THE MURDER THAT SHOCKED AUSTRALIA
HOW DR DUNCAN’S TRAGIC DEATH CHANGED HISTORY
Academic Dr George Duncan left the United Kingdom on March 25, 1972 to take up his dream job as a lecturer in law at the University of Adelaide.
Just six weeks later on May 10, Dr Duncan was dead, having drowned in the River Torrens. He had been beaten and thrown into the water by three assailants. Dr Duncan, 41, could not swim and soon perished. The violent death of the quiet and unassuming gay man marked a significant turning point in Australia.
In its wake, revelations exposed the dark underbelly of gay attacks that were rampant at the time and the involvement of police in hate crimes. Within three years, South Australia decriminalised homosexuality, paving the way for other states to follow.
On the 50th anniversary of Dr Duncan’s murder, writer Mark Whittaker – who narrated the SBS podcast series, Out of Sight: The untold story of Adelaide’s gay-hate murders – believes his death should be remembered as a trigger point for law reform.
“It was his death that got people talking and put the issue of gay-hate crimes into the headlines at a time when being gay was still a criminal offence across Australia,” Mark says.
“The general population at that time had absolutely no idea what was going on in the shadows, and this shone a light about the problems with such crimes when it turned out the police were involved.”
London-born George Duncan emigrated to Australia with his family at the age of 7 and grew up in Melbourne. He studied in the 1960s at Cambridge University in the UK before returning to Australia in 1972 for the job in Adelaide.
Around 11pm on May 10 of that year, Dr Duncan was wandering along the southern bank of the River Torrens in the heart of Adelaide. It was a well-known meeting spot for the gay community. Along the path, Dr Duncan was approached by three men who initially bashed him, then picked him up and threw him into the river, where he drowned.
As a respected academic at the prestigious local university, his death made headlines over the following days. As the investigations continued, however, suspicions quickly emerged that three senior members of the police vice squad were involved in the drowning, but witnesses to the crime were reluctant
‘THE GENERAL POPULATION HAD ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHAT WAS GOING ON’
to come forward, as they too feared for their lives.
A coronial inquest began on June 7 and suspicions about police involvement appeared to be confirmed when two members of the vice squad refused to answer questions. The three officers were suspended from duty and later resigned.
The details of the case and its allegations about police brutality shocked Australia.
“The Dr Duncan case showed how easily the bashing of a gay man could turn into a murder,” says Greg Callaghan, author of Bondi Badlands, a book about the Sydney gay crime wave of the 1980s.
“Nonetheless, gay bashings continued to be dismissed as bunches of lads out to have ‘a bit of fun’. A later inquiry, if you can even call it that, described the murder as ‘merely a high-spirited frolic that went wrong.’”
The inquiry found there was insufficient evidence to prosecute any of the officers alleged to have taken part, and the Crown decided against proceeding with prosecutions.
“Those inquiries seemed to be determined to find nothing,” Mark adds.
Thirteen years later in July 1985, former vice squad officer Mick O’shea blew the lid off the case when he claimed there had been a cover-up to protect three squad members, who he said had been involved with Dr Duncan’s death.
The three named police officers – Francis John Cawley, Michael Kenneth Clayton and Brian Edwin Hudson – were charged in February 1986 with manslaughter, but only Cawley and Clayton faced trial. In 1988, they were acquitted after refusing to testify.
Mick also alleged it was common practice for vice squad officers to assault and throw homosexuals into the river. Although, a police task force claimed there was insufficient evidence to charge anyone.
Greg says the tragic events of May 1972 set off a chain reaction that the mild-mannered university lecturer probably could never have imagined.
“At a time when homosexuality was illegal, the police could act with impunity and turned a blind eye to gay bashings and other violence for decades,” he says.
“But the death of George Duncan was a turning point in a more fundamental way.
The outrage and enormous debate that followed his slaying showed that social attitudes in Australia were beginning to change, and the long march towards tolerance and understanding had already begun.”
Despite all that’s known about Dr Duncan’s death, the South Australia Police continues to offer a $200,000 reward for information leading to a conviction.