A BEGINNER'S GUIDE...
Now where have I seen such incredibly skillful and clever concealments as I have seen here in the Hay Internment Camp banknotes.
This post will cover just some of the amazing examples of concealment, I estimate that there are well over 100 instances on this single note.
At the bottom of this post, I will leave an explanatory note explaining just how this banknote and its incredible contents is linked to the Somerton Man case. For now though, here are the examples of concealment that have left me stunned:
1. Anamorphic Column
The left-hand side of the rectangular-shaped border on the note shows shaded anamorphic letters and numbers, They are faded and I am working at lifting them so that you can see them more clearly. The column itself is made of row upon row of tiny sets of numbers and that makes this anamorphic level all the more interesting, they have in one stroke set up hundreds of number sets and then on top of them, they have overlaid another level.
2. Right-hand column, a slightly clearer example of an anamorphic writing image.
4. Another example of hidden in plain sight, this time we include old man emu
5. Time for a drum roll, the best has been left to the last. It's another anamorphic but done cleverly and delicately, it absolutely stunned me when I first saw it. Numbers and letters have been hidden within the name of the note's denomination. There were already known numbers amongst these larger letters again the design has added another level. The examples are highlighted, don't blink!
Each letter contains anamorphic written capital letters, I cannot read them clearly just yet, I need to spend more time on this particular example.
6, Here's another example, the surround shading to the denomination words contains concealed numbers and a few letters.
HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO THE SOMERTON MAN CASE?
The Hay and Tatura Internment camps were once home to Tibor Kaldor, Tibor was found dead, poisoned, in Adelaide 2 weeks after the body of the Somerton Man. That's one, albeit tentative link.
The most important link is that the concealment methods used on the Hay Internment Camp banknotes, turn up in the Verse 70 Inscription page of the Boxall Rubaiyat.
The Hay Banknotes notes were created in 1941 and the Verse 70 inscription was done in 1945. However it is possible and borderline probable that the designer of the banknotes, George Adams Teltscher, also designed the concealment methods used on the inscription page, they are almost identical methods. George's background was as a currency designer in Vienna. He was a very talented man and an accomplished artist in the Bauhaus tradition.
He organised the design and engaged several fellow internees in the process, the job became a focus of attention for Camp 7 at Hay.
I wondered if that cooperative effort was part of George's plan, a unique way to take everyone's mind away from the unfortunate position they found themselves in.
On his release in late 1941, he returned to the UK via the Panama Canal, what's odd about that is that the Americans were very conscious about just who got close to their borders and ex-internees were high on their list. But George traveled by that route. One thing that may have swayed the Americans is that George Adams Telscher was a direct descendant of John Adams, the second President of the USA. On arrival in the UK, he went to work for the Military and was said to have been involved in designing propaganda posters. I researched the UK archives and they have examples of such WW2 posters including the names of the designers, I could not find George's name among them.
However, in early 1943 the SOE produced a manual on clandestine operations including the INK H technique and other concealment methods. It is possible George went to work for them. Codes were sent to Australian Military intelligence at around the same time.
The Hay Banknotes notes were created in 1941 and the Verse 70 inscription was done in 1945. However it is possible and borderline probable that the designer of the banknotes, George Adams Teltscher, also designed the concealment methods used on the inscription page, they are almost identical methods. George's background was as a currency designer in Vienna. He was a very talented man and an accomplished artist in the Bauhaus tradition.
He organised the design and engaged several fellow internees in the process, the job became a focus of attention for Camp 7 at Hay.
I wondered if that cooperative effort was part of George's plan, a unique way to take everyone's mind away from the unfortunate position they found themselves in.
On his release in late 1941, he returned to the UK via the Panama Canal, what's odd about that is that the Americans were very conscious about just who got close to their borders and ex-internees were high on their list. But George traveled by that route. One thing that may have swayed the Americans is that George Adams Telscher was a direct descendant of John Adams, the second President of the USA. On arrival in the UK, he went to work for the Military and was said to have been involved in designing propaganda posters. I researched the UK archives and they have examples of such WW2 posters including the names of the designers, I could not find George's name among them.
However, in early 1943 the SOE produced a manual on clandestine operations including the INK H technique and other concealment methods. It is possible George went to work for them. Codes were sent to Australian Military intelligence at around the same time.
I can just about make out the example in the word TWO, it’s faded and aged. It’s like typography.
ReplyDeleteHow hard would it be to learn how to do this? It looks difficult.
Thanks Jacob and thanks for the email. Actually it turns out that it is not that hard. I have done some research and found that you could be shown the method in minutes, create your fist effort in an hour and from then on its just practice, practise, practice. I tested it out and it's true. I will put a presentation together on it but it won't be this week, way too much to do. The other interesting aspect is that you can do it with very basic items, everyday bits and pieces. Simple but very clever.
ReplyDeleteSo, how did spies get trained in those days?
ReplyDeleteIf we start from the basics. Army officers in those days would have had training in codes and ciphers as part of their normal course ware. If you look at Alf, he was a skipper of a small boat and an instructor who served up in the Islands. Those boats would have had radio equipment on board as you might expect. They communicated with their shore base on a reasonable regular basis I would have thought, actually its not just a thought, its a known fact, they used radio. Rarely would they have communicated in the 'clear' as in plain English. They would have used codes and those codes would have changed on a fairly regular basis for security reasons. Which codes were used by the water transport people I don't know. I do know that each unit has a War Diary and in the War diaries available on AWM website, their reports are divided into two parts, there's the standard daily report detail and then there is an Intelligence report. That intelligence could take many forms including observations of enemy movements or information received from local population. I don't know whether war diary information was radioed back to base although I suspect that some, if considered important enough would be. In the islands they no doubt were in contact with the various coastwatchers and would have been responsible for supplying them with food and equipment. Those appointments would have been made buy radio. The picture I am trying to paint here is that radio transmissions and codes as well as contacts with locals were all part of the duties of people like ALf Boxall. Let me substantiate this a little more, in a post on this blog I had discussions along the same lines with a man who had been a coast watcher up in the islands.
ReplyDeleteOne question is would Alf had trained others in codes and ciphers? I think certainly he would have done so. Do I have any documentary evidence of Alf having done that? No, but if you read War diaries and case studies, you'll find the information there. Talk with your local librarians or State libraries, they can point you in the right direction.
Its a fascinating topic and I appreciate your question, I hope this clarifies it for you. Please ask if you have any more questions.
Ah! I get it, so if a local comes along and gives some information to a skipper or whoever then that person becomes the 'handler' for this local spy.
ReplyDeleteYou got it. Keep thinking along those lines and it will all unravel for you.
ReplyDeleteHe must of been the Higher ups in the spy ring,I’ve been reading about WW2 spies and most of them were brought to trial and then executed, one case that interested me was the execution of the Australian spy Kenneth Bruce Dowding and how he was working for the French, and I Wonder what Side the Somerton Man was working with, Or maybe he was going to to be tried and instead met his fate in Somerton park.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, Its always interesting to research and find cases that we think may have some similarities. But here we have a unique case, we have little to nothing to go on. We certainly can look to the circumstances including the labels removed and the unknown poison etc etc. But these whilst of value only take on more significance when we find that extra bit of information that pushes the case over the line that lies between 'possibility' into the 'probability' zone.
ReplyDeleteThere is one tiny piece of evidence that links the man to the code page and that's the torn slip found rolled up tight and pushed well down into a secret waistband fob pocket, Such fob pockets were on the inside of the trousers waistband , hence even though they were relatively common, they were out of sight and referred to as 'secret'. (There is a case on Trove where a business man had meant to push a wad of notes into a waistband pocket and missed the opening with the cash falling to the street. He did eventually manage to reclaim it.)
Now this slip matches the shape of a torn section found in a copy of the Rubaiyat on the back of which the Code Page was found or rather pencil markings that were traced over to show handwritten letters. (That's a whole different post subject) On that same code page we have the nurses phone number.
Until very recently, there was no evidence to show any kind of connection to the intelligence services. It was always suspected but never substantiated.
But now as per the recent find a few posts back, we have definitive proof that Alf and most probably the nurse, were involved in an intelligence activity of some kind and were using some very smart techniques.
That changes the nature of the linkages, for the very first time we can show a link between the Somerton Man, the Code page, the Nurse and finally an intelligence service link.
Is that enough to push the case over that line between possibility and probability? It's right on the edge but is it enough?
There is one question that we cannot answer, how do we know that it was the Somerton Man who rolled up the torn slip and pushed it into his secret waistband pocket?
On the balance of probabilities it was but it is not a 100% certainty. I don't how much closer it can get though.
I hope that makes sense and I think you should carry on pursuing your ideas.