Tag: Chubble

Crime in Bowgada

For a small place, a lot went on in Bowgada (aka Chubble or Koolanooka), from the day-to-day activities of the CWA, football or cricket games and fancy dress parties to a very publicised murder in April of 1927.

The details given by witnesses, including the deceased’s son, add complex issues to the case. For those interested in criminal matters and family relationships, this sad occurrence out at Bowgada may prove an interesting study. The prison record of the accused (and the psychology of his behaviour) is also remarkable.

Convict No.12837 – Arthur Alfred Martin1

Arthur Albert Martin stood trial for the wilful murder of Bowgada farmer, Terbert (or Turbest and other variations) Horace Currell. 2 After two trials, Mr Martin was acquitted of murder. 3 However, he was back in Court the next year for horse stealing, and sentenced to three years hard labour, then to be detained at the Governors’ pleasure. It appears he was already in prison on other matters, when the horse stealing was revealed. Interestingly, Mr Martin asked for the trial to be adjourned, in order to obtain council, but this was refused, and so was his subsequent appeal to the High Court.

The Parole Board let him out – but took him back over a stolen car. In 1938 he made headlines again when he broke out of Fremantle Gaol’s reformatory section by scaling a wall and using smuggled hacksaw blade to cut through a bar in his cell. Not only that, but he was at large for at least two weeks, and fronted up to the ‘Daily News’ office with his story 4 – and at his request, the paper appears to have given him an hours’ start before informing the Police – this caused considerable comment. 5

Given parole again, he was returned for theft in Brookton 1941 (he asked to be able to join the Army). Then in 1942, Mr Martin was on the run again along with 16 others: this time escaping from Prison Camp Bartons Mill, apparently while drunk. He was found at Government Gardens sleeping and sentenced to six months extra on top of his indefinite sentence. In 1949 he escaped again and was returned.

And it was not the only death by shooting in the Bowgada either. Also in 1928, John Hyland was shot by Edward Patrick Minorgan over a dispute about a dog – and Mr Hyland died from gangrene as a result. 6 Mr Minorgan was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to three years imprisonment with hard labour.

Sources

  1. HUNTED MAN BREAKS HIS SILENCE (1938, February 4). The Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 – 1955), p. 1 (CITY FINAL). Retrieved January 27, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article83425027 ↩︎
  2. BOWGADA TRAGEDY (1927, August 20). Truth (Perth, WA : 1903 – 1931), p. 2. Retrieved January 27, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article208710437 ↩︎
  3. The Bowgada Tragedy (1927, August 20). The Albany Advertiser (WA : 1897 – 1954), p. 3. Retrieved January 27, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article70166798 ↩︎
  4. ibid. ↩︎
  5. Hypocrisy (1938, February 6). Sunday Times (Perth, WA : 1902 – 1954), p. 2. Retrieved January 27, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58802258 ↩︎
  6. FATAL SHOOTING OF JOHN HYLAND (1928, February 11). Truth (Perth, WA : 1903 – 1931), p. 7. Retrieved January 27, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article208138001 ↩︎