Australian Newsletter Several Sightings Of Man Supposed Buried

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30128, 11 May 1963, Page 18

Australian Newsletter Several Sightings Of Man Supposed Buried

(By

FRANK PUDDICOMBE,

N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent]

SYDNEY.

Scores of people have now told the Sydney police that they have seen Allan Edward Brennan, the English migrant who was supposed to have been buried in a pauper’s grave last November.

The Criminal Investigation Bureau has increased the special squad concentrating on the search for Brennan to 90 men.

Brennan, aged about 34. is being sought in the hope that he may be able to assist in establishing the identity of a man, whose body was found under a shop in the suburb of Concord. Brennan worked in the Post Office until last October. He then bought into the Concord shop. Eleven days later he disappeared. Several weeks later a body was found under the shop and a coroner accepted evidence of identification of the body as that of Brennan. Some weeks ago, several of Brennan’s former workmates told the police they had seen Brennan, and in the last week many more have reported sightings. The present Shopkeeper at Concord said Brennan had cbme into .the shop, but hurried away when asked if he was Brennan. s Police investigators are now convinced that Brennan is alive, and they have no idea of the identity of the body buried in a Ryde cemetery nearly six months ago.

In their efforts to trace Brennan’s background, detectives have yet to learn whether he did come here in 1960 from England. There have been many contradictions about the case.

The confined space beneath a shop is an unlikely place for a murder, and it is even more unlikely that a partlyclad man would creep there, place his trousers beside him and commit suicide.

Last week came a report of a shirt perforated in 20 places having been found near the body.

A* Government medical officer admitted this week he “could conceivably have failed to find stab wounds” in the body of the man buried as Brennan. He said he was not told Shat a bloodstained shirt found next to the badly decomposed body contained numerous cuts. ¥ ¥ ¥ New Slate Sought A statement by the Minister for Education (Mr E. Wetherell) that until last month he had been ignorant of the north-west of New South Wales has sparked fresh agitation to make the northern area a separate state. The demand for the extra state dates back half a century, and in 1934 a Royal Commission recommended it and outlined the boundaries. This week the New England new state movement featured Mr Wetherell’s statement in large advertisements in local newspapers right to the Queensland border. The advertisements carried the slogan: ‘‘Remote Govern-

ment is ignorant government. We want a new state.” This week demonstrators carrying placards met 50 state politicians when they arrived at Narrabri to inspect a wheat research station. The placards demanded a new state “for northern development.”

The politicians breakfasted in several hotels which had the new state flag flying, and they had to pass through more demonstrators when they inspected the wheat research station. Recently a deputation from the New England state movement asked Prime Minister (Mr Menzies) to take steps to alter the constitution to allow new Australian states to be established. ¥ ¥ ¥ Saturday Shopping The secretary of the Shop Assistants’ Union, Mr E. C. O'Dea, continues to throw scares into New South Wales traders by bis moves for the abolition of Saturday morning shopping. This week he announced he would seek support of other unions for a Saturday shutdown. His union is expected to rally a strong vote at the Australian Labour Party conference next month. Calling it the day of “family shopping,” the secretary of the retail traders’ association, Mr J. Griffin, said abolition of Saturday morning trading was “unthinkable.”