27 March 2022
11:00am – 12:30pm
Police Headquarters
200 Roma Street, Brisbane QLD 4000
FREE ENTRY – Bookings Essential via Eventbrite or email museum@police.qld.gov.au
On the evening of 19 September 1952, Betty Shanks, 22, a clerk in a Commonwealth Department, was returning to her parents’ home in Montepelier Street, The Grange. After attending night school classes in the city, she left a tramcar at The Grange at approximately 9.32pm to walk the remaining kilometre to her home. While walking along Thomas Street she was attacked, savagely beaten and strangled. This murder remains officially unsolved.
2022 marks the 70th anniversary of the murder, and Author Ted Duhs has launched the 3rd edition of his book “I know who killed Betty Shanks’ to mark the occasion. This book’s third edition reveals Betty’s secret life as documented in an ASIO file, which states that:
- Betty was in an ‘intimate association’ with a young married man who was a member of the Communist Party of Australia.
- Betty’s best friend from schooldays at Brisbane Girls Grammar School and at the University of Queensland, Winifred Cowin, worked for ASIO before committing suicide in 1958.
- An ASIO officer arrived in Brisbane on Sunday 21 September 1952 to recruit Betty, only to be told that she had been murdered the previous Friday night.
The one-and-a-half hour presentation will begin at 11am on Sunday, 26 March and will provide interesting and educational content suitable for any audience.
The Museum opens its doors to the public on the last Sunday of each month from 10am to 3pm from February to November in addition to the standard Monday to Thursday 9am to 4pm opening hours. Monthly Sunday openings feature guest speakers from across the historical and crime-solving spectrums.
PLEASE NOTE: The Police Museum will open Sunday, 26 March from 10am to 3pm, and is located on the ground floor of Police Headquarters, 200 Roma Street, Brisbane.