In 1943 Alice Springs was very much
an army town, and had been since the establishment of the Darwin
Overland Maintenance Force in September 1940. Its permanent
military population would peak at about 8,000 with almost
200,000 military personnel passing through the town over the
next four years (Donovan, P. (1988). Alice Springs: Its history & the people who made
it. Alice Springs: Alice Springs Town Council,
pp.184-9.). Almost all of those troops would have been men, with
precious few women either in the forces or the town. That gender
imbalance may be the real reason behind the events that took
place one evening in October that year. But, whatever the
impetus, they provide the earliest detailed record of homosexual
activity between Europeans in Central Australia.
Based on the statements given before
the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory in Alice Springs,
several things seem certain. On the evening of Thursday October 21,
1943a small group of
soldiers had been drinking in the beer garden of the military
canteen shortly after it closed at 9:30. After the rest had
retired two troops remained behind to finish their drinks.
Exactly what happened next was the point of substantial
disagreement between the pair, but when the corporal on canteen
duty went out to investigate the noises, it seems he found the
two soldiers engaged in some
sort of struggle on the ground with their clothing in disarray.
Whatever the truth of the matter, the outcome would be charges
and a conviction for 'assault with intent to commit buggery' for
one of the men, 12 months hard labour and a court martial. His
partner would be cast as the victim of the piece. Whether one soldier had sexually
assaulted the other or both were willing participants but, faced
with discovery, one turned against his mate to save himself,
remains unclear.
In relating this story the names of the two main characters have
been changed to preserve their anonymity. However, all other
participants were as named. The material from which the story is
derived and quotations have been taken is Northern Territory
Archives Service; Series E99, File
200a/1943, Supreme Court of the Northern
Territory, Criminal dockets - annual alphabetical series,
1942-43, ***** and Series
F70, Police Station - Alice Springs,
Correspondence files, 1950-55, 34/9/51 [Cases and enquiries].
Sam 'Snigger' Nelson was 21. He had been called up two years
earlier on November 17, 1941 in Preston, Victoria and was a
driver in the 146th Australian General Transport Company. Sam
had previously served in the 4th Anti Tank Battalion but, after
going AWOL for seven days and the subsequent discovery of a few
prior convictions from his youth, had been discharged. Those offences
were mostly for larceny, joy riding in stolen cars and
'offensive behaviour', and had incurred penalties including a 12
month good behaviour bond and three months in Castlemaine reformatory at the Governor's Pleasure. He was
not a model citizen, and when his fingerprints were sent south
to Melbourne the police there wereable to provide a few aliases they also knew him by. At five foot five he was
described as of small to medium build with fair hair, blue eyes
and a fair complexion marked by a single tattoo of a swallow
carrying a flower in its beak on his right forearm. One of his brothers, Larry, was also
serving in Alice Springs at the time.
Not as much is known about Tom
'Whacker' Walters. He was a little older than Sam Nelson, having
celebrated his twenty-third birthday that May. He was also a driver in the 146th,
weighed approximately nine stone three ounces, and had a medical
classification of B2 - fit for sedentary duties only. Tom's
period of service was significantly shorter than Sam's; he had
enlisted in Middle Park, Victoria only 15 days earlier - very
much a new recruit. According to the evidence of the corporal on
duty in the canteen that night, Whacker was known to receive
some bullying from chaps who would "...muck around" with him and
"...just hit him around and that", and sometimes "...put their
arms around him and pat him on the rear". But, as the corporal
later explained, they would only "...spar with him and skylark
with him"; he had "...never ever seen anyone go as far as
pulling his trousers down."
Sam had arrived at the canteen at about 6:30 that night and
began drinking with a few of his mates. At about 9:00 Tom
Walters arrived and joined them. The canteen closed at 9:30 and
the other soldiers went to get something to eat, leaving Sam and Tom behind on a
seat in the darkened beer garden still drinking and talking;
that much is agreed.
Corporal "Bub" Burley was inside the canteen packing up for the
evening. When he heard noises coming from the garden just before
10:00 he thought perhaps someone was being sick outside. As the
moaning continued he thought he should investigate and opened
the door to look. What he saw in the light shiningout into the garden left him
dumbfounded. Two men were grappling with each other on the
ground, "Walters had his shorts down around his knees and Nelson
had his fly undone, one hand up around Walter's throat and the
other about his private parts. His penis was stiff and rigid and
he was making motions to and fro, he was trying to put his penis
between Walter's anus...".
When the corporal demanded to know, "What's going on here?",
Driver Walters responded, "Get him away Bub". As he picked
Walters up Corporal Burley, "...could still see Driver Nelson's
penis sticking rigid." Clearly shocked, he told Walters to go
home and let Nelson leave as well. Then, after thinking it over
for a while, went to inform Captain Harbottle of the events.
Although he didn't believe either soldier was drunk at the time,
he assessed Nelson as clearly the stronger of the two.
Captain Harbottle immediately took the matter to the unit
Orderly for the evening, Lieutenant Shepherd. At about 10:20, he called both Nelson and Walters to
be interviewed; things were moving fast. When Walters told the
lieutenant that Nelson had tried to be funny with him, he asked,
"...did he try to root you?". Tom confirmed the accusation, but
Nelson strongly denied it claiming, "I didn't do it Sir, I've
just got out of bed, I know my name stinks in this unit, but I
didn't do that Sir."
Next morning Lieutenant Shepherd discussed the matter again with
Corporal Burley and both went to review the scene of the crime,
paying particular attention to the marks in the gravel for
evidence of a struggle. Looking back on the previous evening's
interview, Shepherd would recall that Walters was very
frightened, his face white in the moonlight. But he would also
say that both were sober when he interviewed them, and that
"...they knew what they were doing." So, what did Whacker
Walters know?
His version of events was fairly straightforward. As soon as
they were left alone drinking on the seat in the garden, Sam had
made his move; he had tried "...to play about with" [Walters']
"...private parts." As Nelson's hand was pushed away he asked Whacker, "What about
it?". Knowing exactly what was implied Tom's rejection of the
offer was in vain and he soon found Nelson had wrapped both arms
around his waist and pulled him to the ground. During theensuingstruggle Sam tried to take Tom's
pants down, eventually succeeding. By now he was behind Walters
and had him face down on the ground. After pulling his trousers
down to his ankles, Sam then lifted up Tom's shirt as well.
Although he didn't feel Nelson doing anything to his own
trousers, Walters did feel it when "He then tried to put his
penis into my anus." In fact, "He attempted to do this three or
four times." Knowing that Corporal Burley was still in the
canteen Tom went to call for help but, just as he did, Sam
placed one hand over his mouth and the other around his throat
and said, "Shut up you bastard or I'll choke you." Realising
that it was not much use singing out, Walters lurched sideways
just as Nelson attempted another insertion. This time Walters
was definitely able to feel that the other's penis "...was
erected."
It was exactly at that moment that the corporal emerged and
pulled the men apart. Nelson left quickly as ordered but Tom
remained to explain what had happened before returning to his
tent. Shortly after, first Captain Harbottle and then Lieutenant
Shepherd came and interviewed him outside his tent, during which
time Private Nelson was also called for. Walters remembered that
while Nelson was fairly intoxicated that evening, he was quite
sober himself. And, during the quarter of an hour that they were
on the ground, he had been struggling to get away the whole
time. However, when he later asserted that he had been grabbed
so hard by the throat that it would have left marks, was unable
to explain why there were none.
Walters hadn't actually wanted to report what had happened and
had asked the next morning down at the showers if he had to make
a statement. He was going to let the whole thing drop and treat
it as a joke. Even the night
before, Sergeant Goolie had said that there would be no charge
and just told them to go to bed. But, after a long conversation with
Sergeant Harbottle who announced his intention to take the
matter further regardless, Tom was induced to make a statement.
However, as far as Snigger Nelson was concerned, the whole thing
had just been an unfortunate accident and misunderstanding. When
the pair had remained behind in the beer garden Tom had sat on
the seat proper, but Sam had hopped up on the railing and put
his arm on his mate's shoulder to balance. Having another drink
they had chatted about different things, probably the leave
situation and going home. After a while both went to stand up
but, as they did so, Sam's foot got caught in the railing of the
seat and he tripped, even though he was still sober. As he fell,
Sam grabbed hold of Tom and they fell on the ground together. It
was just at that moment that Corporal Burley chose to come out
of the canteen and saw them, telling the pair to break it up.
Thinking nothing further of it, Private Nelson picked up his
coat and left. He was very surprised when Sergeant Goolie came
to his tent and told him Captain Harbottle wanted to see him. He
was even more surprised when, in front of the captain and
Lieutenant Shepherd, Private Walters accused him of attempting
to commit an indecent act. He denied the accusation and was told
to go to bed. As he left he asked the sergeant if the charge was
very bad, and was much relieved when Goolie told him, "There is
no charge, we know Whacker, you can go to bed now."
So he must have been completely shocked a week later on the
afternoon of October 28 when Constable Law from the Alice
Springs Police Station arrested him on a charge of Attempting to
Commit Buggery (contrary to Section 62 of the Offences Against
the Person Act, 1861). Fortunately
he was able to make bail with a surety of 100 pounds of his own,
and a further 100 lodged by his brother. His interview two days earlier for a psychiatric
report byLieutenant Colonel
Gwyn Williams, Commanding Officer of the 109th General Army
Hospital must also have alerted him that the matter was very
serious would not be going away in a hurry. The doctor found that Nelson had no
sign of organic disease and was of average intelligence, but
presented "...a typical picture of a moral defective." Interestingly he also noted Nelson
had informed him that Private Walters was frequently the butt of
ribald jokes, and both Lieutenant Shepherd and a Corporal
Collier had confirmed Walters was "...regarded as below average
and is the sort of 'village idiot'." He further tactfully observed that if
the offence had been committed, he believed it was "...not associated with essential
homosexuality" on Nelson's part, but was "...a manifestation of
general moral deficit."
However, Lieutenant Colonel
Williams did find Sam was
fit to plead and face trial and likely to respond favourably to
punishment. Although he didn't consider any benefit would be
derived from treatment he was certain that Sam was likely to be
a future source of trouble in the army. On that basis he
recommended that on the termination of any sentence "...he be
discharged from the Army under some such provision as Services
No Longer Required."
Nelson faced trial in Alice Springs on November 4 with a second
charge of Indecent Assault on a Male Person. Four days later the Supreme Court of the Northern
Territory found him guilty on the first count, sentencing him on November 8 to twelve months imprisonment with
hard labour. It was just days before the last Japanese air raid
on Darwin.
At the conclusion of his sentence a year later Sam was
transferred from Alice Springs Gaol to Darwin to face a court
martial and subsequently discharged. The details of these
proceedings are held in National Archives of Australia, Series E72, Item 3089302, Attorney
General's Department - Crown Solicitors Office Alice Springs,
The King v. *****. A request for access to this file
has been denied.
There is no record of what became of Sam and Tom, or any
indication that either were involved in this kind of behaviour
before or after. Both the army and the court appear to have
considered Sam to have been Tom's physical and intellectual
superior, and clearly on top of him in what took place that
night. But Sam was only convicted of attempted buggery, and not
on the second charge of indecent assault. It also seems clear
from the comments of the officers and the statements of both
soldiers that there was some doubt as to Tom's absolute
innocence in the affair. However, there are no clear statements
to the effect.
Perhaps Nelson attempted to sexually assault a completely naive
companion. Perhaps the two found themselves drawn together and
were unfortunate enough to be caught out, one more than the
other who was turned on by his partner in the face of discovery.
We'll never know.
An army report into Homosexual Males
in the Allied Land Forces dated September 12, 1944 noted that
there was very little evidence of those people in any command.
However:
2. In Oct 43 a soldier in 11 L of C
Sub-Area was charged with assaulting another soldier with
intent to commit buggery. He appeared before the Civil Court
at ALICE SPRINGS and was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment
with hard labour. It is interesting to note that the
Superintendent of the gaol stated that this soldier was a
model prisoner and, although slightly effeminate in manner,
was a good, honest worker, and clean and tidy in his habits
and appearance. Psychiatrist's report indicates that the
offence was not associated with essential homosexuality but
was a manifestation of general moral deficit.
National Archives
of Australia, Series
MP742/1, Item 84/1/164: Homosexual Males - Discharge.
