Speaker 1: By the time Susanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett moved into
Speaker 1: their little rented house in Collingwood, they'd known each other
Speaker 1: half their lives. There'd been close friends since meeting at
Speaker 1: Baranella High School, a town in northeast Victoria. Friends and
Speaker 1: family alike. Remember, they balanced each other out, vivacious and
Speaker 1: confident with their own individual style. This probably wasn't surprising.
Speaker 1: Both families moved around as the kids grew up, so
Speaker 1: they had a mix of friends. The two sus as
Speaker 1: they were known, were also the eldest in their clans.
Speaker 1: Suzanne had a brother and two sisters, Susan a younger brother,
Speaker 1: Martin Bartlett.
Speaker 2: Yes, we moved to Banilla from a place called MacArthur,
Speaker 2: which is down in the Western district, where my mother
Speaker 2: was a housekeeper. And then we moved when I was
Speaker 2: about six, so Susan would have been nine ten, and
Speaker 2: we moved onto a property that was about ten kilometers
Speaker 2: out of Banana, and then from there we moved into
Speaker 2: the town which was about three or four hundred meters
Speaker 2: from the school and basically either rodeo bikes or walk
Speaker 2: to school from there. I suppose it's hard when you're
Speaker 2: like you're going up, you think about what you're going to,
Speaker 2: what you're going to do. But she always thought that
Speaker 2: she liked instructing and with after school things at the
Speaker 2: high school. She was always sort of participating in not
Speaker 2: just after school activities, but she was involved with involved
Speaker 2: with the band in terms of organizing things for him.
Speaker 1: Suzanne's family was even more transitory, as sister Gail Armstrong recalls.
Speaker 3: I wanted to three schools in Banilla. Started off at
Speaker 3: Banilla West and then went to Banilla East, and then
Speaker 3: I went to the high school. I think Suzanne only
Speaker 3: went to the high school.
Speaker 1: And as a big sister, what do you remember from
Speaker 1: those years?
Speaker 3: Not a real lot.
Speaker 1: Gee, was she a good sister? Bossy boots? Was she?
Speaker 3: She would have been good.
Speaker 1: She was always good.
Speaker 3: We always got on well, yeah we all did.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Okay. Now, when Suzanne first met Susan, do you
Speaker 1: remember that? Do you recall them together when they were
Speaker 1: early teenagers, young teenagers? Well, that would have been when
Speaker 1: she was at high school in Banilla.
Speaker 3: When she met Sue. Yeah, I just remember her being
Speaker 3: them being friends and we used to go around there
Speaker 3: and it was great. She had a lovely Mum and Martin.
Speaker 3: They're a lovely family.
Speaker 1: The teenagers were growing up at a time of exciting
Speaker 1: musical change, with bands like The Beatles and the Rolling
Speaker 1: Stones providing a backdrop to broader cultural and political upheaval,
Speaker 1: and the girls loved it. They even saw The Fab
Speaker 1: Four perform at Melbourne's Festival Hall in nineteen sixty four.
Speaker 1: Gail says there was only one band for her big sister,
Speaker 1: The Beatles. She's all them.
Speaker 3: She did, and I don't know whatever happened to it,
Speaker 3: but she had a man's shirt that she must have
Speaker 3: put the Beatles on and they signed it. It disappeared somewhere.
Speaker 1: How did she get to them to get them to
Speaker 1: sign it.
Speaker 3: I've got no idea now, don't know.
Speaker 1: That was when they were in Australia, obviously, yep, a
Speaker 1: bit intrepid. Yeah, the two friends actually took the bus
Speaker 1: from Vanilla to see the band and they never forgot it,
Speaker 1: nor did their friends and family.
Speaker 2: She loved the Beatles. She went when they came. She
Speaker 2: and a group of people from Banilla. They traveled from
Speaker 2: Banilla down to Festival Hall to see the battle. So yes,
Speaker 2: she loved She loved that style of music and whatever,
Speaker 2: not so much the heavier side, but Carlie Simon and
Speaker 2: that sort of lighter style of country music.
Speaker 1: Susan continued seeing live bands as she studied and eventually
Speaker 1: started teaching at Broadford, a country town a bit closer
Speaker 1: to Melbourne. Suzanne was more into alternative theater and a
Speaker 1: regular in a city venues like La Mamma and the
Speaker 1: Pram Factory. Exploring the world was another passion the two
Speaker 1: sous shared, and one that would have significant bearing on
Speaker 1: the rest of their lives. But Gail Armstrong is steadfast
Speaker 1: in her own down to earth description of her sister. Normal,
Speaker 1: just a normal.
Speaker 3: She's just normal and a healthy She was a healthy girl.
Speaker 3: So she had had a veggie garden and a healthy
Speaker 3: food when healthy food wasn't really what you did.
Speaker 1: And when you say she had a veggie garden was
Speaker 1: out at Easy.
Speaker 3: Street, I'm pretty sure she did. She didn't have much
Speaker 3: room there, but I'm pretty sure she had some veggies growing.
Speaker 1: And the other thing that I remember, just when you
Speaker 1: say that she loved dogs, I remember you talking about
Speaker 1: that too, And she had a dog there, Mishkah. And
Speaker 1: she also I had an English sheep dog while their
Speaker 1: professional paths took them in different directions once they left school.
Speaker 1: Their shared travel bug brought them back together in Greece
Speaker 1: when Suzanne met up with Susan in nineteen seventy four
Speaker 1: for an extended break skipping across the Greek islands. They
Speaker 1: traveled to Aegina, Delos, Hydra, Mikinos, Patos, and eventually Naxos,
Speaker 1: where Suzanne met a handsome young fisherman by the name
Speaker 1: of Manilus or Manny Margaritis. They fell in love and
Speaker 1: she decided to stay on Naxos, a small traditional isle
Speaker 1: that was still unfound by most tourists on the island
Speaker 1: hop Susan, on the other hand, flew home to Melbourne
Speaker 1: in early nineteen seventy five to pick up a teaching
Speaker 1: position at Collingwood Education Center. She was a popular teacher
Speaker 1: with students and colleagues alike. According to old friend cavel Zangelus,
Speaker 1: she also remembers a very different Collingwood.
Speaker 4: Lot of immigrant kids, a lot of non English speakers,
Speaker 4: and a lot of families who needed a lot of support. Really,
Speaker 4: they weren't coping very well, either for language reasons or
Speaker 4: income or and also you know, the working class Aussies
Speaker 4: weren't terribly enamored of education and teachers trying to, you know,
Speaker 4: suggest things to them. So those were the days.
Speaker 1: And when Susan Barler arrived at the school, did you
Speaker 1: feel an immediate rapport with her?
Speaker 5: Oh?
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, we just got on straight away, and she
Speaker 4: had a good sense of humor. And we were a
Speaker 4: younger cohort at that stage. There were some really older
Speaker 4: teachers that were a little difficult. The kids loved her
Speaker 4: because she well made them feel real. A lot of
Speaker 4: them called her Miss B. She didn't stand on ceremony
Speaker 4: at school or anythink that's why the kids were quite
Speaker 4: able to call her Miss B and she was very relaxed.
Speaker 1: Meanwhile, Suzanne was living with Manny and his family in Greece,
Speaker 1: and not too much later she wrote to her younger
Speaker 1: sister Gail with some pretty major news. She was pregnant.
Speaker 1: Gail was too, so there was double celebration in the
Speaker 1: Armstrong family. Initially, Suzanne wrote to her sisters saying, the
Speaker 1: happy pair and Naxos plan to marry. I'm going to
Speaker 1: marry Manalis. I've decided it's the best thing to do.
Speaker 1: I know I won't lead the same sort of life
Speaker 1: if I was in Melbourne. But it will be a
Speaker 1: very simple life, and I hope I have all the
Speaker 1: comforts and conveniences I want. We won't be living here forever,
Speaker 1: though we'd better not anyway. And we've ordered our wedding rings,
Speaker 1: their fourteen carrot gold with final. But it didn't take
Speaker 1: too long for various cultural differences and a maze of
Speaker 1: international red tape, largely due to her being Australian, to
Speaker 1: lead to a change of heart, at least on Suzanne's part.
Speaker 1: In another letter, she wrote, boy, the things I'm not
Speaker 1: allowed to do here, you wouldn't believe it. I'm not
Speaker 1: supposed to run an inch, not supposed to sit with
Speaker 1: my legs crossed, or reach up or sit cross leged
Speaker 1: on the bed. Maybe they think the baby will fall out.
Speaker 1: I'm not supposed to lift up my dog, Zebbie, or
Speaker 1: lift anything. It's really incredible. Her mother and stepfather flew
Speaker 1: to Axos to help with the new baby, and young
Speaker 1: Greg brought Suzanne and Manalists much joy. They grew closer
Speaker 1: even so by the end of nineteen seventy six, she
Speaker 1: told him she was taking their new son home to
Speaker 1: meet her family in Victoria just in time for Christmas.
Speaker 1: But as Suzanne explained to Gail in another letter, she
Speaker 1: bought a one way ticket home. I know it will
Speaker 1: break his heart when I tell him I'm not coming back,
Speaker 1: but I'll tell him that the best thing is for
Speaker 1: him to come to Australia. If he makes it there,
Speaker 1: he will deserve another try. He keeps asking me if
Speaker 1: I'm coming back, and of course I have to say yes.
Speaker 1: It's awful. Susan Bartlett meanwhile, was having a much less
Speaker 1: stressful time working as an arts and craft teacher in Collingwood.
Speaker 1: She loved the inner city vibe around the education center
Speaker 1: and enjoyed the short drive from the apartment she was
Speaker 1: sharing in Richmond in her VW Beetle.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 2: That was I think one of her first cars. It
Speaker 2: was sort of one of the original Vaultzies. And she
Speaker 2: took it to the service station one time and said
Speaker 2: to the can you check the oil and water? And
Speaker 2: he said, Madam, these cars don't have it, don't have water,
Speaker 2: They've got their air coll She didn't know. She wasn't
Speaker 2: really mechanically minded.
Speaker 1: Once Suzanne returned to Australia, Martin wasn't at all surprised
Speaker 1: that his sister agreed to share a new house with
Speaker 1: her and her new son, Gregory, but where they decided
Speaker 1: to rent did surprise him, and it upset their mother.
Speaker 1: After all, Collingwood was a different place to live than
Speaker 1: the more middle class Richmond where Susan had such a
Speaker 1: lovely apartment.
Speaker 2: It was a very nice, a good spot right opposite
Speaker 2: the MCJ And basically when Susan Armstrong came back with
Speaker 2: greg Gregory that she said to Susan, looked, do you
Speaker 2: mind if we get a place together, And that's what happened.
Speaker 2: The thing about Collingwood in those days is it I
Speaker 2: am Fitzroy and all those places for probably a bit
Speaker 2: more seedy than they are today, and the sort of
Speaker 2: a lot of undesirables. And also there was a ineasy
Speaker 2: straight on the next next corner up was a pub
Speaker 2: and it was very much a pub on every corner
Speaker 2: sort of place. It was sort of a of a
Speaker 2: rougher area.
Speaker 1: So it's fair to say Collingwood wasn't for everyone. Back
Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy seven, Paunch Hawks, one of Australia's most
Speaker 1: respected photographers and a founding member of Circus OZ grew
Speaker 1: up in the suburb.
Speaker 5: When I grew up here in Abbotsford, which is part
Speaker 5: of Collingwood, really the whole it was, you know, people
Speaker 5: called it a slum, you know, that area down near
Speaker 5: where my folks lived. All the sort of tanneries and
Speaker 5: things in earlier times had been down there, so it
Speaker 5: was actually small working class houses. But now of course
Speaker 5: it's completely gentrified. You know. I lived there when I
Speaker 5: was in my teens up till I was four until
Speaker 5: Union when I was sixteen or something, and of course
Speaker 5: now that's a long time I go. But really the
Speaker 5: suburb I think has gone through a lot of changes,
Speaker 5: especially in relation to say someone with like Johnson Street,
Speaker 5: which is a street that runs through and the main
Speaker 5: shopping strips that you know, semingly always having a metamorphois.
Speaker 5: I guess it was the seventies that the whole theater
Speaker 5: revival in Carlton happened, you know, LaMaMa and then the
Speaker 5: people from the mum established in a bid to have
Speaker 5: an Australian voice really because a theater in Australia had
Speaker 5: always been important from England. People want to hear their
Speaker 5: own stories in their own voice, and people set up
Speaker 5: the Prime Factory as a collective, and out of that
Speaker 5: came of course Circus. I was on a whole lot
Speaker 5: of other small groups. But at the same time, the
Speaker 5: whole joint was throbbing. Really, it was robbing with feminism.
Speaker 5: I mean there was you know, women making films, there
Speaker 5: was women having exhibitions, there was women artists, there were
Speaker 5: women making radio programs, there were dancers all the time.
Speaker 5: There was just stuff on, you know, really a lot
Speaker 5: of places to go and people to meet.
Speaker 1: So in Easy Street they'd been there for four months
Speaker 1: before this terrible crime occurred. But in the two house
Speaker 1: that shared the party wall, there were two sets of single,
Speaker 1: very independent women alone. As Stevens lived next door. She
Speaker 1: was a journalist with the Truth. Her housemate was a
Speaker 1: restauranteur who was running restaurant with her partner up in
Speaker 1: live On Street in Carlton. And then of course there
Speaker 1: was Susan and Suzanne in the house next door, so
Speaker 1: they would have fitted in into that scene you've just
Speaker 1: described absolutely.
Speaker 5: I think that there was such a lot of consciousness
Speaker 5: raising going on, so that women were getting together to
Speaker 5: talk about their lives and compare experiences and really discover themselves.
Speaker 5: If you like, and certainly single women and single independent
Speaker 5: women were very welcome, you know, they were the bulk
Speaker 5: of it, really.
Speaker 1: So the two suits were right in the thick of
Speaker 1: things as they set up their three bedroom home in
Speaker 1: Collingwood towards the end of nineteen seventy six, and Martin
Speaker 1: Bartlett often visited his sister in Easy Street.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I did you know, we had barbecues and whatever,
Speaker 2: and it was a sort of a good mating place,
Speaker 2: very homely and terms to me. The only thing about
Speaker 2: it was that it was on the lane, and I
Speaker 2: think from that I just thought with a party wall
Speaker 2: on that side, it was a bit dark. But other
Speaker 2: than that, no, no, it was a good place.
Speaker 1: The party wall Martin's referring to is the common wall
Speaker 1: the two cottages shed running along the hallway. Susan's former
Speaker 1: teaching colleague Cavell's Angelus also clearly recalls the house an
Speaker 1: Easy Street.
Speaker 4: The big hallway right down to the open area at
Speaker 4: the back, which was you know, the kitchen and basically
Speaker 4: the living area, and then you know outdoors to the
Speaker 4: loo and the little backyard. But I remember it was
Speaker 4: always decorated, you know, there were posters on the wall
Speaker 4: and lefty ones of course, you know anti war and
Speaker 4: cartoony ones too. They often had turns on the fridge.
Speaker 1: While Susan taught, Suzanne took on a couple of jobs,
Speaker 1: one driving computer data around town in a little navy
Speaker 1: blue masdavan, the other babysitting for her employer's wife, now
Speaker 1: retired community lawyer, Judith Pearce.
Speaker 6: It wasn't a long relationship, but given that she was
Speaker 6: looking after the children and so we'd spend time together
Speaker 6: and we would try and reciprocate because she was a
Speaker 6: single mother, then it was quite a close and intense relationship.
Speaker 1: Judith also recalls seeing Suzanne at parties and describes a
Speaker 1: singularly independent young woman.
Speaker 6: She was absolutely beautiful. She had long, long hair and
Speaker 6: a beautiful face. She had the most outgoing, friendly, loving personality,
Speaker 6: and so she was highly sought after by the men.
Speaker 6: And so one would be having a lovely time and
Speaker 6: then Sue would come in and it was like the
Speaker 6: bees around the honeypot. She was probably one of the
Speaker 6: very early feminists who lived their life the way they
Speaker 6: wanted to live their life, and so she didn't wasn't constrained,
Speaker 6: I should say by the norms of the time, which
Speaker 6: it's hard to remember, but forty five years ago, a
Speaker 6: single mother was regarded very poorly by society. She just
Speaker 6: accepted that she had her life. I mean, she was
Speaker 6: very determined to live the life she wanted to live
Speaker 6: and see the people she wanted to see and do
Speaker 6: the things she wanted to do.
Speaker 1: Then one morning in that second week of January nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy seven, Susan didn't turn up to babysit for Judith
Speaker 1: Pierce and her sister.
Speaker 6: I was expecting her to come over to my house
Speaker 6: where I was with my sister, and she didn't turn up,
Speaker 6: so we rang, she didn't answer, And then later I
Speaker 6: drove past her house and stopped outside the house, and
Speaker 6: I had my daughter in the car. And I don't
Speaker 6: know why, and have thought about it a lot to
Speaker 6: this day as to why I didn't go into the house.
Speaker 6: And I regret it because Gregory was in his cot
Speaker 6: But in lots of ways, I'm glad that I didn't
Speaker 6: see what would have been a horrendous scene.
Speaker 1: Hearing about the murders was shocking too. For Susan Bartlett's
Speaker 1: friend Cavell's Angelus.
Speaker 4: Look I just had a shiver right through my body.
Speaker 4: Then I was up on Mount Hotham with some friends.
Speaker 4: It was summertime, of course, and we were driving. There
Speaker 4: were two cars, and my girlfriend and I were in
Speaker 4: one car and our husbands were in another car with
Speaker 4: you kids and stuff. And I had the radio on
Speaker 4: and I heard the newsflash that there had been murders
Speaker 4: in Collingwood. No, I can't even remember whether Easy Street
Speaker 4: had been mentioned, but they did say it was two women,
Speaker 4: and I just knew immediately who it was. So I
Speaker 4: hailed the other car and said, you know, I've got
Speaker 4: to go back, and you know, dashed back to where
Speaker 4: we were staying and rang. Then I just knew it
Speaker 4: was it was them.
Speaker 1: Martin Bartlett's last visit to one four seven Easy Street
Speaker 1: is even more haunting. He and Susan had arranged a
Speaker 1: dinner date for Monday, January tenth, the meal of Big
Speaker 1: Sister's bribe for her brother to fix hery stereo again.
Speaker 1: He'd already done it a couple of times.
Speaker 2: I think this the last time was something to do
Speaker 2: with a speaker in terms of being disconnected or pulled
Speaker 2: out or whatever. But yeah, that was the last time
Speaker 2: I was over. There was fixing that my sister liked
Speaker 2: to cook, and more so than says Anna and whatever.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it was good.
Speaker 1: And that day she'd been I think making address too.
Speaker 1: She's incredibly handy.
Speaker 2: Yes, she was very good. She's very good at sewing
Speaker 2: and my krama and knitting up rugs and things like that.
Speaker 2: She was very very good at that and liked it.
Speaker 1: So how long were you there that night, mart? Do
Speaker 1: you remember an hour?
Speaker 2: A couple of hours, probably at least a couple of hours. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, in those days, I had a girlfriend at
Speaker 2: at the time.
Speaker 1: She came over and that night, what was the vibe like?
Speaker 1: Do you remember that? Was it just an ordinary night?
Speaker 1: You don't remember anything?
Speaker 5: There wasn't.
Speaker 2: Look, I think the weekend before that they had a party,
Speaker 2: a house party, of which I can't remember too many
Speaker 2: of the people that were there, but obviously Susanne Armstrong
Speaker 2: was there, and she had a couple of friends, and
Speaker 2: Susan had a couple of friends, wasn't It wasn't a
Speaker 2: lot of people, but some of my friends came and
Speaker 2: so yeah.
Speaker 1: So when you left there was you didn't notice anything underward,
Speaker 1: It was just a normal night.
Speaker 2: No, just normal. It was one of those things. I
Speaker 2: didn't observe anything or wasn't looking for anything or whatever.
Speaker 1: After dinner, Martin and his sister agreed to catch up
Speaker 1: the following week. He and his then girlfriend drove home,
Speaker 1: and with Greg asleep in his cod Susan and Suzanne
Speaker 1: sat down to watch The Sullivans, one of their favorite
Speaker 1: TV shows. It must have seemed like a quiet end
Speaker 1: to relaxed, happy evening for everyone, but three days later,
Speaker 1: the two Sue's bodies were found and two families lives
Speaker 1: were shouted.
Speaker 2: My girlfriend rang me at work and said there's been
Speaker 2: a murderer in Collingwood that found whatever, and I said, okay.
Speaker 2: So I rang their home and a guy answered and
Speaker 2: he said who are you? And I said who I was,
Speaker 2: and he said you better come down here, and I go.
Speaker 2: Can you tell me any more? He said nah?
Speaker 4: So that was it.
Speaker 5: I sort of.
Speaker 2: Was working in Boward and I thought all the way
Speaker 2: down there when I drove, that's strange, wonder what you know,
Speaker 2: and not thinking the worst, but just obviously what could
Speaker 2: have happened. And when I got there, they so basically
Speaker 2: I wanted to interview me for you know when we
Speaker 2: last hear, who did you talk to? All that kind
Speaker 2: of stuff. And then from there it was a matter
Speaker 2: of going to the police station. Whether it was that
Speaker 2: day or the next day, I can't remember, but yeah,
Speaker 2: and then to make a statement.
Speaker 1: Next time. On the Easy Street murders.
Speaker 3: She saw him turn and leave with a knife in
Speaker 3: his hand, and then the.
Speaker 1: Car sped off what I's on, heading up towards Snith Street.
Speaker 3: She herself was possibly in some sort of danger till.
Speaker 1: This day, until I die.
Speaker 3: I'm convinced there were two killers, not one.
Speaker 5: H