DR.DOUGLAS BUXTON HENDRICKSON
PIER STREET GLENELG
With thanks to Clive, Clive attended the showing of the Somerton Man film in Glenelg last night and it was there that Professor Abbott revealed the name of "Mr. Francis". As you can see his name was Dr. Douglas Buxton Hendrickson of Pier Street Glenelg. Professor Abbott stated that the information was given to him by Gerry Feltus who was 99% certain that this was the man given the pseudonym "Mr. Francis"
Clive has started the research and thus far has turned up the following news article from "The News" 4 Dec 1946:
This post is a joint effort from Clive, Pete Bowes at Toms By Two and myself here at the Tamamshud blog.
UPDATE 28 September 2018
Thanks to Byron Deveson
DOUGLAS BUXTON HENDRICKSON
Born 18th February1911 Balaklava, South Australia.
Married Eileen Ivy Schurgott 15th June 1933at Claremont, South Australia
Married Doris Arculas Davis 25th July 1942 at Perth, WA
Died 23rd September 1979 Adelaide
Question: Did Dr. Hendrickson work at or attend the Crippled Children's Home?
two daughters born 1945 and 1948.
UPDATE #1, 30 September 2018
Courtesy of Ace Researcher Clive, Photo of Dr. Hendrickson with the article:
UPDATE # 2, 30 September 2018
Lieut-Colonel Robson, Served with distinction in the Australian Army biography here...
Also of note and possibly relevant is the fact that Lieut-Colonel Murray Robson returned to his role in the NSW Parliament and was a fervent anti-communist. He became the leader of the United Australia Party and I think he was NSW opposition leader at a later stage in his political career. He would, therefore, be seen as a man of considerable influence.(Note: We are still looking at this man and his history, there does seem to be some date issues)
Also of note and possibly relevant is the fact that Lieut-Colonel Murray Robson returned to his role in the NSW Parliament and was a fervent anti-communist. He became the leader of the United Australia Party and I think he was NSW opposition leader at a later stage in his political career. He would, therefore, be seen as a man of considerable influence.(Note: We are still looking at this man and his history, there does seem to be some date issues)
First past the post in connecting the good doctor to a shady car dealer WINS A PRIZE !!!!!
ReplyDeleteInteresting that the CCH is mentioned-have a look, on Google at: "The Beaumont Children: The Psychic & The Warehouse". Dr H. is mentioned Clive
ReplyDeleteFeltus co-operating with Abbott ... ?
ReplyDeleteIt could be that DA was told this in a much earlier and friendly time? Or it may be that the wounds have been healed?
DeleteIt seems that Douglas Hendrickson had a son born circa 1952. He was working
ReplyDeleteat a children's hospital in Glenelg at the time of the Beaumont children
abduction, so he could have been associated with the Somerton Crippled
Children's hospital.
http://archive.li/6Vujd#selection-221.10-233.428
“ …... a local man, Dr Douglas Buxton Hendrickson, had been conducting his
own search for the children. Hendrickson was a staff member at the Minda
Home for retarded children, and had formed the belief that the children
might have been buried in dunes near the oval belonging to the Home.
Assisted by his 14 year old son and another member of staff, he'd been
digging in the dunes for a month.
The three found nothing except a dead crow, part of the sleeve of a
football guernsey, and a straw hat. However the last item excited them and
they contacted Croiset to tell him the news. Croiset replied on 20
September that the children were within half a metre of where the hat had
been found.
By 24 September Croiset had changed his mind. The children were buried
within 16 metres of where Hendrickson had uncovered the hat. A container
with red, yellow and blue stripes, or a green bag, would be found 120
centimetres from the bodies. Beside this would be a "kinderwagen". The next
day the remains of a pram were found. The searchers were excited, but then
found out that an inmate of the Home had left it there, trying to be
helpful. Nothing more was found.
Hendrickson refused to give up. Despite the area being extensively searched
he was sure that people had not dug far enough. He continued to try to find
the remains of the children. His digging was eventually restricted to hours
of darkness, so after he had finished work each day he would head for the
dunes armed with his spade. He never found anything, and the dunes have
since been leveled and replaced with a football field.”
Well, at least we can test the revelation ..... did Hendrickson have a married sister?
ReplyDeletePete, Douglas had two sisters:
ReplyDeleteCynthia Elizabeth b at Gilbert, SA 1914 married Sgt. John Hurst March 1945. Cynthia was a child violinist and went on to become a scientist.
Lyndall Maud b at Gilbert, SA 1917 married June 1946 at Adelaide Surgeon-Lieut. Graeme Robson, son of Lieut.-Colonel and Mrs. O. W. E. Robson, of Mosman. Lyndall was a violinist and played with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
Thanks, that's quite a pedigree .... enough reasons to keep names out of it.
ReplyDeleteSgt. John Frederick Hurst, said to be "back from New Guinea" at the time of his wedding at St Matthews, Manly, Sydney in October 1944. But I can't find any other trace of him after 1944. Strange and maybe suspicious.And I can't find Cynthia after her marriage.
ReplyDeleteByron,
DeleteSgt. John Frederick Hurst NX 7390, 2/1 Field Regiment. Signals. Died 14th September 1981. NAA records mostly admin stuff. Wife: Mrs Cynthia Elizabeth Hurst, 26 Watson Avenue, Rose Park, Adelaide.
Cynthia Elizabeth Hurst died 7th April 2008 at Holly Residential Care, Adelaide. See Adelaide Advertiser, 9th and 17th April 2008.
ReplyDeleteByron, Interesting article in "Chronicle" 17-08-50 Page 9-Shows a photo of Dr H. and he he himself had had polio. Clive
ReplyDeleteThanks Clive. My immediate impression on seeing Dr Hendrickson's photo is that he could be related to Jessie. Dr Hendrickson was an amateur bantam weight boxer and wrestler. A bantam weight weighs between 115 pounds (52.2 kg) and 118 pounds (53.5 kg) so he was slightly built but athletic. He recorded knock outs against some of his boxing opponents and this is unusual in the bantam weight class. His sister Lyndall was a “violinist of world renown” see “The Producer” Balaklava, South Australia. 27th May 1948 page 6.
DeleteHasn't Dr Hendrickson's name come up previously (about 2-3 years ago)?
Byron, There was a Sgt Willy Hendrickson mentioned some time ago, is this the one you're thinking about?
DeleteFirstly, I have found the article with photo located by Clive and it is now included in the post abpve.
ReplyDeleteSome thoughts on the release of the Dr.s name as the person who owned the car in which the Somerton Man Rubaiyat was found.
It's important to separate the owner of the car and finder of the book from the issue of how the book got to be in the car in the first instance. Doctor Hendrickson's involvement is as simple as it seems, he parked the car and someone else dropped the book into it either via an opened window or an unlocked door. As to why his name was withheld, that could also be as simple as the finding of the book in the car. Perhaps a favour asked of a patient or perhaps a connection with a Board member via his work at Minda? Whatever the answer, it appears to me that the Doctor was in no way involved in any cover up as part of a conspiracy of some sort, the man was a humanitarian with a big heart.
I doubt that we will ever know the full detail of just how the Rubaiyat got into the Doctor's car, but we should continue to ask the question.
Regarding Dr. Hendrickson's son in law, Surgeon-Lieutenant Graeme Alvin Robson. He apparently hit a rough patch whilst working with a private practice North of Adelaide and was found guilty of taking drugs (Morphia) from that practice. ("Herald" 2-8-51 Page 3-inc. photo;) He was de-registered for a period but was placed back on the register in 1954 I believe. At that time he had been working in weapons research near Salisbury. We can set the record straight regarding his father, it was a Captain O.W.E. Robson and not Lieut-Colonel Ewan Robson as per the post above. A Captain O.W.E Robson has a small mention in a few articles including "Herald" 9-3-14 Page 3 and "Truth" Melbourne 7-11-14 page 5. the latter being a sad but somewhat humorous tale of two young men from the country posing as commissioned officers having bought their commissions from another Captain, a W.Garnet Smith Royal Australian Engineers. Said Captain Smith was also arrested and dealt with by the court as was the lot for all such con artists, they all eventually were uncovered.
ReplyDeleteInteresting initials for the Surgeon-Lieut, GAR, last three letters of the code page? Clive
ReplyDeleteThink you might be onto something....I've long thought the last two are AR and appear to be a signature, and the embellishment on the tail of the R seems to underline G as well.
DeleteHard to really see how it would fit (why sign off like that in that cricumstance)
Gordon, I find it suggestive that Graeme Alvin Robson appears to have been a morphine addict, or perhaps a friend or relative of someone who needed morphine. And the SM matter is built around a possible poisoning death or suicide. Jessie's uncle was a pharmacist, a pharmaceutical manufacturer, a court appointed chemical analyst of poisons and a self styled pharmacologist (which deals in part with toxicology). Jessie was said to have had a life long interest in pharmacology.
ReplyDeleteAnd now we have Dr Hendrickson's brother-in-law Graeme Alvin Robson (=”Ron Francis” ?) a doctor struck off for stealing morphine. And Dr Robson then apparently goes on to get a job working near Salisbury on weapons research. A medical doctor maybe working in the area of weapons research? - maybe. There is just too much coincidence to be ignored. Salisbury, South Australia (not Salisbury in Britain, shades of Porton Downs and the recent Novichok poisonings!) was developed immediately after WW2 as a general defence research facility and it was closely associated with the Woomera rocket range and atomic weapons testing in Australia.
I note that Graeme Alvin Robson was promoted to Surgeon Lieutenant Commander Royal Australian Navy Volunteer Reserve 12 August 1947. See:
http://navyleague.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/The-Navy-Vol_10_Part3-1948-Jul-Aug-Sep-1948.pdf
Good thoughts BD. It's not beyond the realms of possibility that GAR had some kind of involvement in unsavoury activities in 1948. Not certain just when he joined the teams out at WRE but I think it may have been after 1950? I understand there are some good historical records available for WRE in those years, perhaps even some images and/or organisational charts. It is possible that they had a medical team full time on the site given the nature of their work which included electronics, explosives and fuel development plus of course the odd atomic experiments.
ReplyDeleteAs an aside, there was a chemical warfare establishment up in the Riverland not that far from Loveday I think?
Thanks again for the input, it is good to see that as usual you include links to source material as do Clive and myself. It adds weight when you qualify your information and back it up with facts.
When the debate is lost, slander is the tool of the losers.... SOCRATES
ReplyDeleteWell, assuming that Dr.H. was "Mr Francis", you can see the reason why he didn't want the SAPOL to advertise his name, if he knew his b-I-l, GAR was already dabbling into Morphine in the late 1940's? Clive
ReplyDeleteSurely the obvious conspiracy theory here would be that GAR had the Rubaiyat all along, and only pretended to find it in the back of his brother-in-law's car?
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying I believe it, I'm just pointing out the possibility. :-)
Nick, Firstly thanks for the comment and I hope all is well for you. I follow your blog and am always interested in the thoughts and ideas that you post and some of your commenters are switched on, Milongal and Byron come to mind. It does however seem like no one is taking you up on your thought on this occaision. Just to be clear though, there is no conspiracy theory here, the posts here are almost invariably substantiated with source details, they are presented for the information of those who are serious about the Somerton Man case as I am sure you are.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment and I wish you continued success!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAh! Nearly forgot, no backpedalling here! Clive was present when those words were uttered by Professor Abbott, they were duly recorded and I have 100% confidence in Clive and his version. This was not about what Wayne Groom had said, Wayne Groom was present at the showing but made no comment following Professor Abbott's remarks.
ReplyDeleteNick, do you feel able to publish the Professor's email? Might clear up any doubts.
Well for what's worth, Dr H. lived(?) at 51 Moseley St, Glenelg and had his consulting rooms at 13 Pier St, Glenelg. This being very handy, as Pier Private Hospital was next door at 15 Pier St, Glenelg! Clive
ReplyDelete