The Journey Home
Distancing Yourself in the Outback
There is a palpable lawless feeling in the air where Ray and Jennie last visited, in March 2015 – Bell Chambers and the surrounds south of Sandstone. You quickly realise that you are very much on your own and left to your own devices, therefore can do whatever you want. Which is the essence, and the whole reason, in violently sinister terms, which has caused the need to visit time after time, thanks to one particularly evil small ornamental garden figurine – the garden gnome – seemingly choosing his own depraved desires over civility.
Distinctly contrasting that malevolence are the Wiluna Legends, who, upon realising that they may also do whatever they want in that region, instead choose to spend their spare time ensuring that inadvertently evicted lizards find new homes whilst they upend its old one in search of a complete stranger’s missing remains.
We visited again last weekend for the second search in as many months. This being the first time, in nine and a half years, that I travelled on my own. It was good for the soul, albeit a heady experience.
“You’re a glutton for punishment” … or, “You’re crazy – why drive all that way for one day?” … and, “You need to distance yourself, this obsession is not healthy,” are some of the standard discussions had with well meaning peers in the preceding and subsequent weeks.
The Wiluna Legends had organised a ‘short trip’ (in WA country terms) making their way from their respective workplaces two hours north, meeting in Sandstone for a breakfast Post Office Parcel, then heading outback to check several abandoned wells. Each well was around nineteen metres deep (obviously the standard water table measurement taken a century ago), resembling a mine shaft at the surface, however with anywhere between four and several metres of crystal clear aquifer-fed water persistently present at the bottom. GoPros and bush mechanics cleared more than half a dozen additional deserted shafts, with results still pending.
Yet another monumental effort by those magnificent men. A couple of short videos from the weekend can be found on The Man in the HOLE for those interested.
Those Wiluna blokes seem to think it’s normal, to spend these regular weekends searching hundreds of square kilometres of outback landmarks that they’ve undertaken their own research into, for people they’ve never met, then return to work early the next day as if it were of little consequence. Which only enhances their status in my mind, and I hope yours, of how entirely thankful we should all be that people like them inhabit the same earth we reside upon. Given all lawless options, these guys choose kindness and compassion. Seraphic souls.
Anyhow, since returning to ‘civilisation’, ten days past, I am still closing my eyes at night and hearing the flies swirl. Two nights camping alone in that spot – a notorious outback murder site – has had a lasting effect. God I love that country. The more times we visit, the greater that affinity grows. Daytime stories of the wild dogs – dingo crosses – that howl but don’t bark whilst hunting in packs combined with the pertinent discussions about methods and results of outback murder makes for an exhilarating evening alone around the campfire.
The ‘beast’ – kangaroo, wild dog, or murderous apparition, depending on your imagination level – that went crashing through the bush at about midnight on the second night, causing some smears of my own DNA all over myself, felt deliberately sinister.
Laying prone under the stars in the otherwise pitch darkness thereafter with a tomahawk clenched on my chest has proven to create an intoxicating magnetism that I just can’t seem to shake now. While box-breathing my heartrate back down below coronary explosive levels that night, I recalled a discussion with the Wiluna Legends on the previous trip: “Bell Chambers never sees any wildlife – the locals consider it a dead zone, a region of lost souls.”
I cannot wait to return.
Meanwhile, in urban news, I also caught up with a local journalist a few weeks ago. A big one (in many ways). One of those names you hear here locally and go, “OoOOoh, this’ll be big!” Early next year will be TEN YEARS since Ray and Jennie’s fateful outback adventure, so it should be of no surprise what the meeting was about.
What I wanted to share from that discussion, relevant to this post, was how Old Mate had mentioned that they would have to be careful about potential litigation from a certain small ornamental garden ornament – the garden gnome.
“He seems litigious,” Old Mate suggested.
I spat, “Don’t worry about that POS, Old Mate. I’ve been trying to defame him for years so he would go me in civil court, to no avail. The bloke’s a chicken.”
“That takes nerves of steel,” he said.
“Or stupidity,” I grinned.
Later, I relayed the discussion to a Young Mate. Young Mate suggested that I need to up the defamation ante. “Maybe the ‘garden gnome’ reference hasn’t quite cut it,” he suggested. “Why not start naming him outright?”
“What, Milne?”
“Yeah. Graham Milne,” he said.
“Yeah, but, calling him the garden gnome, or the small ornamental garden figurine, offers a slight comic relief. If I lose that, all that’s left is anger,” I said.
Young Mate paused, then offered: “What’s his middle name? Isn’t it Donald or something?”
“No, Dudley.”
“Dudley?” he asked in a manner that, although the conversation was via phone, I could still hear the muddled frown.
“Yeah, that’s it: Graham Dudley Milne.”
“GrAhAm DuDlEy MiLnE,” he inflected.
Then we both laughed out loud.
Which is as good a segue I can offer for this post to follow. The following was shared a few years ago on this ‘blog’, then deleted a year or two back after I was advised that it (and a few other posts which were also deleted) would be best placed in the bin, unless I wanted to invite a defamation lawsuit. After the last couple of months, reflecting on the weekends’ searches on the journeys home, it now feels like the right time to reshare.
I hope you receive it well.
Until next time, take care.
Distancing Yourself in the Outback.
There are a few rules, nay suggestions to abide by when travelling on sometimes gravel and often narrow roads in the outback and country Australia, designed for awareness and safety, as well as simple decency.
When ascending a crest, move to the left hand side of the road. The benefit of doing so will be immediately understood when encountered by another vehicle ascending the opposite side at speed.
As you pass any car travelling in the opposite direction, wave. Raise a finger (palm-side to windscreen) as a minimum, but ideally all four plus thumb whilst maintaining your grip on the wheel by skin contact via your palm.
If a fellow motorist is at a standstill off the side of the road, pull over and ask if they need assistance. They likely will. And;
When driving through saltbush in the dry heat, or eucalypts after the rain, wind down all windows and breathe deep. In fact, pull over. Savour the moment.
In general, be polite and courteous—it’s a big country out there, you never know when you may need to help, or be helped by a fellow traveller. Follow these simple rules and outback peace and harmony shall ensue.
~
Early in the morning of Sunday 22nd March 2015, before dawn, two separate vehicles made their respective ways to the Paynes Find to Sandstone Road. Graham Dudley Milne left the Bells Camp location where he had travelled with his two work colleagues three days prior, turning onto the road to start his journey back home to a suburb south of Perth. Meanwhile, a prospecting couple, Marc and Gina, left their on-site van at the Sandstone Caravan Park and turned south on the gravel road toward their prospecting patch at Youanmi, one hundred kilometres along that road then inland.
It was early, earlier than most would or should be on that road. Marc and Gina were attempting to wring every drop of daylight that they could for prospecting, by slowly and carefully driving the pre-dawn wildlife gauntlet to arrive at their Youanmi mining tenement as the sun rose. They passed the Tabletop hill with the Telstra tower atop, its red light blinking in the dark and overcast night sky, less than half an hour into their journey. Gina recalls this location because: “Marc always points out the tower, every time we pass,” as she stated in the January 2020 inquest with a wry tone. Marc and Gina know the rules of outback travel very well. So, when they turned the next corner on that gravel road and saw a vehicle in the distance, they started to slow down in anticipation of offering any assistance they might have been able to provide this potentially stranded stranger.
As Marc and Gina approached the mystery vehicle, they noted that it was a dark coloured four-wheel-drive towing a Southern Cross style camping trailer, and on top of the trailer sat a quad bike. The outfit was travelling in the same direction as they were, south towards Paynes Find. What they initially found most odd was that the quad bike was facing perpendicular, east-west across the trailer. The lights on the trailer were small domes, round and bright. The vehicle was running, and the engine noise and lights created an insular scene in the vast countryside. Stooped on the passenger side near the trailer’s large front-mounted toolbox, a man was intently checking . . .something. It appeared that he had not seen or heard Marc and Gina, given his focus on the toolbox. When this mysterious character finally realised he was being approached, he jumped bolt upright.
Marc and Gina recall this man as being short, bald and utterly average. He was wearing an army-style duffle coat. And most notably, he was a complete and utter arsehole. (Or at least that is my interpretation.) They say that as they approached, slowing down and about to wind down a window to offer an “are you okay,” the man became aggressive, erratically waving them on, and even yelling at them to “Fuck off!”. As any self-respecting person would do, they took the suggestion as more a recommendation, thus did just so. Marc thereafter forever lamented not stopping to teach this unknown arsehole some outback manners.
They arrived at their mining tenement at dawn that day, an hour or so afterward. Weeks, months and years later, the gravitas of encountering this short, bald and utterly average arsehole would weigh heavy on their minds, proving to be a key moment in the investigation of the murders of Ray and Jennie Kehlet.
The estimated time of their encounter was 05:30, 22nd March 2015.
~
Graham Dudley Milne loves making up stories. You may have noticed. Describing Great Dames as rabid wolves. Fairy Tales about Crystal Caves and a member of the Seven Dwarfs. And many more to be told. What the common theme of these stories is, however—spoiler alert—is distancing himself. Distancing himself from the scene of at least one crime, but realistically at least two. Two very serious crimes.
Ray was found. The Man in the Hole. We know where that crime occurred; and, albeit not why, at least how—the Coroner’s findings spell it out in all shades of grey. But what about Jennie? Where and how did that final and most heinous crime occur? The Police investigation proved to be focused on Milne’s attempts at distancing himself, to determine where Jennie may be located.
Milne maintains that he left Bells Camp in the early hours of that Sunday in March 2015, after prospecting solo for some eighteen-odd hours the day and night prior with nought but a water-bottle and a malevolent frown. Ray and Jennie had pre-packed his trailer and quad the night before, according to Milne, after chasing the rabid Great Dame all day while he prospected. “I lent them me quad and left ‘ems to chase the dog on theirs own,” he told Police [sic]. “Oi wasn’d there to chase dawgs.”
When questioned where Ray and Jennie were when he left that morning, Milne suggested, “They must has was been in their’s tent,” [sic] that being his supposed last memory of the remote camp whilst making himself a cup of tea before driving away pre-dawn. The Police asked Milne if he thought it odd that they would not have wished him farewell, given that they were alone in such a remote camp. Graham Dudley Milne responded something along the lines of, “Nah, yeah, nah, nah.”
Then the clincher . . .Milne insists that he turned north when reaching the Paynes Find to Sandstone Road, wanting to travel on the bitumen road via Mount Magnet because he was worried about getting stranded in his vehicle…
Let me repeat that. He wanted to drive at least an extra hour that day, because he was worried his vehicle may break down…
It’s all quite a mind-altering scene to visualise, for anyone that has camped in a remote location: The early hours of a dark and overcast morning, where you can easily hear a small bird leave a nest out on the horizon. Your colleague has returned to camp after venturing off alone for eighteen hours, fired up the Billy, and otherwise rattled and clanked equipment, tools, and car doors together. He is returning home that morning, and you will remain at camp for the foreseeable future. But, no, you do not emerge from your bed to wish him a safe journey. There’s simply not enough …time… He soon leaves, and the ink of still darkness is all that remains.
Cool story, Bro.
~
The Police investigation confirms the following facts and timeline for that day. Apologies for the dot-points, I could not think of a better way to detail them.
Milne states that he leaves camp sometime before dawn. He cannot confirm a time because he doesn’t wear a watch, or something else equally mysterious. Let’s call it sometime between 4 and 5:00AM.
Mobile phone signals — despite there being a Telstra tower less than a kilometre north of Bells Camp, then another in Mount Magnet, the first time Milne’s mobile phone registered signal (including the sending of several pre-written text messages) was in Wubin, the closest tower to Paynes Find at the time, some three hundred kilometres south.
CCTV — the BP service station in Mount Magnet, which happens to be on the major T-junction travelling from Sandstone, has no record of Graham Dudley Milne for that day.
GPS — Milne’s device conveniently has a fault, causing it to intermittently activate. Otherwise he kept it switched off.
10:17 — Milne’s GPS mysteriously activates, five kilometres north of Paynes Find – travelling south – along the Paynes Find to Sandstone Road, the road he had denied travelling along. This is the first substantiated timestamp. Distance from origin: less than 200kms (or 330kms if via Mount Magnet). Time from origin: 5-6hrs.
11:10 — GPS locates Graham Dudley Milne at a truck-stop south of Paynes Find, where he stayed for two hours. Distance from origin: more than 250kms (or 380 via MM). Time from origin: 6 to 9hrs.
14:12 — Wubin telephone tower records mobile signal (those several pre-written text messages then finally sent). Distance from origin: more than 400kms (or 530kms). Time from origin: more than 10hrs.
17:13 — his GPS activates 30kms north of Bindoon. Distance from origin: more than 550/680kms. Time from origin: more than 12hrs.
18:30 — Gingers Roadhouse captures Milne on CCTV. Distance from origin: more than 600/730kms. Time from origin: more than 13hrs.
20:17 — Milne arrived home according to GPS. Distance from origin: more than 666kms. Time from origin: 15-16hrs.
Sincere apologies. Even I, a deep lover of facts and statistics, understand how boring that was. Let me put it another way for you. Graham Dudley Milne travelled home that day, and regardless of whether he travelled via the gravel road or the bitumen road, or indeed some other mysterious method . . .there is a major, unknown, dark time-slot of that morning. His story insists that he left in the early hours of the morning to travel home via a safe route, to ensure a timely arrival. Yet it still took him more than fifteen hours. And, there is a window of somewhere between two and four hours of that morning unaccounted for, regardless of direction travelled.
When confronted why he did not show in the Mount Magnet BP service station CCTV that morning, Milne’s response was that he “must have driven around the back”, implying that after having already driving for then more than two hours, and another seven or more hours drive ahead of him, he took less than a fifty metre, or ten second shortcut around the back of a service station in order to dodge one single stop sign.
Excuse me while I slap my palm hard against my face.
Then, when confronted with his GPS activating on the gravel Paynes Find to Sandstone Road that he insisted he didn’t travel along, he suggested that he had momentarily travelled back along that road toward camp, from the southerly direction, then was embarrassed to admit it to Police because it made him “look like an idiot”. The response to that statement is best put by the one and only, State Coroner Ros Fogliani:
185. Mr Milne testified that he did not initially disclose this short trip up and back down the Paynes Find-Sandstone Road to police when asked about the route home, because he was embarrassed and it made him look like an idiot. Self-evidently looking like an idiot was the least of the concerns facing him when being questioned about Ray and Jennie Kehlet.
God I love her.
Let’s just skip over the fact that his mobile did not record any signal until reaching Wubin that afternoon, despite he having pre-written several text messages in the morning that somehow did not send via the Telstra towers of Sandstone and Mount Magnet, because clearly we’re working with a criminal genius here.
So, why leave so early yet take so much time to reach your destination? And why such effort to distance yourself from this Paynes Find to Sandstone Road shortcut?
Reading the Coroner’s findings, I made that face and shoulder action you get when someone you deeply love hurts you, in two sections in particular, both relevant to this journey home. Her Honour could not substantiate either the lack of CCTV capture of Milne in Mount Magnet, nor that the person and vehicle that Marc and Gina encountered that morning was Graham Dudley Milne. My heart was broken. But, I understand why.
As detailed in a previous post, the Coroner’s Court is very different to the Criminal Court. The Coroner’s Court is strictly a scientific study of all the facts available, whereas the Criminal Court involves posturing.
Could the Coroner say with absolute, resolute confidence that Milne would not have driven around the back of the Mount Magnet service station, thereby explaining why he was not captured on CCTV. Well, no. Not 100%. Pretty bloody unlikely as it is, though.
Here’s the service station site on Google Maps. Have a look, then zoom out. One hundred and fifty kilometres directly east is Sandstone. One hundred and fifty kilometres directly south is Paynes Find. Please explain why anyone would drive in a direct straight line for two hours, then go out of their way to avoid a stop sign by driving off road?
Here’s a thought. If the DPP ever gets the spine to take this case to Criminal Court, why not run this scenario utilising the full posturing playbook. I’ll even nominate myself to assist. If any prosecutor is reading this, let it be known that I, Dave Kehlet, youngest brother of Ray Kehlet, hereby solemnly swear to enact this scene with you in court:
I am serious, Your Honour.
Now, could the Coroner decisively confirm that the man seen by Marc and Gina that morning travelling south—not north—on the Paynes Find to Sandstone shortcut was Graham Dudley Milne? Well . . .I guess . . .not. But it should. The Coroner has outlined her reasoning in section 163 of the findings. The reasons are mostly centred around their description of the trailer, and how it does not match the Police’s photographs and evidence of Milne’s own personal trailer.
But, here’s yet another hole. During the inquest, when Marc and Gina were giving their witness statements, they were adamant that it was not the same trailer as shown to them by police, yet definitely the same man. A particular lawyer present went out of his way to grill them in these regards. Marc and Gina have nothing to gain and nothing to hide from their encounter. In fact, they have put themselves well and truly out of their way and in harm to provide statements and evidence. They could have easily agreed, but instead stood steadfast on what they witnessed.
It turns out that the Police never investigated the idea that Milne could have begged, borrowed, stolen or hired a different trailer for that March 2015 prospecting trip. So, it was dismissed as insurmountable evidence.
Marc and I spoke over the phone many months after the inquest. We determined that the location he had passed the man that morning was directly out on the gravel shortcut from where Ray and Jennie were camped. The person must have driven out the southern track at Bells Camp then turned south and pulled over to check . . .something. Marc sent me details of the type of trailer it was that he saw. A Southern Cross type with a solid rack on top that could accommodate a quad parked in any direction. One that has a large toolbox mounted at the front, big enough to hold a small family inside. Marc believes someone was in that large toolbox, that that man was intently checking that morning. And he will regret for as long as he lives that he did not stop and teach that malevolent arsehole some outback manners.
I hope Marc and Gina find solace in the understanding that no one could have known what had happened and what was to happen that day. I hope that they breathe deep of saltbush in the dry heat, and eucalypts after the rain, and savour those moments instead.
And I also hope that one day we will find this mystery outback location that Graham Dudley Milne has actively distanced himself from for all these years.
I believe we will.
Never. Give. Up.
Hi Dave I have a suggestion, if we could speak.
Has a cadaver dog been tried in search attempts?