stuff. She and other musicians would 113 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:49,160 Speaker 1: occasionally go into jails and do concerts, you know, the 114 00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:54,240 Speaker 1: sort of Johnny Cash syndrome. And she went into Penridge 115 00:06:54,279 --> 00:06:58,320 Speaker 1: one day in the early seventies. I'm going to say 116 00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:03,039 Speaker 1: during the beaching. The beach inquiry into the police was 117 00:07:03,279 --> 00:07:08,480 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy five, and Joey Hamilton had been locked up 118 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:12,800 Speaker 1: in Penridge in nineteen seventy three for an armed robbery 119 00:07:12,840 --> 00:07:16,360 Speaker 1: that he did not commit. He'd been framed. Now, he 120 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:20,280 Speaker 1: was a scallywag. He did have form, he had done 121 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:24,240 Speaker 1: things in the past, but he was a guy who 122 00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:27,560 Speaker 1: did not get along with the police because, unlike most 123 00:07:27,600 --> 00:07:31,520 Speaker 1: crooks in the privacy of a police station an interview room, 124 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:34,520 Speaker 1: he would not do deals with the police. He wouldn't 125 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:38,200 Speaker 1: sell out, he wouldn't pay them bribes, which many of 126 00:07:38,240 --> 00:07:42,239 Speaker 1: them solicited, and he would not sell out other crooks 127 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:46,440 Speaker 1: with information. Most crooks would do business with the police 128 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:49,840 Speaker 1: if a push came to shove, and Joey Hamilton would not. 129 00:07:50,440 --> 00:07:52,840 Speaker 1: Sort of his personal code of honor, whatever you call it. 130 00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:57,040 Speaker 1: He was therefore much hated by the police because he 131 00:07:57,160 --> 00:07:59,840 Speaker 1: was more of a thorn in their side, and when 132 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:03,160 Speaker 1: they got him in, he would stay silent. He wouldn't talk, 133 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:06,600 Speaker 1: he wouldn't give them info and trade and do all 134 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:08,520 Speaker 1: the stuff that a lot of crooks used to do. 135 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:13,040 Speaker 1: And he especially wouldn't lead them to large cases of cash, 136 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:16,960 Speaker 1: which is the main hobby of the robbery squad, the breakers, 137 00:08:17,520 --> 00:08:20,640 Speaker 1: the consorts, and the major crime squad. In those days, 138 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:25,760 Speaker 1: the elites, heavy squads were very inclined to take cash 139 00:08:25,760 --> 00:08:26,440 Speaker 1: from crooks. 140 00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:27,160 Speaker 2: They called it. 141 00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:31,560 Speaker 1: Taxing them, and semi officially they would put it in 142 00:08:32,040 --> 00:08:34,800 Speaker 1: I think they called a slush fund. A slash fund 143 00:08:35,240 --> 00:08:39,559 Speaker 1: paid for interstate police to come down and be entertained. 144 00:08:40,160 --> 00:08:43,400 Speaker 1: It paid sometimes for trips into state to pick up 145 00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:49,160 Speaker 1: other crooks, incidental expenses, whatever, whatever, perhaps used to pay 146 00:08:49,160 --> 00:08:53,520 Speaker 1: informers informally that sort of stuff. Of course, the slash 147 00:08:53,520 --> 00:08:59,200 Speaker 1: fund was a good cover story for bet detectives who 148 00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:02,679 Speaker 1: took cash and put it in their back pocket or 149 00:09:02,760 --> 00:09:06,240 Speaker 1: under a brick, or put it in their mother in 150 00:09:06,320 --> 00:09:09,760 Speaker 1: law's bank account or whatever. This sort of stuff went on, 151 00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:13,000 Speaker 1: and it went on a lot. It was a cash 152 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:16,920 Speaker 1: economy in those days. Joey wouldn't play that game, so 153 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:22,280 Speaker 1: they hated Joey. Nineteen seventy three, the detectives in Russell 154 00:09:22,320 --> 00:09:27,640 Speaker 1: Street drag Joey in and they tell him that they're 155 00:09:27,679 --> 00:09:30,880 Speaker 1: going to charge him with robbing a Thornberry milk bar. 156 00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:33,760 Speaker 1: Joey says, well, I wasn't there, I didn't do it. 157 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:35,679 Speaker 1: I've got an alibio. I can show you where I was. 158 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:38,920 Speaker 1: And they said, well, we don't care what to tell us. 159 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:40,920 Speaker 1: We're going to charge you with it. And we're charging 160 00:09:40,960 --> 00:09:43,600 Speaker 1: with it because we had this guy here called Eric 161 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:48,120 Speaker 1: Houston alias Eric Grant. And Eric Grant was a crook. 162 00:09:48,559 --> 00:09:50,800 Speaker 1: He was a robber and he was a give up. 163 00:09:50,880 --> 00:09:52,840 Speaker 1: He used to sell out other crooks all the time. 164 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:57,640 Speaker 1: He was a police informer in several states, and he's 165 00:09:57,679 --> 00:09:59,600 Speaker 1: the sort of guy that is much hated by other 166 00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:06,880 Speaker 1: honorable crooks. And Eric Grant because he was an informer, 167 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:09,600 Speaker 1: the police wanted to protect him and look after him, 168 00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:13,000 Speaker 1: and they also wanted to get Joey Hamilton because they 169 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:17,079 Speaker 1: didn't like him. So they persuaded Eric Grant, who had 170 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:20,320 Speaker 1: done this robbery of the Thornbury milk bar, to say 171 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:24,199 Speaker 1: that it was Joey Hamilton and not himself. And it 172 00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:27,040 Speaker 1: was a neat swap in the informer gets out of 173 00:10:27,960 --> 00:10:30,559 Speaker 1: doing time for the crime that he did and the 174 00:10:30,600 --> 00:10:33,679 Speaker 1: bloke who didn't do the crime goes inside. And that's 175 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:36,880 Speaker 1: what happened. Joey Hamilton went into Pendridge charged with an 176 00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:40,760 Speaker 1: armed robbery, convicted of an arm robbery on very very 177 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:45,120 Speaker 1: body evidence, on a statement that he hadn't signed. It 178 00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:49,800 Speaker 1: was just a complete fabrication. He went in seventy three 179 00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:54,280 Speaker 1: for eighty years. When the Beach Inquiry started in nineteen 180 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:58,840 Speaker 1: seventy five, this was an inquiry a political response to 181 00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:03,280 Speaker 1: the growing unrest about bent police and rogue police and 182 00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:08,280 Speaker 1: police misbehavior. And this inquiry had been brought on by 183 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:12,200 Speaker 1: all sorts of things, but mainly by an activist called 184 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:16,000 Speaker 1: doctor Bertram Wayner. Now doctor Bertram Wayner had exposed the 185 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:20,160 Speaker 1: abortion rackets in Melbourne. He exposed the fact that homicide 186 00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:25,199 Speaker 1: squad detectives were taking large bribes from organized abortionists. It 187 00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:30,160 Speaker 1: was a massive underwel moneymaker in those days when abortions 188 00:11:30,200 --> 00:11:35,120 Speaker 1: were illegal and a little like our tobacco shop problem now. 189 00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:38,600 Speaker 1: Because it was illegal, it meant that certain surgeons and 190 00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:42,479 Speaker 1: doctors could make a lot of money by performing abortions, 191 00:11:42,520 --> 00:11:46,160 Speaker 1: and other people did them too. Nurses and people with 192 00:11:46,280 --> 00:11:51,400 Speaker 1: no medical training would procure abortions in mostly unfortunate young 193 00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:54,120 Speaker 1: women who didn't want to have a baby out of 194 00:11:54,120 --> 00:11:57,439 Speaker 1: wedlock by and large, and they would pay cash for this. 195 00:11:57,640 --> 00:11:58,439 Speaker 2: They would pay. 196 00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:00,760 Speaker 1: Hundreds of dollars for an abortion at a time when 197 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:04,160 Speaker 1: you know, a laborer might make less than one hundred 198 00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:08,679 Speaker 1: dollars a week, so this was a cash cow. Abortion 199 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:12,439 Speaker 1: hast paid the Bent Police. This led to this sort 200 00:12:12,480 --> 00:12:17,600 Speaker 1: of corrupt scenario. This persuaded Bertram Wayner and others to 201 00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:21,600 Speaker 1: point the finger at the Bent Police, and this forced 202 00:12:21,640 --> 00:12:24,720 Speaker 1: the government of the day, the Hamer State government, to 203 00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:28,240 Speaker 1: call an inquiry and the head of the inquiry was 204 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:33,720 Speaker 1: Barry Beach QC, a Queen's Council. He was a conservative. 205 00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:38,160 Speaker 1: He was politically aligned with the Hamer Liberal government, so 206 00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:42,440 Speaker 1: he was conservative and probably on what we would think 207 00:12:42,480 --> 00:12:45,040 Speaker 1: of as right wing these days, but essentially a very 208 00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:51,400 Speaker 1: honest and decent lawyer, upper middle class man with decent 209 00:12:51,679 --> 00:12:55,719 Speaker 1: instincts to do the right thing by and large, and 210 00:12:55,760 --> 00:12:59,240 Speaker 1: for him it was like swimming in treacle because he 211 00:12:59,320 --> 00:13:03,480 Speaker 1: calls witnesses he calls for complaints and complainants to come 212 00:13:03,520 --> 00:13:08,360 Speaker 1: and give evidence, and he finds that amazingly a lot 213 00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:11,319 Speaker 1: of these people who have got complaints against the police 214 00:13:11,840 --> 00:13:15,800 Speaker 1: are intimidated by police and decide not to give certain evidence. 215 00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:18,280 Speaker 1: They get sick on the day, or they don't want 216 00:13:18,320 --> 00:13:21,280 Speaker 1: to talk on the day. He finds that the police 217 00:13:21,320 --> 00:13:24,839 Speaker 1: that he calls before his tribunal and requires them to 218 00:13:24,840 --> 00:13:28,800 Speaker 1: give evidence, he finds that I think many of them, 219 00:13:29,240 --> 00:13:33,920 Speaker 1: perhaps fifty five of them, gave perjured evidence to him. 220 00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:37,199 Speaker 1: But he also said that many of them had given 221 00:13:37,679 --> 00:13:42,800 Speaker 1: perjured evidence in trials against people like Joey Hamilton and others. 222 00:13:43,520 --> 00:13:47,560 Speaker 1: So this inquiry, it's the old thing about never calling 223 00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:51,280 Speaker 1: an inquiry unless you know what it's going to discover. 224 00:13:51,760 --> 00:13:56,000 Speaker 1: What Beach uncovered was a rat's nest of corruption in 225 00:13:56,040 --> 00:13:59,839 Speaker 1: the Victoria Police, which to some extent echoed what we 226 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:04,079 Speaker 1: know what's happening in Sydney the Roger Rogerson Sydney, and 227 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:09,800 Speaker 1: in Queensland the russ Hins, Sir Terence Lewis, Brisbane, the 228 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:13,640 Speaker 1: Moonlight State, and also in Perth, which was a pretty 229 00:14:13,640 --> 00:14:17,440 Speaker 1: hot town. So Melbourne was not much better than the 230 00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:20,920 Speaker 1: other places. It's just that the corruption he tended to 231 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:27,480 Speaker 1: be below the level of superintendents and commanders and inspectors probably, 232 00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:32,280 Speaker 1: And so we have a situation where Barry Beach's discovering 233 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:35,520 Speaker 1: all this bad stuff. One of the bad things he discovers, 234 00:14:36,120 --> 00:14:39,800 Speaker 1: and the one he really nails home, is that Joey 235 00:14:39,840 --> 00:14:44,400 Speaker 1: Hamilton was totally framed for this armed robbery back in 236 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:48,720 Speaker 1: seventy three. And because Joey Hamilton is willing to give 237 00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:54,160 Speaker 1: straight evidence until the absolute truth, fearlessly, and because he 238 00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:58,280 Speaker 1: can call other witnesses who will support his view of 239 00:14:58,360 --> 00:15:02,280 Speaker 1: what happened did not Happenoe Hamilton, he's declared by Beats 240 00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:08,239 Speaker 1: to have been locked up on false evidence, and therefore 241 00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:12,400 Speaker 1: technically he should have been given a fresh trial. He 242 00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:15,080 Speaker 1: probably should have been paid a large amount of money 243 00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:20,240 Speaker 1: for being locked up under false pretenses. What actually happened 244 00:15:20,320 --> 00:15:25,320 Speaker 1: was that the government wriggled around it by giving Joey 245 00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:28,440 Speaker 1: Hamilton a sort of a pardon. They took him out 246 00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:33,160 Speaker 1: of jail, They paroled him very early and said, well 247 00:15:33,160 --> 00:15:35,280 Speaker 1: you're out of jail now, you've got to be on 248 00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:37,560 Speaker 1: parole and report to the parole for eight eight months 249 00:15:37,640 --> 00:15:41,040 Speaker 1: or something. And they sort of fell between two stills. 250 00:15:41,080 --> 00:15:44,480 Speaker 1: They didn't give him a fresh trial, they didn't give 251 00:15:44,560 --> 00:15:47,560 Speaker 1: him a full on pardon, but they got him out 252 00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:51,160 Speaker 1: of his cell. And he'd been doing it in h 253 00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:53,920 Speaker 1: division in Pentridge. He'd been breaking rocks with a hammer, 254 00:15:54,440 --> 00:15:58,200 Speaker 1: been doing it pretty hard inside before he gets out. 255 00:15:58,480 --> 00:16:01,240 Speaker 1: I think he got out in seventy six after more 256 00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:06,880 Speaker 1: than three years. While he is inside, Shirley Jacobs, the 257 00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:11,080 Speaker 1: Folks singer, does a concert inside, and while she's doing that, 258 00:16:11,520 --> 00:16:15,240 Speaker 1: she meets Joey. Joey is one of the crimsons setting 259 00:16:15,280 --> 00:16:18,480 Speaker 1: up the amps or whatever, setting up the chairs or 260 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:21,960 Speaker 1: whatever it is, and he makes an impression on Shirley. 261 00:16:22,520 --> 00:16:25,880 Speaker 1: He's pretty charming, he's pretty funny whatever. He is a 262 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:29,840 Speaker 1: ruggedly handsome sort of bloke, the charm that some crooks had, 263 00:16:29,880 --> 00:16:36,040 Speaker 1: you know, part conman, worldly, knock about and irresistible to 264 00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:39,160 Speaker 1: some people who like that sort of stuff. And Shirley 265 00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:42,080 Speaker 1: fell for Joey, and Joey fell for Shirley. There was 266 00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:44,960 Speaker 1: a fifteen year gap in their ages. He was in 267 00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:48,640 Speaker 1: his mid thirties, she was around the fifty mark. But 268 00:16:49,200 --> 00:16:54,120 Speaker 1: they were swinging hands seriously. As soon as Joey was 269 00:16:54,160 --> 00:16:56,800 Speaker 1: released in nineteen seventy six, and in fact they got married, 270 00:16:57,080 --> 00:17:00,800 Speaker 1: which is why we are talking about Shirley and Joey Hamilton. 271 00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:04,680 Speaker 1: They actually got married, much to the amusement of her daughters, 272 00:17:05,080 --> 00:17:08,600 Speaker 1: who were teenagers at the time. But they rubbed along. 273 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:11,360 Speaker 1: The older daughter, Debbie was you know, she loved her 274 00:17:11,359 --> 00:17:14,119 Speaker 1: mother and she'd like to see her mother happy, and 275 00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:16,320 Speaker 1: so she would turn up and sort of talk to 276 00:17:16,320 --> 00:17:20,280 Speaker 1: them and see them. And she told me last week 277 00:17:20,320 --> 00:17:23,360 Speaker 1: when I found it tracked down, she said that, you know, 278 00:17:23,560 --> 00:17:25,720 Speaker 1: she was keen to stay in touch with them. 279 00:17:25,800 --> 00:17:26,040 Speaker 2: Mum. 280 00:17:26,720 --> 00:17:30,119 Speaker 1: Joey she thought was charming and you know, good looking 281 00:17:30,160 --> 00:17:33,119 Speaker 1: and all that stuff. But she said, I never really 282 00:17:33,119 --> 00:17:35,160 Speaker 1: trusted him because you know, he had been a crook 283 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:38,200 Speaker 1: and I knew he had a volatile temper whatever whatever. 284 00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:43,680 Speaker 1: And so they rubbed along. But Joey and Shirley they'd 285 00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:48,520 Speaker 1: get a house in Station Street, Carlton. They immediately become 286 00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:52,439 Speaker 1: the target because Joey has given this evidence against all 287 00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:59,920 Speaker 1: these police. They become the target of reprisals. Then rogue detective, 288 00:18:00,280 --> 00:18:04,240 Speaker 1: the very ones who had put him inside, they get 289 00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:07,040 Speaker 1: the nod from their boss, and their boss at Russell 290 00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:12,640 Speaker 1: Street at that time was Chief Superintendent Fat Harry Bennett. 291 00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:15,840 Speaker 1: Phil Bennett, known as Fat Harry to everyone. He was 292 00:18:15,880 --> 00:18:19,280 Speaker 1: a big, jovial, smiling, billy bunter sort of bloke, and 293 00:18:19,320 --> 00:18:23,240 Speaker 1: he was as rotten as a book chop. He solicited 294 00:18:23,280 --> 00:18:26,760 Speaker 1: bribes from all over the job. I think perhaps there 295 00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:31,320 Speaker 1: was brothel money flowing into him and others. I think 296 00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:34,119 Speaker 1: there was probably probably had been a party to the 297 00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:39,040 Speaker 1: abortionists earlier. Maybe whatever was going on that there was 298 00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:43,160 Speaker 1: an illicit quit in he would get a slice of it. 299 00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:45,760 Speaker 2: There were sp bookies. 300 00:18:45,400 --> 00:18:48,520 Speaker 1: Around at that time who made sure they were on 301 00:18:48,560 --> 00:18:50,800 Speaker 1: the right side of the police. They would pay a 302 00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:54,520 Speaker 1: bit of tax to the police. There were publicans around 303 00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:58,800 Speaker 1: town who liked to trade after hours later than they should. 304 00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:01,439 Speaker 1: Police would never pay for food or drink in their pubs, 305 00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:04,400 Speaker 1: and they would probably slip them cash as well. So 306 00:19:04,440 --> 00:19:07,159 Speaker 1: there were a lot of rackets like that going on 307 00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:11,760 Speaker 1: in those days, ranging from petty corruption right through to 308 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:16,639 Speaker 1: the full blown object. Fat Harry Bennett gave the nod 309 00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:21,679 Speaker 1: to rogue detectives who we won't actually name here because 310 00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:24,280 Speaker 1: the two I'm thinking of I'm. 311 00:19:24,119 --> 00:19:25,400 Speaker 2: Pretty sure are still alive. 312 00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:29,960 Speaker 1: But we'll call one mister Phillips, which is not his 313 00:19:30,880 --> 00:19:34,639 Speaker 1: real name. We'll call one mister Johnson, mister Phillips and 314 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:37,560 Speaker 1: mister Johnson. Okay, that is not their real names. 315 00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:40,040 Speaker 2: These two fellows were pretty. 316 00:19:39,720 --> 00:19:44,040 Speaker 1: Well known around town for various reasons. We can find 317 00:19:44,119 --> 00:19:49,000 Speaker 1: their pictures on file now because they did get into 318 00:19:49,119 --> 00:19:53,560 Speaker 1: enough trouble with other bent coppers that their photographs were 319 00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:57,439 Speaker 1: taken and their stories were told. In the seventies and 320 00:19:57,520 --> 00:20:01,240 Speaker 1: the eighties, these do they were pretty bad lads, and 321 00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:02,560 Speaker 1: one of them had. 322 00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:04,000 Speaker 2: A big habit of. 323 00:20:04,240 --> 00:20:06,639 Speaker 1: Using jelly knite. I don't know if he'd come from 324 00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:10,080 Speaker 1: a job or from the country or somewhere where he 325 00:20:10,160 --> 00:20:12,679 Speaker 1: handled jelig nite. In those days, a lot of people 326 00:20:13,240 --> 00:20:16,280 Speaker 1: were reasonably familiar with explosives and jelly knite, And know 327 00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:19,760 Speaker 1: in my own family in the country, my father would 328 00:20:19,800 --> 00:20:22,080 Speaker 1: blow up stumps with jelly knite, and a lot of 329 00:20:22,119 --> 00:20:25,320 Speaker 1: farmers bought jeli knit and used it and were pretty 330 00:20:25,320 --> 00:20:28,879 Speaker 1: good at it in a way that probably doesn't happen 331 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:32,760 Speaker 1: now so much. And so it was one of those 332 00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:37,200 Speaker 1: things that criminals and coppers tended to use in those days. 333 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:41,080 Speaker 1: Criminals would use it to blow safees open, blow up 334 00:20:41,080 --> 00:20:42,560 Speaker 1: in a building then blow up. 335 00:20:42,440 --> 00:20:43,000 Speaker 2: In a safe. 336 00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:45,920 Speaker 1: Coppers would use it to load up crims. 337 00:20:46,600 --> 00:20:49,520 Speaker 2: They would wrap up a parcel of jelly knite and 338 00:20:49,560 --> 00:20:49,920 Speaker 2: put it. 339 00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:53,040 Speaker 1: Under a criminal's Christmas tree and then raid the place 340 00:20:53,040 --> 00:20:55,800 Speaker 1: and say, guess what you've got Jeli Knight under your 341 00:20:55,840 --> 00:20:59,760 Speaker 1: Christmas tree and charge him with illegal possession of explosives. 342 00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:03,760 Speaker 1: They would set little bombs for crooks, blow up their 343 00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:08,480 Speaker 1: cars and stuff like that. These two Scullywag coppers got 344 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:14,560 Speaker 1: the nod to harass Joey and Shirley. Now there were 345 00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:18,320 Speaker 1: already plenty of coppers harassing Joey and Shirley. They became 346 00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:21,720 Speaker 1: the targets of this sustained campaign which I mentioned earlier. 347 00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:24,160 Speaker 1: They would go outside in the morning there would be 348 00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:28,520 Speaker 1: three inch nails jammed under the tires of their car, 349 00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:31,280 Speaker 1: so that if you drove the car forward or back, 350 00:21:31,960 --> 00:21:35,160 Speaker 1: the nails would pierce the tires and flatten them. Their 351 00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:38,239 Speaker 1: rubbish spins every week would be emptied and strewn all 352 00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:43,560 Speaker 1: over the street. They're rubbish strewn everywhere. Their windows or 353 00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:46,200 Speaker 1: doors would be broken. The police would come around and 354 00:21:46,440 --> 00:21:49,320 Speaker 1: break into their house under the guise of searching it 355 00:21:49,840 --> 00:21:53,199 Speaker 1: when they went home. This went on and on. They 356 00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:56,199 Speaker 1: would be hassled. If they went to a hotel to 357 00:21:56,240 --> 00:22:00,640 Speaker 1: have a drink or whatever, they would be hassled, particularly Joey, 358 00:22:01,080 --> 00:22:03,399 Speaker 1: and they would be told you can't drink here, this 359 00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:06,800 Speaker 1: is a Coppers pub, and they would grab him and 360 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:11,840 Speaker 1: get him arrested for resist arrest, insulting words, all these 361 00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:15,440 Speaker 1: bogus charges, and he would be taken to a police station, 362 00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:18,960 Speaker 1: he would be stripped, humiliated, he'd be locked up for 363 00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:21,880 Speaker 1: hours and then he'd finally be allowed to go home 364 00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:22,320 Speaker 1: that night. 365 00:22:23,119 --> 00:22:23,960 Speaker 2: They did this. 366 00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:27,800 Speaker 1: Stuff over and over and over just to teach him 367 00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:32,680 Speaker 1: a lesson about giving evidence to the Beach inquiry against them. 368 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:37,280 Speaker 1: This was highly organized and it was basically tacitly accepted 369 00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:41,320 Speaker 1: by the police hierarchy to a pretty high level. Now, 370 00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:44,840 Speaker 1: there's no doubt that the highest people in the pyramid 371 00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:47,520 Speaker 1: of the police force knew it was happening, but just 372 00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:54,040 Speaker 1: ignored it, and they chose to believe the crap they 373 00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:58,680 Speaker 1: were told, which was this is just underworld shenanigans. Joey's 374 00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:02,399 Speaker 1: been stood over by crooks whatever, it's nothing to do 375 00:23:02,480 --> 00:23:07,760 Speaker 1: with us, boss, and that was clearly bullshit. But the 376 00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:11,840 Speaker 1: chief figures of the police force chose to turn a 377 00:23:11,880 --> 00:23:14,119 Speaker 1: blind eye to it, and the result of the blind 378 00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:17,960 Speaker 1: eye was that they had an open slather. And what 379 00:23:18,119 --> 00:23:22,600 Speaker 1: they did on the Monday morning of August the first, 380 00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:28,280 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy eight, this is a winter morning, it's a Monday, 381 00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:34,119 Speaker 1: it's about twenty past four am. A car and a 382 00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:38,159 Speaker 1: marked car goes to Station Street, Carlton, near Joey and 383 00:23:38,240 --> 00:23:42,480 Speaker 1: Shirley's little terrace house brick Terror's house checked by jail 384 00:23:42,520 --> 00:23:45,440 Speaker 1: with other terrace houses. They're only in a one room 385 00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:49,160 Speaker 1: wide et cetera. So you are very close to your neighbors. 386 00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:52,680 Speaker 1: You are living the length of one brick from your neighbors, 387 00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:56,520 Speaker 1: essentially because through the brick party wall. This car pulls 388 00:23:56,600 --> 00:24:01,199 Speaker 1: up past Joey and Shirley's house. These three people in 389 00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:04,080 Speaker 1: the car, there's two police, the two mister Johnson and 390 00:24:04,119 --> 00:24:08,200 Speaker 1: mister Phillips, the ones I mentioned not their real names. 391 00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:09,760 Speaker 1: And there's a third person in. 392 00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:13,360 Speaker 2: The car a. 393 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:17,639 Speaker 1: Young reporter, a young reporter from a broad shair newspaper 394 00:24:18,359 --> 00:24:22,159 Speaker 1: who has recently at that point come down from a 395 00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:27,360 Speaker 1: country newspaper in the country, and he had been sent 396 00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:29,640 Speaker 1: up to police rounds to. 397 00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:31,560 Speaker 2: Work at Russell Street. As it was all. 398 00:24:31,560 --> 00:24:34,160 Speaker 1: The newspapers had offices at Russell Street in those days 399 00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:38,080 Speaker 1: where they would file their police and crime stories and 400 00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:41,720 Speaker 1: the police rounds. People inevitably in those days are police 401 00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:46,200 Speaker 1: rounds man, although there were some female reporters. Later they 402 00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:51,280 Speaker 1: cultivated relationships with police, particularly with detectives in the heavy 403 00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:54,560 Speaker 1: squads who did the big jobs arm robbery's, murders, all 404 00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:57,199 Speaker 1: that stuff, and they would go drinking with the police 405 00:24:57,359 --> 00:25:00,840 Speaker 1: at the City Court Hotel, which was just dagonally opposite 406 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:05,440 Speaker 1: the old City Courts up there near Russell Street Police station, 407 00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:08,399 Speaker 1: and in the Police Club, which was just at the 408 00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:10,960 Speaker 1: back of the Russell Street police complex. It was in 409 00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:13,879 Speaker 1: McKenzie Street around the corner and it butted on to 410 00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:17,640 Speaker 1: the actual Russell Street Police building. When the Police Club 411 00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:20,439 Speaker 1: was a place where reporters were on remembers and we 412 00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:24,280 Speaker 1: go there and have a parmajana or whatever and a 413 00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:26,959 Speaker 1: couple of beers at a bit of a discount, and 414 00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:31,520 Speaker 1: it was all a very woman fuzzy. But it wasn't 415 00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:34,840 Speaker 1: woman fuzzy this night because our young reporter from the 416 00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:38,720 Speaker 1: country who was drinking with coppers and going pig shooting 417 00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:42,040 Speaker 1: with coppers and all this sort of stuff. They've invited 418 00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:47,040 Speaker 1: him to come on this raid. I'm thinking that's how 419 00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:48,919 Speaker 1: they would have sold it to him, a bit of 420 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:51,680 Speaker 1: an early morning raid. Tomorrow morning, meet us at four 421 00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:54,400 Speaker 1: am or whatever. And he meets them, and he gets 422 00:25:54,400 --> 00:25:55,639 Speaker 1: in the car with them and they go out to 423 00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:59,960 Speaker 1: Station Street. The car is parked by one mister Johnson 424 00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:02,200 Speaker 1: or mister Phillips, and the other one. 425 00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:06,560 Speaker 2: Slopes off up the street with a parcel under his coat. 426 00:26:07,240 --> 00:26:11,000 Speaker 1: Cold morning, he probably able to cut it, and next 427 00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:13,440 Speaker 1: minute he comes back a bit faster than he went, 428 00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:16,400 Speaker 1: runs back to the car, jumps in the car. They 429 00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:19,159 Speaker 1: drive off around the corner, around the corner, and by 430 00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:22,400 Speaker 1: the time they've gone you know, one hundred meters, they 431 00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:29,000 Speaker 1: hear a massive explosion kaboom. And everybody in Carlton heard 432 00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:32,840 Speaker 1: this explosion because it was big. And they keep driving 433 00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:36,400 Speaker 1: and they go somewhere else and keep their heads down. Now, 434 00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:40,040 Speaker 1: the third bloke in the car, the reporter, I don't 435 00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:45,000 Speaker 1: know that he was overly happy about this, because when 436 00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:48,480 Speaker 1: you look back on it, I think he thought, at best, 437 00:26:48,480 --> 00:26:52,720 Speaker 1: I've been compromised, and at worst, if this had gone 438 00:26:52,840 --> 00:26:56,439 Speaker 1: wrong and somebody had been injured or killed. I'm actually 439 00:26:56,440 --> 00:26:59,760 Speaker 1: in a car with the guilty parties of my own. 440 00:27:00,720 --> 00:27:02,760 Speaker 1: And I think as he has looked back on this 441 00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:07,040 Speaker 1: incident over the last forty five years, he's probably wished 442 00:27:07,960 --> 00:27:10,040 Speaker 1: he hadn't been there. And I rang him last week 443 00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:12,199 Speaker 1: to ask him and it can give me a straight answer. 444 00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:14,960 Speaker 1: But he made it clear that it would have been 445 00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:17,879 Speaker 1: better if he hadn't been there. He also made it 446 00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:21,160 Speaker 1: clear that he's very happy that no one was hurt, 447 00:27:21,520 --> 00:27:24,760 Speaker 1: because to be a party to that would have been awful. 448 00:27:25,119 --> 00:27:28,640 Speaker 1: Now it is a miracle no one was hurt. Jeli 449 00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:31,679 Speaker 1: Knight is a fairly imprecise thing in the hands of 450 00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:35,760 Speaker 1: relative amateurs. And you know, the difference between one stick 451 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:38,679 Speaker 1: and two sticks is massive. And if you've got it 452 00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:42,199 Speaker 1: bound up with tape or something, it compresses it and 453 00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:48,040 Speaker 1: it makes the explosive force much more damaging with explosives 454 00:27:48,119 --> 00:27:51,920 Speaker 1: if you compress it. If you put jelly Knight inside 455 00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:57,080 Speaker 1: a package with binding around it, it's the compression that 456 00:27:57,200 --> 00:28:00,520 Speaker 1: makes it a bigger, more dangerous bang. Just drop it 457 00:28:00,560 --> 00:28:03,560 Speaker 1: out in the open space somewhere and it just goes 458 00:28:03,600 --> 00:28:05,199 Speaker 1: off in the middle of a footy ground. 459 00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:06,560 Speaker 2: It's not so bad. 460 00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:09,520 Speaker 1: But when you've got it up on somebody's doorstep, and 461 00:28:09,560 --> 00:28:12,399 Speaker 1: it's got concrete underneath. It's got a wooden door in 462 00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:15,760 Speaker 1: front of it with glass in it. It's got windows nearby, 463 00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:22,359 Speaker 1: and little sort of verandas it becomes surrounded by solid objects, 464 00:28:23,119 --> 00:28:26,679 Speaker 1: and because it's surrounded by solid objects, it reacts against them. 465 00:28:26,680 --> 00:28:31,520 Speaker 1: When the explosion goes off, it creates damage. And what 466 00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:34,960 Speaker 1: happened when it went off. It blew an actual crater 467 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:39,560 Speaker 1: in the concrete veranda. It blew a crater in the 468 00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:42,720 Speaker 1: concree veranda. It blew the front door of Joey and 469 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:47,000 Speaker 1: Shirley Hamilton's clean off its hinges and smashed it into matchwood. 470 00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:50,720 Speaker 1: It smashed all their furniture down their hallway. It threw 471 00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:53,360 Speaker 1: their German shepherd dog that had a big German shepherd 472 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:57,800 Speaker 1: dog that I think probably would have normally slept further 473 00:28:58,200 --> 00:28:59,320 Speaker 1: down the back of the house. 474 00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:00,480 Speaker 2: I reckon. 475 00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:02,800 Speaker 1: The dog has heard somebody on the verandah and trotted 476 00:29:02,920 --> 00:29:05,760 Speaker 1: up to the front door and was at the front 477 00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:08,520 Speaker 1: door when the explosion went off. That dog was thrown 478 00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:13,200 Speaker 1: the length of the hallway and he was knocked out. 479 00:29:13,560 --> 00:29:17,760 Speaker 1: The dog was rendered unconscious. He did survive the length 480 00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:21,160 Speaker 1: of the hallway, is going to be the length of 481 00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:25,959 Speaker 1: three bedrooms with so it is about at least ten meters. 482 00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:31,160 Speaker 1: It's a long way. It smashed everything up. The amazing 483 00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:35,040 Speaker 1: thing is this Joey and Shirley normally slept in the 484 00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:38,040 Speaker 1: front bedroom, which I reckon the police would have known. 485 00:29:38,840 --> 00:29:41,840 Speaker 1: On this night they did not. I don't know why. 486 00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:44,440 Speaker 1: They were pretty cagy on this night. They did not 487 00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:47,000 Speaker 1: sleep in that front bedroom. They slept at the back 488 00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:51,480 Speaker 1: of the house. And they weren't in the front, they believe. 489 00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:55,680 Speaker 1: And I spoke to their next door neighbor today before 490 00:29:55,680 --> 00:29:58,760 Speaker 1: I sat down to do this podcast, I spoke to 491 00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:00,760 Speaker 1: the man who lived next door, who had his own 492 00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:04,800 Speaker 1: story to tell, and he said, he said, I really 493 00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:08,800 Speaker 1: believe that Joey and Shirley believed that if they'd been 494 00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:11,560 Speaker 1: in the bedroom in the front of the house, it 495 00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:15,120 Speaker 1: might have killed them or really badly injured them. He said, 496 00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:18,080 Speaker 1: the amount of glass that was thrown in at force, 497 00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:21,520 Speaker 1: for a start, was dangerous. The brickwork was smashed up 498 00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:26,120 Speaker 1: around the windows and blew in with debris and shrapnel. Essentially, 499 00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:29,280 Speaker 1: he said, it was terrible. And this man that I 500 00:30:29,320 --> 00:30:32,840 Speaker 1: was talking to today, a man called Graham. Graham lived 501 00:30:32,880 --> 00:30:35,520 Speaker 1: next door with his then wife, Barbara and their little 502 00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:39,240 Speaker 1: two year old daughter, Ilsa. I think Graham was a 503 00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:42,200 Speaker 1: teacher and a musician. He was a bit of a guitarist. 504 00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:45,800 Speaker 1: I am a guitarist. I think his wife was. I 505 00:30:45,840 --> 00:30:49,960 Speaker 1: think she's an artistic woman. They lived in Carlton, where 506 00:30:49,960 --> 00:30:52,880 Speaker 1: a lot of those sort of people lived, Musicians, artists, 507 00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:57,560 Speaker 1: those sort of people. They knew Joey and Shirley after 508 00:30:58,000 --> 00:30:59,920 Speaker 1: they'd moved in. They'd sort of met them, and they 509 00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:04,720 Speaker 1: through the party wall and were reasonably friendly with them 510 00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:08,840 Speaker 1: without actually going in to visit much because Joey and 511 00:31:08,880 --> 00:31:14,880 Speaker 1: Shirley realized that because of the police harassment, their neighbors 512 00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:17,840 Speaker 1: could be injured or hurt, and they used to actually 513 00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:20,480 Speaker 1: stay away from their neighbors a bit. Which is interesting 514 00:31:22,280 --> 00:31:25,880 Speaker 1: that couple Barbara and Graham were in bed their little daughter, 515 00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:30,520 Speaker 1: Ilsa just a few minutes before the bomb went off, 516 00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:33,959 Speaker 1: had got out of her crib or her little cot, 517 00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:37,920 Speaker 1: and she'd totted up the hallway to the front of 518 00:31:37,960 --> 00:31:41,280 Speaker 1: the house where her parents were and got into bed 519 00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:43,479 Speaker 1: with them, as little kids often do when they're two 520 00:31:43,560 --> 00:31:47,840 Speaker 1: years old. She crawled up into bed and within minutes 521 00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:50,920 Speaker 1: the bomb's gone off. It's like the end of the world. 522 00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:54,120 Speaker 1: All the glass in their front door smashes, and he's 523 00:31:54,160 --> 00:31:58,120 Speaker 1: thrown straight down the hallway shards of glass. Their windows break. 524 00:31:58,280 --> 00:32:02,280 Speaker 1: In their bedroom and their beds, it is covered with glass. Barbara, 525 00:32:02,400 --> 00:32:07,120 Speaker 1: the mother instinctively pulls the donner over her little baby 526 00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:10,320 Speaker 1: two year old daughter toddler, and then she rolls her 527 00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:16,000 Speaker 1: body over her toddler to protect her. That is her 528 00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:18,040 Speaker 1: memory of it. I rang Barbara last week and she 529 00:32:18,120 --> 00:32:21,800 Speaker 1: told me, and I spoke to her ex husband Graham today, 530 00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:25,440 Speaker 1: and I have been in touch with Ilsa, who was 531 00:32:25,520 --> 00:32:28,880 Speaker 1: then two years old and can't really remember it, but 532 00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:34,800 Speaker 1: they paint a picture of a very frightening thing, Graham said. 533 00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:36,520 Speaker 2: He said, I was totally dazed. 534 00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:38,600 Speaker 1: He said, I stuck my head out the broken window 535 00:32:39,760 --> 00:32:43,440 Speaker 1: and said, God, we've been bombed. And he said, as 536 00:32:43,480 --> 00:32:47,120 Speaker 1: I said it, the guy over the road was walking 537 00:32:47,160 --> 00:32:50,920 Speaker 1: across the road. It was Percy Jones, who of course 538 00:32:51,080 --> 00:32:55,280 Speaker 1: was the great Carlton premiership ruckman, who at that stage 539 00:32:55,280 --> 00:33:00,200 Speaker 1: in seventy eight was a veteran ruckman still playing. I 540 00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:03,240 Speaker 1: think his third and final premiership was the following year 541 00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:07,080 Speaker 1: in seventy nine, giant man nearly two meters tall, looked 542 00:33:07,080 --> 00:33:10,920 Speaker 1: like a wilde beast. Good bloke, a local publican had 543 00:33:10,920 --> 00:33:13,400 Speaker 1: a pub around Carlton knew his way around with police 544 00:33:13,440 --> 00:33:18,520 Speaker 1: and everything. And Percy was instantly out in the street 545 00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:22,320 Speaker 1: and he's walking across the road and Graham calls out 546 00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:25,680 Speaker 1: to him, Oh my god, we've been bombed, and Percy 547 00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:29,160 Speaker 1: says to him, no, you haven't. Have a look next door. 548 00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:32,280 Speaker 1: And Graham turned his head to Shirley and Joey's place 549 00:33:32,600 --> 00:33:35,960 Speaker 1: and saw that it was the one that had been bombed, 550 00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:39,680 Speaker 1: and it was really badly damaged. Branches have been torn 551 00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:44,200 Speaker 1: off the trees. There was iron from corrugated iron have 552 00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:48,160 Speaker 1: been thrown from the verandah across the road and onto 553 00:33:48,200 --> 00:33:51,760 Speaker 1: the road. Brickwork had been shattered and blown in all 554 00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:56,120 Speaker 1: different directions. The garden fence, everything was knocked about. It 555 00:33:56,240 --> 00:33:59,520 Speaker 1: was a real mess and it was quite horrifying. So 556 00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:02,600 Speaker 1: of course lights and sirens turned up the fibergate or whatever. 557 00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:07,320 Speaker 1: Everybody's huddled around the street wearing dressing gowns, saying, oh 558 00:34:07,400 --> 00:34:11,839 Speaker 1: my god, isn't it awful? And clearly this was part 559 00:34:12,280 --> 00:34:18,000 Speaker 1: of this campaign of terror waged against Jerry and Shirley Hamilton, 560 00:34:18,960 --> 00:34:22,600 Speaker 1: and it became clear to everyone. The media realized it, 561 00:34:23,400 --> 00:34:24,879 Speaker 1: everyone realized what. 562 00:34:24,880 --> 00:34:25,480 Speaker 2: It was about. 563 00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:28,799 Speaker 1: The police would say, well, there's no evidence of that. 564 00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:32,120 Speaker 1: Senior police would say, we will investigate this, just as 565 00:34:32,160 --> 00:34:35,239 Speaker 1: we will investigate any criminal act like this. And of 566 00:34:35,239 --> 00:34:39,319 Speaker 1: course it was investigated and they found no evidence of 567 00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:44,759 Speaker 1: police collusion. Amazing really, and so on it went. You 568 00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:49,200 Speaker 1: would think that after that sort of event that could 569 00:34:49,239 --> 00:34:53,080 Speaker 1: have killed people, that they would ease up. Jerry and 570 00:34:53,120 --> 00:34:57,680 Speaker 1: Shirley left Melbourne after that. Their house was essentially half 571 00:34:57,719 --> 00:35:03,359 Speaker 1: destroyed anyway. They went to a place called Warbra, which 572 00:35:03,400 --> 00:35:08,239 Speaker 1: is twenty something kilometers outside Ballarat. It's a long way 573 00:35:08,239 --> 00:35:11,359 Speaker 1: from Melbourne hour and a half maybe, and they got 574 00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:13,759 Speaker 1: a farmhouse out and a property there to live in 575 00:35:14,040 --> 00:35:18,080 Speaker 1: peacefully with their dogs and Da Da Da Shirley could 576 00:35:18,360 --> 00:35:21,920 Speaker 1: play songs and practice them and they live a quiet life. 577 00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:25,279 Speaker 1: They have a car, Joey had a car. It was 578 00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:30,239 Speaker 1: a V eight Aranha. They go to Warboro and they're 579 00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:33,520 Speaker 1: living there and the police immediately know they're there. And 580 00:35:33,560 --> 00:35:36,160 Speaker 1: we know this because there was in fact a policeman 581 00:35:36,280 --> 00:35:39,520 Speaker 1: transferred from Russell Street to Ballarat. He and others went 582 00:35:39,560 --> 00:35:44,759 Speaker 1: out to warbur to the new Hamilton farmhouse and broke 583 00:35:44,840 --> 00:35:47,840 Speaker 1: in the back door and went through the place and 584 00:35:47,960 --> 00:35:51,200 Speaker 1: checked it over. And this happened a couple of times. 585 00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:51,720 Speaker 2: Amazing. 586 00:35:51,760 --> 00:35:54,239 Speaker 1: They would send out half a dozen police to go 587 00:35:54,320 --> 00:35:58,600 Speaker 1: through the place. Half a dozen detectives and senior people 588 00:35:58,760 --> 00:36:03,040 Speaker 1: they were inspectors and senior sergeants and sergeants would turn 589 00:36:03,120 --> 00:36:08,839 Speaker 1: up and raid the farmhouse looking for evidence of criminality. 590 00:36:09,080 --> 00:36:12,080 Speaker 1: Could they find drugs, could they find guns? 591 00:36:12,480 --> 00:36:12,880 Speaker 2: Whatever? 592 00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:15,879 Speaker 1: And when they couldn't find anything, they'd leave the joint 593 00:36:15,880 --> 00:36:16,399 Speaker 1: a hell of a. 594 00:36:16,360 --> 00:36:18,720 Speaker 2: Mess, which is a very bad habit that police had. 595 00:36:18,560 --> 00:36:21,520 Speaker 1: In those days. We know this is true because one 596 00:36:21,520 --> 00:36:24,400 Speaker 1: of them dropped his police diary in the driveway, and 597 00:36:24,440 --> 00:36:26,800 Speaker 1: we've got his name here. It's all or been recorded, 598 00:36:27,280 --> 00:36:31,440 Speaker 1: and that man's diary was left in their driveway and 599 00:36:31,600 --> 00:36:33,880 Speaker 1: that showed that he at least had been there with others. 600 00:36:35,040 --> 00:36:37,800 Speaker 1: One day, joe and Shelley have to come to Melbourne 601 00:36:37,840 --> 00:36:41,560 Speaker 1: for a birthday or some family function. They went down 602 00:36:41,600 --> 00:36:44,879 Speaker 1: a friend's car. A friend picked them up because there's 603 00:36:44,920 --> 00:36:47,279 Speaker 1: something wrong with Joey's car, but always had flat tires 604 00:36:47,280 --> 00:36:50,120 Speaker 1: because the police would put nails for them. That was 605 00:36:50,160 --> 00:36:53,239 Speaker 1: one problem. They'd ordered a local garage guy to bring 606 00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:57,560 Speaker 1: out two tires for the car. Meanwhile, they get a 607 00:36:57,640 --> 00:37:01,239 Speaker 1: ride with a friend to Melbourne to this birthday. When 608 00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:04,920 Speaker 1: they get back next day, they stay in Mold and 609 00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:07,720 Speaker 1: they get back next day the house has been burnt 610 00:37:07,719 --> 00:37:12,360 Speaker 1: down and their car has been burnt to the ground. 611 00:37:12,760 --> 00:37:14,960 Speaker 1: The police, it was without doubt the police had come 612 00:37:14,960 --> 00:37:20,400 Speaker 1: out and rogue police. Of course, they've basically fire bombed 613 00:37:20,440 --> 00:37:24,000 Speaker 1: the house using an accelerant. It was clear to the 614 00:37:24,120 --> 00:37:27,560 Speaker 1: forensic people that went there that an accelerant had been used, 615 00:37:27,600 --> 00:37:31,440 Speaker 1: that petrol or kerosene or something, and the place was 616 00:37:31,480 --> 00:37:34,000 Speaker 1: burnt to the ground. And it was quite a nice house. 617 00:37:34,080 --> 00:37:36,560 Speaker 1: I've seen the photographs of the way it was and 618 00:37:36,680 --> 00:37:39,600 Speaker 1: just the twisted mess of the way it is now, 619 00:37:39,680 --> 00:37:43,480 Speaker 1: exactly like the photos we're seeing from Los Angeles. It 620 00:37:43,520 --> 00:37:47,000 Speaker 1: was like that a fire bomb. That's what happens when 621 00:37:47,040 --> 00:37:51,239 Speaker 1: you use petrol or an accelerant. It goes up in 622 00:37:51,320 --> 00:37:54,040 Speaker 1: the way that that fire recently killed the twenty seven 623 00:37:54,120 --> 00:37:58,360 Speaker 1: year old woman in the Western Suburbs. When an arsonist 624 00:37:58,480 --> 00:38:02,399 Speaker 1: used an accelerant on a house, it can and does 625 00:38:02,680 --> 00:38:08,439 Speaker 1: kill people. It is interesting to wonder about that did 626 00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:10,800 Speaker 1: they think Joey and Shirley were in the house because 627 00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:14,320 Speaker 1: the car was there. The car was there, so it 628 00:38:14,360 --> 00:38:17,520 Speaker 1: looked as if they were home, when in fact they weren't. 629 00:38:18,160 --> 00:38:21,399 Speaker 1: That is a very interesting question. They were certainly home 630 00:38:21,440 --> 00:38:25,439 Speaker 1: when the bomb went off in Station Street, Carlton. They 631 00:38:25,520 --> 00:38:29,040 Speaker 1: might have thought they were home when the fire bombing 632 00:38:29,040 --> 00:38:34,400 Speaker 1: happened at Ballarat. We'll never know for sure. They were 633 00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:37,920 Speaker 1: the two big things that happened. But they were pushed 634 00:38:38,360 --> 00:38:43,120 Speaker 1: and pushed and pushed at every turn. They were harassed 635 00:38:43,360 --> 00:38:48,319 Speaker 1: and finally they were fitted up with a package of 636 00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:52,800 Speaker 1: marijuana and I think a gun as well. 637 00:38:53,480 --> 00:38:55,120 Speaker 2: They were loaded up, as the. 638 00:38:55,080 --> 00:38:58,239 Speaker 1: Saying went in the police force, with marijuana and a 639 00:38:58,320 --> 00:39:02,040 Speaker 1: gun and clearly just planted by the police. He used 640 00:39:02,040 --> 00:39:05,359 Speaker 1: to carry marijuana, heroin and guns in order to do 641 00:39:05,400 --> 00:39:09,799 Speaker 1: this to lock up crooks. And they did it to 642 00:39:09,880 --> 00:39:12,879 Speaker 1: Joey and Shirley at Seaford. I think they'd been down 643 00:39:12,920 --> 00:39:18,240 Speaker 1: at Seafford, maybe Shirley was singing there working there, and 644 00:39:18,320 --> 00:39:22,680 Speaker 1: that's where they're arrested. They took them back to somewhere 645 00:39:22,719 --> 00:39:26,440 Speaker 1: they were staying, and amazingly the police found more incriminating 646 00:39:26,480 --> 00:39:28,640 Speaker 1: evidence and they were charged. 647 00:39:29,280 --> 00:39:31,280 Speaker 2: Joey particularly was charged. 648 00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:35,840 Speaker 1: With being a felon with an illegal weapon and possession 649 00:39:35,920 --> 00:39:39,480 Speaker 1: of illegal drugs and he was due to go to 650 00:39:39,520 --> 00:39:41,280 Speaker 1: court fees or they were due to go to court. 651 00:39:41,920 --> 00:39:44,759 Speaker 1: Poor Debbie, this is Debbie being the young ish she 652 00:39:44,880 --> 00:39:49,759 Speaker 1: was in her twenties by now daughter of Shirley. She 653 00:39:50,040 --> 00:39:52,440 Speaker 1: put up two and a half thousand dollars bail money. 654 00:39:52,760 --> 00:39:56,000 Speaker 1: Now that was a lot of money at a time 655 00:39:56,360 --> 00:40:00,200 Speaker 1: when it was about six months pay for somebody who 656 00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:01,320 Speaker 1: wasn't very well paid. 657 00:40:01,560 --> 00:40:04,760 Speaker 2: It was half a year's wages. 658 00:40:04,520 --> 00:40:10,040 Speaker 1: From ordinary low base rate bank teller, that sort of money. 659 00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:12,360 Speaker 1: It was quite quite a lot of money. Two and 660 00:40:12,360 --> 00:40:15,360 Speaker 1: a half thousand bucks pulled Debbie put up, only to 661 00:40:15,400 --> 00:40:18,360 Speaker 1: find out within a matter of days that her mother 662 00:40:18,760 --> 00:40:21,759 Speaker 1: and her mother's husband had gone on the run. They 663 00:40:21,760 --> 00:40:25,000 Speaker 1: were now Bonnie and Clyde, and they went on the 664 00:40:25,080 --> 00:40:27,960 Speaker 1: run and they hid up around I'm going to say 665 00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:31,359 Speaker 1: near the headwaters of the Murray River, Tom Grogan. They 666 00:40:31,440 --> 00:40:34,240 Speaker 1: must have got onto somebody who had a holiday house 667 00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:38,880 Speaker 1: or a farmhouse and they hid and their whereabouts was 668 00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:43,640 Speaker 1: known to key journalists around the place because they were 669 00:40:43,680 --> 00:40:47,239 Speaker 1: in touch with those sort of people. And Ian Gillespie, 670 00:40:47,320 --> 00:40:50,960 Speaker 1: who was an investigative reporter at that time, who he 671 00:40:51,040 --> 00:40:54,320 Speaker 1: knew the Premier, he knew police in, knew Barry Beach, 672 00:40:54,640 --> 00:40:57,400 Speaker 1: and he knew Joey Hamilton. He was a good reporter 673 00:40:57,400 --> 00:41:00,400 Speaker 1: who knew a lot of people, and he cultivated people, 674 00:41:00,520 --> 00:41:03,000 Speaker 1: and he had a lot of friends on both sides 675 00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:06,520 Speaker 1: of the fence. Gillespie worked out where they were and 676 00:41:06,719 --> 00:41:10,400 Speaker 1: was able to send an intermediary and they sent a 677 00:41:10,440 --> 00:41:13,880 Speaker 1: camera up there and Joey and Shirley basically shot an 678 00:41:13,920 --> 00:41:18,120 Speaker 1: interview of themselves talking to camera about their plight, how 679 00:41:18,160 --> 00:41:20,040 Speaker 1: they had to go on a run to get away 680 00:41:20,080 --> 00:41:24,239 Speaker 1: from these false accusations and from harassment, etc. 681 00:41:24,600 --> 00:41:24,759 Speaker 2: Etc. 682 00:41:25,640 --> 00:41:28,240 Speaker 1: And so their case became a bit of a cause 683 00:41:28,320 --> 00:41:32,480 Speaker 1: celeb It was clear to most people, or to many people, 684 00:41:33,320 --> 00:41:37,560 Speaker 1: that they were the victims of a campaign. Some people 685 00:41:37,640 --> 00:41:39,040 Speaker 1: probably thought, well, they deserve it. 686 00:41:39,120 --> 00:41:42,080 Speaker 2: You know, they're left. He's there against the Vietnam War. 687 00:41:42,280 --> 00:41:44,160 Speaker 2: We hade them, he's a crook. 688 00:41:44,239 --> 00:41:47,279 Speaker 1: Blah blah blah. And you know, there's a grain of 689 00:41:47,280 --> 00:41:50,200 Speaker 1: truth in that as well. But it was a very 690 00:41:50,320 --> 00:41:56,320 Speaker 1: bad thing and increasingly embarrassing for the government. Long story, short, 691 00:41:56,520 --> 00:42:00,759 Speaker 1: deals are done. The government and the pross cuts, and 692 00:42:00,840 --> 00:42:04,319 Speaker 1: everybody realized that it's not a great look to be 693 00:42:04,400 --> 00:42:08,920 Speaker 1: locking people up on such clearly fabricated evidence. Joey has 694 00:42:08,960 --> 00:42:12,720 Speaker 1: already been let out of Pentridge when it's been found 695 00:42:12,760 --> 00:42:17,239 Speaker 1: to be a fabricated case, and so he didn't go 696 00:42:17,440 --> 00:42:21,080 Speaker 1: back in for any length of time. The jury and 697 00:42:21,320 --> 00:42:25,800 Speaker 1: Shirley Hamilton story went on because there was a change 698 00:42:25,800 --> 00:42:28,880 Speaker 1: of government in Victoria to the Cain Labor government in 699 00:42:30,080 --> 00:42:35,160 Speaker 1: I'm thinking nineteen eighty two. And John Cain was a 700 00:42:35,280 --> 00:42:39,720 Speaker 1: very decent and honest man, as had his predecessor, decaym 701 00:42:39,920 --> 00:42:43,839 Speaker 1: had been that as well, but John Cain was of 702 00:42:43,880 --> 00:42:46,919 Speaker 1: the highest probity, and I think it worried John Cain 703 00:42:47,120 --> 00:42:51,560 Speaker 1: that the police and others had connived to do such 704 00:42:52,960 --> 00:42:57,160 Speaker 1: cynical and terrible things to people, and Joey and others, 705 00:42:57,560 --> 00:43:03,360 Speaker 1: and a secret agreement was made. Joey Hamilton sued for 706 00:43:03,520 --> 00:43:09,799 Speaker 1: wrongful imprisonment. Interestingly, a man who was locked up for 707 00:43:09,920 --> 00:43:13,400 Speaker 1: one night in Victoria at that time wrongly. He shouldn't 708 00:43:13,400 --> 00:43:16,160 Speaker 1: have been locked up. It was complete balls up. He 709 00:43:16,239 --> 00:43:19,200 Speaker 1: was an innocent person. He was given two thousand dollars 710 00:43:20,160 --> 00:43:23,440 Speaker 1: compensation for one night in the cells. Now if you 711 00:43:23,560 --> 00:43:28,720 Speaker 1: worked out a pro rata two thousand dollars. Newspapers editorialized 712 00:43:28,719 --> 00:43:29,120 Speaker 1: about this. 713 00:43:29,200 --> 00:43:29,960 Speaker 2: They said, this is a. 714 00:43:29,880 --> 00:43:33,080 Speaker 1: Big problem for the government. Joe Blocks gets two thousand 715 00:43:33,080 --> 00:43:35,480 Speaker 1: dollars for one night in the cells, and rightly so 716 00:43:36,360 --> 00:43:38,840 Speaker 1: if you multiply that by three and a half years 717 00:43:39,160 --> 00:43:43,440 Speaker 1: for Joey Hamilton, it's worth nearly two million. 718 00:43:43,120 --> 00:43:44,560 Speaker 2: Bucks or something. It was a lot. 719 00:43:45,200 --> 00:43:49,720 Speaker 1: So Joey Hamilton demands a lot of money, one point 720 00:43:49,760 --> 00:43:54,680 Speaker 1: something million. And in the end the Cane government made 721 00:43:54,840 --> 00:43:59,319 Speaker 1: a secret deal. I haggled it down. He didn't get 722 00:43:59,480 --> 00:44:03,360 Speaker 1: a full on pardon, he didn't get a public apology, 723 00:44:03,840 --> 00:44:06,640 Speaker 1: but what he got was an ex grasher payment of 724 00:44:06,680 --> 00:44:10,600 Speaker 1: about twenty six thousand bucks, which it's not much compared 725 00:44:10,640 --> 00:44:13,520 Speaker 1: to the million bucks, but it was a couple of 726 00:44:13,600 --> 00:44:16,800 Speaker 1: years salary. At that time, it was a significant amount. 727 00:44:17,040 --> 00:44:19,560 Speaker 2: You could buy a very cheap. 728 00:44:19,640 --> 00:44:23,040 Speaker 1: House around Melbourne in those days, in the inner suburbs, 729 00:44:23,440 --> 00:44:28,000 Speaker 1: the lesser inner suburbs in that era, around Maidstone Footscray, 730 00:44:28,120 --> 00:44:31,040 Speaker 1: those places, you could have bought a house for twenty 731 00:44:31,080 --> 00:44:34,399 Speaker 1: six grand. It wasn't nothing. And this became a cause 732 00:44:34,440 --> 00:44:38,359 Speaker 1: celeb because it was given huge publicity. You know, ex 733 00:44:38,480 --> 00:44:41,839 Speaker 1: Krim gets twenty six thousand in secret payment. Honest John 734 00:44:41,920 --> 00:44:45,960 Speaker 1: Kain embarrassed by secret deal. Poor old John Kain, who 735 00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:48,319 Speaker 1: had just been trying to do the right thing and 736 00:44:48,400 --> 00:44:50,880 Speaker 1: I think sort of keep everybody a bit happy. He 737 00:44:50,920 --> 00:44:53,360 Speaker 1: didn't want to make an enemy of the police force, 738 00:44:53,680 --> 00:44:56,680 Speaker 1: because no government wants to, but he also wanted to 739 00:44:56,800 --> 00:45:00,560 Speaker 1: do the right thing to some extent by and a 740 00:45:00,600 --> 00:45:03,960 Speaker 1: woman who had been greatly wronged. And it didn't please anybody. 741 00:45:03,960 --> 00:45:06,560 Speaker 1: In the end, Joey Hamilton did not get the amount 742 00:45:06,560 --> 00:45:07,120 Speaker 1: of money. 743 00:45:06,920 --> 00:45:07,960 Speaker 2: That he thought he deserved. 744 00:45:08,360 --> 00:45:12,359 Speaker 1: The police force were outraged at this pandering to you know, 745 00:45:12,880 --> 00:45:16,000 Speaker 1: the left and the criminal classes. The right wing of 746 00:45:16,239 --> 00:45:20,200 Speaker 1: politics agreed with the police, of course, and on it went, 747 00:45:20,960 --> 00:45:25,320 Speaker 1: and so it became an embarrassing episode for the Kane government, 748 00:45:25,400 --> 00:45:30,920 Speaker 1: which faded into insignificance over time, as there were a 749 00:45:30,960 --> 00:45:33,880 Speaker 1: lot of other problems for that government over the following years, 750 00:45:34,080 --> 00:45:38,879 Speaker 1: big financial problems. That is probably the short version of 751 00:45:38,920 --> 00:45:44,600 Speaker 1: the Ballad of Joey and Shirley Hamilton. I have to 752 00:45:44,640 --> 00:45:48,720 Speaker 1: say that their neighbor, Graham, the teacher who played guitar, 753 00:45:48,960 --> 00:45:51,800 Speaker 1: told me today that he used to sit in the 754 00:45:51,840 --> 00:45:55,799 Speaker 1: backyard his backyard, which was just a few feet from 755 00:45:55,840 --> 00:45:58,920 Speaker 1: their backyard, and play Dylan songs. He was pretty good 756 00:45:58,920 --> 00:46:02,320 Speaker 1: at it, sing Girl from the North Country and whatever. 757 00:46:02,680 --> 00:46:06,040 Speaker 1: And Joey was a Dylan fan. He loved Dylan songs. 758 00:46:06,520 --> 00:46:08,680 Speaker 1: And he said, sometimes Joey would throw a little bag 759 00:46:08,719 --> 00:46:11,719 Speaker 1: over the fence with a little bit of dope in it, 760 00:46:12,440 --> 00:46:15,200 Speaker 1: a joint, and so can you play me another Dylan song? 761 00:46:15,280 --> 00:46:20,640 Speaker 1: And so Graham would play another Dylan song. And in fact, 762 00:46:20,680 --> 00:46:26,080 Speaker 1: after the bombing, Graham wrote a song, he wrote literally 763 00:46:26,520 --> 00:46:31,920 Speaker 1: the song called the Ballad of Shirley and Joey, and 764 00:46:31,960 --> 00:46:34,840 Speaker 1: he played it to them and they were very touched. 765 00:46:35,320 --> 00:46:39,920 Speaker 1: PostScript to the story is that Joey and Shirley, a 766 00:46:40,000 --> 00:46:44,080 Speaker 1: contrary to what you might think, fifteen years apart, him 767 00:46:44,120 --> 00:46:48,280 Speaker 1: a crook, so on and so on, they stayed together 768 00:46:48,560 --> 00:46:50,799 Speaker 1: more or less the rest of their lives. I think 769 00:46:50,840 --> 00:46:53,040 Speaker 1: they had their ups and downs and little dramas as 770 00:46:53,080 --> 00:46:56,239 Speaker 1: you might expect. They're both probably a bit volatile. But 771 00:46:57,239 --> 00:47:03,520 Speaker 1: when Shirley Jacobs died in November twenty fifteen, not that 772 00:47:03,600 --> 00:47:07,000 Speaker 1: many years ago, nine years ago, really, she was a 773 00:47:07,120 --> 00:47:10,440 Speaker 1: very old woman dying in a nursing home in the 774 00:47:10,480 --> 00:47:14,160 Speaker 1: Inner North and who would turn up every day to 775 00:47:14,320 --> 00:47:16,640 Speaker 1: visit her and hold her hand and talk to her. 776 00:47:17,440 --> 00:47:22,680 Speaker 1: But a skinny, little old former crook called Joey Hamilton 777 00:47:23,719 --> 00:47:27,520 Speaker 1: her ever loving husband. And that is the end of 778 00:47:27,520 --> 00:47:32,000 Speaker 1: the story of Joey and Shirley, A sort of a 779 00:47:32,120 --> 00:47:36,320 Speaker 1: rough and ready love story with bullets and bombs attached. 780 00:47:38,719 --> 00:47:41,840 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. Life and Crimes is a Sunday Herald's 781 00:47:41,840 --> 00:47:46,760 Speaker 1: Sun production for true crime Australia. Our producer is Johnty Burton. 782 00:47:47,600 --> 00:47:51,440 Speaker 1: For my columns, features and more, go to harold'sun dot 783 00:47:51,480 --> 00:47:57,000 Speaker 1: com dot au forward slash Andrew rule one word. For 784 00:47:57,200 --> 00:48:02,719 Speaker 1: advertising inquiries, go to newspot casts sold at news dot 785 00:48:02,760 --> 00:48:08,360 Speaker 1: com dot au. That is all one word news podcasts sold. 786 00:48:08,920 --> 00:48:13,000 Speaker 1: And if you want further information about this episode, links 787 00:48:13,280 --> 00:48:14,719 Speaker 1: are in the description.