Queers of the
Desert
Trouble with the Cook at the Aerodrome (1949)
Constable Bill Whitcombe probably
thought he had a watertight case. There were two witnesses who
had both sworn statements that the cook from the Alice Springs
aerodrome had made unwanted advances towards them and had
sexually assaulted one of them not once, but twice. The fellow
even had form, with a few counts of stealing, receiving stolen
goods and railway trespass on his record, although they were
from many years before. A conviction would have seemed certain.
However, it was not to be, and the case would collapse in court
when the key witness retracted his statement admitting it had
all been a lie.
The material from which the story is
derived and quotations have been taken are Northern Territory
Archives Service, Supreme
Court of the Northern Territory, E99, Criminal dockets -
annual alphabetical series, 1942-1954, File of
*****, and F69, Police
Station - Alice Springs (Commonwealth), correspondence files -
annual single number series, 1945-1949, File 61/49, *****.In relating this story the names of
the three main characters have been changed to preserve their
anonymity. However, all other participants were as named.
Peter James was clearly able to
recall the events of the evening of Monday March 28, 1949 in the
conversation he subsequently had with Constable Whitcombe on April
4. He had gone to the Rendezvous Cafe in town at about 9:00pm
with the new groundsman
from the aerodrome, Russell Brosnan. There they met a young man called Lee Logan who had no money and was in need of a
job. Remembering that the Department of Civil Aviation tennis
courts needed cleaning he suggested Logan might do that to earn
some cash. He was interested, and the two of them then went to
the Pioneer Cafe, had a meal and "...waited until the pictures
came out." After the picture show was finished Pete spoke to Mr
McCullock, the Airport Inspector, and put the suggestion to him
that he take Logan out to the airport, provide him with
somewhere to sleep and put him to work in the morning. The
inspector agreed.
Having had a bit to drink that night he asked another colleague,
Ernie Ives, to drive his car back out to the airport. So with
Ives and the inspector in the front seat Peter James, Lee Logan
and Russell Brosnan all sat in the back. When they got to the
airport at about 11:15pm they dropped the others at their
quarters and Pete took Lee back to his room. As there was only
one bed, Peter let the new chap have it and slept on the floor
himself with his overcoat for a pillow and just a blanket over
himself.
Pete got up the next morning and had a wash and went to work.
When Logan woke up at 8:00, he gave him breakfast and
"...put him to work on the tennis court." Afterwards they went
to see another officer who said there was a cleaner's job
available if Logan wanted to be "...free of his housing and food
worries." It was all agreed and Peter said he would run Lee back
into town that evening.
But that was not what Lee Logan told the police on April 2.
After Jim had left him and Peter James at the Rendezvous Lee and
Peter had climbed into the front seat of Pete's car together. According to Loganit was there that the trouble first
started:
[James] began to kiss me and put his hands on [my]
private parts. I said to him, "Take your hands off me". He
continued to do what he was doing and I said "I'll go and tell
the police." Then he stopped for a while and said "If you want
this job you had better come out with me tonight." I said, "I
want the job badly."
Once they got to the aerodrome it wasn't long before the trouble
started up again:
[James] put two bottles of beer into the refrigerator
from the car and then began to interfere with my clothing. He
opened up the buttons of my trousers and took my trousers
right down. I told him not to do this and was a little
frightened of him. He said, "I'll choke you if you don't let
me". He tried to put his penis into my anus but I struggled
away from him. His penis at this time was stiff and erect. I
know because I saw it and felt it trying to be put into my
anus.
Apparently easily distracted from his ambitions Peter James then
took Lee to find somewhere to sleep. This turned out to be
James' room where there was only one bed. Lee protested that he
couldn't sleep there because of the bed shortage but recalled
that Pete was insistent, even refusing to let him go and sleep
in the car. Fearing for his safety he remained in the room while
Peter James made a bed for them on the floor and then completely
removed Lee's clothes.
I told him that I wanted to sleep with them on. He
said "You will not". Then he took his clothes off and got into
bed with me. We were both naked then. He immediately began to
try and kiss me and put his hands on my private parts. I
objected to this. He then grabbed me by both shoulders and
rolled me onto my stomach. He then climbed onto my back and
inserted his penis into my anus and moved to and fro and
completed the sex act.
Oddly, Peter James waited until the completion of this assault
to grab Logan around the throat and say, "Don't sing out or I will choke you."
Then they went to sleep together. But Logan's suffering was not
over.
We were asleep about two hours when he woke me up and
grabbed my shoulders and again turned me over. I called out
"Help". James grabbed my mouth and nose and said "You are not
singing out in here". He then put his penis into my anus and
moved to and fro and completed the sex act.
Evidently sated, Peter James got up and went straight to work,
leaving Lee in bed, warning him to keep quiet until all the men
had gone. After he had fed the staff Peter came back to get Lee,
made him breakfast and then took him to clean the tennis courts
as agreed. It was only on the drive back to town later that day
that the previous night's events were discussed. Logan told
James that he was "...going to inform the Police." To which
Peter responded, "If you do you will get three months". And so
he said nothing until Constable Whitcombe questioned him on
April 2, when he made his statement.
But, why had the officer sought out Lee Logan in the first
place? Perhaps Russell Brosnan, a groundsman from the aerodrome, knew. He made a statement the
following day that accused Peter James of similar conduct.
Again, the trouble first started in town, even before Lee Logan
had turned up.
In his account Brosnan stated that he had accompanied Peter
James to the Returned Soldiers' Club at about 7:45 that evening.
While there he asked for directions to the lavatory. As it was
located outside the building he asked, "How am I going
to find it on a dark night like this?". Peter James offered to
show him and took him outside adding ominously, "I usually go up
the back." While they were relieving themselves they chatted
about how long Russell would be working out at the 'drome and the
likelihood that they would become "...the best of mates". However,
the conversation was apparently not as innocent
as it seemed. According to Russell, the whole time
Peter "...was loving me up as though I was a girl and
putting his arms around me."
After going back inside the club they stayed until leaving at
about 10:00 to pick up Brosnan's coat from the Rendezvous.
Arriving in his room there they encountered Lee Logan, sitting on
Brosnan's bed. At that point Russell again felt the need to go to
the lavatory, and again allowed Peter James to accompany him, who
again put his arm around his new best mate's shoulder.
The three then went in Peter James' car to get supper. Later, on
the way back out to the 'drome in Pete's car, Russell sat in the
back with Peter and Lee who was now the object of Peter's lust,
and the one he had his arm around. As the first to be dropped off
on arrival at the airstrip, Russell knew nothing of what else
might have happened that night or where Lee Logan slept.
However the next afternoon he did start drinking with Peter James
again on the verandah of the aerodrome mess. After sharing three
bottles of beer and some supper there, Peter got another bottle
and suggested they go back to his room. Resisting the invitation
Russell stayed put and the two kept drinking on the verandah. It
was then, Brosnan recalled, that "Peter began to move up close to
me and put his hands on my knees, my chest and then around my
buttocks." At that point Russell Brosnan very sensibly made
his excuses and hurried off to bed.
The Centralian Advocate
of Friday, April 8 (p.13) reported that Peter James "...appeared
before Mr. J. W. Nichols S.M. in the Alice Springs Police Court on
Wednesday afternoon on a serious charge. The proceedings were
adjourned until April 12. Bail in £50 with one surety of
£50 was allowed." Buggery was certainly a serious charge and
could incur a stiff penalty.
But it wasn't going to stick. When the case was heard on April 11,
another statement from Lee Logan was brought before the court.
Oddly it had been made privately and was dated just two days after
his original statement to Constable Whitcombe, and a week before
the trial. In it Logan made a remarkable confession:
This is to certify that
any statement made by me about [Peter James] and myself was
completely without foundation. I also state that I was tricked
by Edgar Kamel into going to the police station in the first
place, and that I had no idea that I was supposed to make a
statement about any matter at all. I signed the statement
because I was frightened of Edgar Kamel. I also bear witness to
the fact that Edgar Kamel, on Sunday 3 April 1949, did
constantly talk to [Russell Brosnan] about the intention of
getting him to sign another statement. In my opinion Edgar Kamel
is the instigator of the whole affair. I repeat that there is no
truth in any statement made by me.
Not surprisingly, Peter James was found not guilty of buggery and
discharged. And while the Advocateprinted
the news of his acquittal on April 15 (p.14), he would have
certainly had to face community suspicion and, more than likely,
some small town gossip from then onwards.
Nothing is known of Edgar Kamel or why he had engineered this
elaborate plot against Peter James. Was it motivated by revenge,
or an attempt at blackmail? Was Peter actually homosexual and
therefore perceived as an easy mark, or was sexuality just chosen
as a simple option on which to fabricate evidence? We'll probably
never know. But there was definitely some trouble with the cook at
the aerodrome in Alice Springs that year.
John Hobson