NAME CLEARED

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVI, Issue 22968, 11 August 1944, Page 5

NAME CLEARED

Officer Cashiered 28 Years Ago MELBOURNE, Aug. 9. Cashiered from the army in 1916 an Australian lieutenant has now been proved innocent and his character cleared. Lieutenant Arthur Gordon Whitlam, to-day a well-known business man, fought for 28 years to secure justice and restoration of his good name. He voluntarily waived all claims against tire Government. The story commenced in Egypt, where Whitlam, a young officer of the Australian Imperial Forces, sent to his father in Melbourne a tin trunk containing what he believed to be articles to which he was lawfully entitled. Customs examination revealed that the trunk contained revolvers and field glasses which were the property of brother officers. A year after the dispatch of the trunk. Whitlam was court-martialled near the front line in France and, being found guilty on certain charges, was cashiered. Whitlam, whose batman deserted the A.I.F. after the trial and still remains abroad, repeatedly sought to> have the case reopened. For the defence it had been contended that Whitlam himself had not packed the trunk and that he had no knowledge that it contained certain stolen items.

In 1926 he made a special trip to South Africa, located his former batman, and succeeded in obtaining additional evidence. It was then recommended that he be offered a pardon, but Whitlam refused the offer and maintained his fight to clear his good name. This has now been done after the case received the most exhaustive examination by a panel of leading King’s Counsel.

The conviction had been expunged from the records and Whitlam’s name has been placed on the officers’ reserve as from June 18. 1916.