Enigma about death of Adelaide lecturer

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32975, 22 July 1972, Page 8

Enigma about death of Adelaide lecturer

(By

BRIAN DALE.

N.Z.PA.-Reuter correspondent)

ADELAIDE, July 21.

Dr George lan Ogilvie Duncan, an English-born academic who was drowned in an Adelaide river in May, has left a host of enigmas, involving police and homosexuals and an unclaimed estate of $50,000.

Dr Duncan, remembered at the University of Adelaide as a quiet man in glasses, sitting alone in the staff dining room reading an airmail copy of “The Times,” died late on May 10 in the Torrens River, which runs through Adelaide.

An 11-day inquest, during which the habits of Adelaide’s homosexuals were discussed and three members of the Adelaide vice squad refused to answer questions, the Coroner (Mr T. E. Cleland) recorded that the cause of his death was drowning “due to violence on the part of persons of whose identity there is no evidence.”

After the inquest, the three police officers resigned and the state government posted a $5OOO reward for information leading to a conviction of the person or persons responsible for Dr Duncan’s death.

BACKGROUND UNKNOWN The 41-year-old bachelor was a Ph.D. from Bristol University before he accepted the position of lecturer in law at the University of Adelaide. Dr Duncan was also — in the words of the Coroner “a homosexual.” Apart from this and a few small details, little else is known in Adelaide about Dr Duncan’s background. The police say that Dr Duncan was thrown into the river, and his body lay amid rubbish and spent Coca Cola cans until police skindivers recovered it next morning. The time of death was easy to state — his watch had

stopped at 11.05. Another 24 hours were needed by police to identify the body and from there the mystery of the death deepened.

Police could not establish what Dr Duncan did for six hours prior to his death, where he had been, who he had seen, or what made him come to the river late at night. All have yet to be verified. WITNESS ATTACKED

Only one version of his death is recorded, by a young Sydney man who told the Coroner’s Court that he was sitting on a bench smoking a cigarette, enjoying the peace and quiet and watching a duck swimming in the Torrens.

Roger Wesley James, aged 27, who appeared at Court with shoulder-length blonde hair, green trousers and a foot in plaster, told the Court that he saw a group of people at the river’s edge. One of these, a man, was thrown feet first into the river. Then, Mr James told the Court, the men set on him. He was punched about the head, swung around by an arm and pushed backwards into the river. He said that when he surfaced for air he saw the first man thrown in the river gasping for breath. He crawled on to the bank and was pushed back into the river by a man who said: “Save your mate.” Mr James was later picked up by a passing motorist and driven to hospital. He was soaked and covered with leaves. Sobbing hysterically, he had crawled along the street with a broken ankle. POLICE IMPLICATED

The inquest was told also that four or five people had been on the banks of the Torrens the night of Dr Duncan’s death — near a public lavatory, described as a wellknown rendezvous for homosexuals. No other version of the death appears in the Coroner’s records. Three members of the Adelaide vice squad, described by the Coroner as having been near the scene,

refused on legal advice to answer questions. And, as the Coroner said, “they were legally entitled to this privilege.” The state government has offered the reward and the police department has assigned 10 detectives to the case full-time. CALL FOR REFORM As if as a last memorial to Dr Duncan, a 20c button has appeared on Adelaide streets. It says: “How many more Duncans? Legalise homosexuality now.” A member of the South Australian Legislative Assembly (Lower House) has said that he will introduce a private member’s bill soon to legalise homosexuality, in private between consenting adults.