1970
Judith Elizabeth and Susan Deborah Mackay disappeared from a Ross River bus stop on their way to school on 26 August 1970.
Mrs Thwaite was an attendant at an AYR Service Station in 1970, she supplied $3,00 worth of petrol, to the alleged offender. She described the little girls in the back seat of his car, crying and saying “You promised to take us to see Mummy”, they had tear stained faces.
Recollections of Detective Sergeant 2/c John Sanderson, CIB Ayr.
According to Detective Sergeant 2/c John Sanderson’s recollections, Mrs Thwaite saw the sisters’ photograph on the evening news, recalled seeing the little girls in the car that day, and immediately approached him. Det. Sgt Sanderson was then the Officer-in-Charge of the Criminal Investigation Branch at Ayr. He went on to obtain a six page statement from Mrs Thwaite concerning her observations. (Sanderson) In her statement, Mrs Jean Thwaite indicated she saw a Holden sedan 1964 model around 11-30am on 26 August. She described the driver as ‘about 30 years, dark hair, clean shaven, hair parted and brushed tidily, fair complexion, square type of face, and although he did not get out of the car, she judged his height to be about 5’8” or 5’9”.’ (CIB Townsville Report, 31 Aug 1970, p. 2.) The report shows the witness noted two girls in the car, one in the front and one standing on the back seat. The girl in the back was crying.
Mrs. Thwaite’s was brought to Townsville where she ‘identified the school uniform being worn by the two little girls as being identical with the school uniform worn by children at the Aitkinvale State School.’ (Sanderson) Jean Thwaite’s statement played a key role in the review investigation by the Homicide Squad at Townsville some 28 years later.
1986
Homicide Squad opened the review of the earlier investigation into the murders in 1986. The reasons behind the review were complex and varied: the immense volume of information flowed into the Townsville CI Branch in the initial weeks of the investigation in 1970; the investigation was co-ordinated by one man, the head of the Townsville CIB, while attending to normal Branch tasks thus subjecting himself to long and exhausting periods on duty; there was no facility within the recording structure; the recording procedures of the era have shown to be inadequate and liable to loss of information; the investigative team comprised from detectives from diverse parts of the state, who upon return to their home districts invariably facilitated fragmenting of aspects of the investigation; and finally the culprit was never identified.
Early news coverage and reports show senior police were working long hours, ‘grabbing perhaps three hours’ sleep at night.’ (Sunday Mail, 30 Aug 1970). Off duty police offered their services without pay, perhaps inadvertently contributing to later information fragmenting. The 1970s case files confirmed, the Townsville CIB was flooded with tip offs during the first week of the investigation, many were unsubstantiated and a good few were after the reward money.
Shortly, a Townsville Bulletin printed an article examining the decision to re-open the investigation peppered with ‘some rather startling revelations’ (CIB internal correspondence, Jan 1986). According to the article, Detective Inspector Pat Gallwey stated the investigation did not follow stringent police practices and was not reported properly at the time. (Townsville Bulletin, 14 Jan 1986) The article also showed that DI Gallwey was certain the name of the person responsible for the murders were in the files reviewed, and ‘it is just a matter of drawing it out of all that information.’ (TB) Gallwey was one of the detectives originally assigned to the case.
Townsville Bulletin, 14 Jan 1986
1998 – 1999
Arthur Stanley Brown, 87 years, a retired school maintenance man, was charged with the double homicide. Contrary to the Townsville Bulletin article, Brown’s name did not come up in the 1970 investigation. However, witness statements confirmed Commissioner Whitrod’s speculations, the offender was known in the community. ‘Brown’s name hit the headlines in 1998, after a woman broke a 30-year silence to tell the police he had molested five children related to his first wife – often at the same spot where the Mackay sisters’ bodies were found in 1970.’ (The Age 22 Jul, 2002)
Judith and Susan Mackay, 1970
The trial for the murders of Judith Elizabeth and Susan Deborah Mackay, began on 18 October 1999. The jury of 8 men and 4 women was taken by bus 25km south-west of Townsville to Anthill Creek, where the bodies of Susan Mackay, 5, and her sister Judith, 7, were found on August 28, 1970. Several witnesses told the court Brown had a Vauxhall sedan with a mismatched driver’s side door. A relative of the accused stated Brown told her that he took door off and buried it in his yard, as ‘he didn’t want anyone interviewing him or annoying him.’ (C-M 21 Oct 1999) The evidence against the defendant was significant but circumstantial. The jury was unable to agree on a verdict. Brown was due to be re-tried but his mental state was called into question. A special jury found Brown fit to stand trial, however, the Mental Health Tribunal overturned the ruling. Brown was shortly diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. No further charges were filed against the accused, Brown was 89 years old in 2001. He died a year after, a free man.
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This information has been provided by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available. The article was written by Museum Volunteer and Crime and Policing Historian Dr Anastasia Dukova.
The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au
“FROM the VAULT – The Mackay Sisters Murder: Review Investigation (Part 2)” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence.
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