Blue Murder On The Golden Mile — Part Two

Part two of the five-part Forgotten Australia miniseries 'Blue Murder on the Golden Mile' delves into the harrowing discovery of the mutilated bodies of two detectives, John Joseph Walsh and Alexander Pittman, at the abandoned Miller's Find mine near Kalgoorlie in May 1926. The episode unfolds through the eyes of Detective Sergeant Grenville Perdue and his team, who confront the gruesome aftermath of a brutal double murder involving dismemberment and attempted incineration. The investigation is complicated by a lack of clear evidence, a wave of public hysteria, and a flood of wild theories—from foreign conspiracies to spiritualist visions. Amid the chaos, the police follow tire tracks, uncover a hidden illicit gold-processing plant, and identify key suspects: Philip Trephine, William Coulter, and Evan 'Teddy' Clark, all linked to the goldfields and previously targeted by the murdered detectives. The episode culminates in a tense buildup to a planned raid on the Duke of Cornwall Hotel, where the suspects are expected to be apprehended. The narrative is grounded in meticulous archival research, particularly through Ancestry.com.au, which helps reconstruct the lives and movements of key figures, including the heroic miner Billy Batten and the controversial anthropologist Daisy Bates, whose racist and unfounded claims are dismissed by authorities.