Australia's first undercover cop revealed

 

'THE SHADOW' OUR FIRST UNDERCOVER COP

David Ellis

FOR those with a fascination for whodunits, an exhibition called Breakers: The Dying Art of Safe Breaking that opens at Sydney's Justice & Police Museum this month, will give a captivating introduction to Australia's undoubtedly most extraordinary police officer ever – our first under-cover operative, Frank 'The Shadow' Fahy.

For thirty years Fahy lived an-almost Boy's Own Adventure lifestyle of constant disguises from tramp and drunk, to fruit barrow-boy and travelling knife-sharpener. He even lived out of the side-car of a disguised police motor-cycle on occasion, as he mingled amongst crooks from the petty to the most notorious to help bring about their downfall.

And it's said Frank Fahy was the model for Agent 13, the CONTROL agent forever staked-out in cigarette machines, clothes lockers, garbage bins and fire hydrants, in Mel Brookes' classic Get Smart – after tales of The Shadow's bizarre exploits were revealed and flashed around the world's Press on his retirement in 1952…

It was a gang of safe-breakers from Italy, Giovanni Lucci, Alberto Borri and Geioli Martini whose raid on the Union Bank in Sydney in August 1926 was thwarted by The Shadow, that the Justice & Police Museum features in its new exhibit.

After a series of raids on banks in 1926, Frank Fahy disguised as a vagrant, hung around a near-city factory complex and watched the three Italian suspects hand-making tools he believed were for safe-breaking. None of the trio suspected the dishevelled "vagrant" wandering in and out of the factories was in fact a police officer, and one day Fahy heard them mention renting an office above the Union Bank in Castlereagh Street.

He quickly informed his seniors, and when police raided that office several nights later, they found a hole cut in the floor – and the gang working on the safe in the bank below. All were arrested, served three years in prison, and Lucci and Martini were deported back to Italy on release.

Frank Fahy was a probationary constable in the 1920s when a Sergeant (later Police Commissioner) William MacKay had the idea of using undercover officers to replace not-always trustworthy civilian informers. MacKay chose Fahy as his prototype "shadow officer," because slim and just 73kg (11 stone 7 pounds) he hardly cut the burly copper image.

Fahy quickly fell into the role, mostly dressing down as unkempt and dishevelled, shaving irregularly and easily mixing with others who lived on the streets, as well as on-the-run bank-robbers, drug-dealers, burglars, prison escapees and even murderers. So much so that he was often told to "move on" by uniformed police, and even received a "warning bashing" by an over-zealous detective said to have "had the biggest hands in the Force…"

He gave himself the street name Jimmy Perkins and on occasion carried around a dummy cockatoo in a cage, further convincing everyone he was befriending – including notorious bank-robber and serial prison escapee Darcy Dugan, sly-grogger and cocaine dealer Kate Leigh and major brothel operator Tilly Devine – that he was simply a harmless madman.

And he dreamed-up such bizarre accessories to assist his work as a 4m long periscope to look into upstairs windows, and a unique double-sided suit for when tailing suspects: if he thought they feared they were being followed by a man in a blue suit, he would find somewhere to quickly whip it off, turn it inside out, re-dress and throw them off-guard as "someone else" in a grey suit…

The Shadow spent long periods away from home, getting around and spying on criminals in the pride of his collection of gadgets and gizmos – a police motor-cycle with sidecar that had been given a souped-up engine and muffled exhaust, but also deliberately battered-up and with a drab paint job that bore signs "SCISSORS GROUND," and with which he could trail the fastest of quarries unsuspected.

And he would spend hours curled up in a foetal position in the covered sidecar watching and photographing those he was staking-out…

Frank 'The Shadow' Fahy spent 30 years in his amazing undercover role, retiring in 1952. He died in 1978 aged 82.

Breakers: The Dying Art of Safe Breaking opens at the Sydney Justice & Police Museum, corner of Albert and Phillip Streets, Circular Quay, on October 18. Details: info@sydneylivingmuseums.com.au

PHOTO CAPTIONS:


[] RARE photograph of Frank 'The Shadow' Fahy who spent 30 amazing years as Australia's first undercover police officer; the book by Vince Kelly about his extraordinary life was published in 1954. (Craig Stanton)

[] FRANK Fahy in his official uniform which he seldom wore. (Justice & Police Museum)

[] SAFEBREAKER Giovanni Lucci: 'The Shadow's' clever undercover work trapped Lucci and his gang robbing the Union Bank in Sydney in 1926. (State Records NSW)

[] WRENCH used by Giovannia Lucci and his Italian gang to try to break into the Union Bank's safe – 'The Shadow' Frank Fahy had seen them making the tool while he posed as a drunken vagrant regularly wandering past their factory. (Jessica Maurer for Sydney Living Museums)

[] BIZARRE photo published in Sydney newspapers at the behest of Police in 1933 to show that detectives didn't need to look like typical burly coppers. Frank 'The Shadow' Fahy is 3rd from right. (NSW Police Forensic Photography Archives, Sydney Living Museums)

 

Struth! Quantum of the Seas makes history - backwards

IN his continuing search for the more weird, wacky and wondrous in the world of travel, David Ellis says one of Germany's biggest shipyards is an amazing 42km inland, so ships that have been built there since 1795 have had to make the long slow and winding journey all that way downriver through fields and farmlands to the open sea.

And they do it backwards, because it's easier for tugs to manoeuvre them that way.

Meyer Werft has been building ships at its inland yard for over 200 years to avoid the impact wild North Sea storms can have on those yards on the coast, the latest being Quantum of the Seas for Royal Caribbean International that launched just last month.

At 168,666 tonnes and with berths for 4,900 passengers, it was the biggest ship ever to make its journey down the River Ems from the Meyer Werft yard. In places there was just over one metre leeway between ship and shore, in others power lines had to be re-routed because of the vessel's enormous size, and even bridges removed in others – including one carrying the main railway line linking Germany with Holland.

Quantum of the Seas cost US$1b and is now in Holland for sea trials. It will begin its cruising career with a sailing from America to the Caribbean in November.

THEY SAID IT: YOU can't build a reputation on what you're going to do. (Henry Ford)

Is it Safe to Visit Jordan?

We Meet At The Olive Tree

By Jon Killpack


Bombarded daily by images of a violent interpretation of Islam, Islamophobia is digging deeper into many Western nations.

Fear creates a chasm of distrust that keeps us far from one another. Even before we look across to the other side, we associate the other with the images we’ve seen on the news. We assume ill intent; “They want to harm us.”

When the only thing crossing that rift are weapons, we need an alternative.

Our suggestion: Have a real experience with a Muslim. Take back the ground that fear has settled into. You may be unsure if now is the time to travel in the Middle East. As an American currently living in Jordan, I can say that while the Western media often clumps it in their discussions of a tumultuous region, Jordan remains a safe destination full of welcoming people.

This Fall, Westerners and Arabs are together taking back some of that ground. Shoulder to shoulder, they will be hand harvesting olives on a local Jordanian farm. The olive branch has long symbolized peace. When we join in the symbolic gesture of picking olives side-by-side, we bridge a gap that has kept us from trusting one another. When we commit to compassionately identifying with others and make ourselves available to have real experiences with Muslims, we take back ground that was given to fear.

After picking olives together, we share a lunch with our hosts and enter into an Arabic tradition, the “bread and salt” contract: if we have eaten together we have become friends; I will stand with you when problems arise.

If you are hungry for inspiration instead of fear, we invite you to gather around a tree and hand pick olives with local Arabs.

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing, and rightdoing, there is a field. I will meet you there.” – Rumi

Source: Engaging Cultures

World Heritage and Sustainable Tourism in Panama

Celebrating the Centennial of the Panama Canal

October 28 – November 5, 2014 (9 days)

Download itinerary  Download Altruvistas booking form

Ethical Traveler and AltruVistas present World Heritage and Sustainable Tourism in Panama: Celebrating the Centennial of the Panama Canal, a journey to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the completion of the Panama Canal and to celebrate the country’s Independence Day. Along the way, we meet and speak with locals, NGOs and government organizations to gain a broad understanding of contemporary Panama’s economic and sustainable development policies that make this country one of Central America’s most stable and prosperous nations.

Renowned as one of the most complex engineering feats in the world, the completion of the Panama Canal in 1904 served as a passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and greatly reduced passenger and cargo vessel sailing time while significantly increasing trade between the two hemispheres. A highlight of our journey is a full-day cruise on the Panama Canal, traveling from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean on the same day. Additionally, we meet with representatives of the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) to learn the complex political history of the Canal’s construction and its current and future development plans.

Leading up to the country’s Independence Day celebrations, we speak with local historians and groups to gain a first hand understanding of the city’s Spanish colonial history, independence from Columbia, and its emergence as a financial hub for the region. Some of the groups we’re scheduled to meet include, Arco Properties and San Felipe Inmobiliaria to learn about the master plan to restore and preserve Casco Viejo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site; Fundacion Calicanto’s CAPTA (Capacitacion para el Trabajo) project, a vocational program training local women for the hotel and tourism industry; and Aprojusan (Asosiacion Pro Juventud de San Felipe), an organization focused on social services for youth. Also on our agenda is a meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Tourism to discuss the impact of the tourism industry in Panama.

Our tour completes with a guided hike through Soberania National Park, a tropical rainforest bordering the Panama Canal watershed and visiting Fundacion Avifauna Eugene Eisenman Panama, home to almost 1,000 species of birds.

Co-sponsored* by Ethical Traveler and AltruVistas, World Heritage and Sustainable Tourism in Panama, Celebrating the Centennial of the Panama Canal, adheres to the highest responsible tourism practices and aims to support and economically benefit local communities we visit while concurrently promoting cross-cultural understanding between visitors and locals.

Tour Prices:

10-12 participants | $2810 per person

13-16 participants | $2700 per person

Single rooms are available for an additional $500. If you are a single traveler, we will try to match you with another solo traveler of the same sex for twin share accommodations.

Group Size:

10-16 participants

Register for tour:

Please download and complete AltruVistas’ booking form then return the completed registration form with your deposit to AltruVistas. If you have any questions about the tour or registration process, please contact Malia Everette.

For pictures of Ethical Traveler’s past trips, please visit Facebook page.

Source: Ethical Traveler

Struth! Great American Beer Festival a sell out

IN his continuing search for the more weird, wacky and wondrous in the world of travel, David Ellis says that when tickets went on sale for last weekend's Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colorado all 50,000 sold out in 30 minutes.

In its 33rd year the Festival boasts of being the biggest celebration of beer in the United States, with 700 breweries giving away tens of thousands of 1oz tasting samples of many of the 3,500 labels of every conceivable type of beer that they were also selling in regular size glasses.

Many also hosted lecture sessions on brewing, history, beer-and-food matching and anything else to do with the amber stuff, including the opportunity to meet the brewers.

As well the American Homebrewer's Association that boasts 43,000 members, had a stand offering advice to novices and seasoned home-brewers alike on how to make a top-drop at home for fun and to save.

Although the Great American Beer Festival was held from Thursday to Saturday, hotels, restaurants, bars, cafés, clubs and other drink outlets across Denver also hosted a huge range of events throughout the whole week… from beer dinners to rare beer tastings, beer and cheese and other food pairings – and at one place a full-on American breakfast fry-up with beer every midnight for the week.

Next year's Festival will be held from September 24-26; you must be a minimum 21 years of age with photo ID to attend.  

THEY SAID IT: As I hurtled through space, one thought kept crossing my mind – every part of this rocket was supplied by the lowest bidder. (John Glenn)

Struth! The world's most expensive wobbly bridge

 

IN his continuing search for the more weird, wacky and wondrous in the world of travel, David Ellis says that within hours of the Queen in June of 2000 officially opening the first bridge across London's River Thames since the Tower Bridge in 1894, and naming it the London Millennium Bridge, locals had instantly re-dubbed it the Wibbly Wobbly Bridge – that's stuck to this day.

 

Because so wibbly wobbly was it back in 2000, that just two days after opening, the 325m long and GBP18.2m (AU$32m) structure was closed for two years for "sway dampeners" to be fitted to stop an unexpected and disconcerting lateral sway.

 

Linking the Globe Theatre and Tate Modern Museum on one side of the Thames and St Paul's Cathedral on the other, the pedestrian-only bridge quickly showed it could get up a sway whenever big numbers were crossing on it. And as these crowds would step from side to side in unison to adjust to the sway, that sway simply got bigger, and bigger and bigger…

 

After being closed for two years the Millennium Bridge is used safely and sway-free today by as many as 2000 people at any one time.

 

THEY SAID IT: "WHEN a man opens a car door for his wife, it's either a new car – or a new wife." (Prince Philip)

Henry Ford's cargo ship house

HOUSE WOULD SUIT HENRY FORD TO A T

David Ellis

WE'VE written over the years about some pretty strange things that have become people's somewhat bizarre homes, holiday retreats and even offices, amongst them a few converted passenger jets, plenty of churches, lighthouses, a couple of one-time houses of ill repute – even an ice-works and a former funeral parlour or two.

But one that got our attention in North America recently was probably the best yet in one-offs: the complete forecastle of pilot house (bridge) and the owner's and captain's quarters, as well as the deck and bow, from a-once Ford Motor Company cargo ship, and which now sits atop a little promontory on Lake Erie as the ultimate in cool-idea holiday homes.

The ship from which it came was the coal and iron-ore carrier Benson Ford, named after a grandson of the company's founder, Henry. It did sterling service across North America's Great Lakes for some 57 years – and although running aground on a couple of occasions, never suffered any major harm.

Henry Ford loved the ship as a relaxing way of visiting his factories around the Great Lakes, and to ensure his absolute in creature comforts, designed much of the vessel's walnut-lined Owner's Quarters himself, as well as a main Guests' Lounge and Bedroom, all to a degree that would do a luxury liner proud.

So grand, in fact, that local newspapers quickly defined it as "the most modern ship on the Great Lakes."

But by 1981 her days were up, and the Benson Ford was decommissioned so her name could be given to a newer ship of the Ford fleet; the hull was then re-named John Dykstra II, after the Hollywood special effects and computer genius whom George Lucas recruited to make such blockbusters as Star Wars and Spider-Man 2.

But she sailed ne'er a single nautical mile under her new name, instead languishing dockside for four years until being unexpectedly rescued by an Ohio couple – who to the surprise and bemusement of many, oxy'd-off the entire forecastle, deck and bow, and floated this strange sight 100km by barge to Put-in-Bay on Lake Erie's South Bass Island.

There the 4-storey, 20m by 20m structure was lifted by cranes to the top of a low promontory protruding into the lake, allowing its new owners to take-in the most wondrous views from their bizarre-looking new home. And by carefully positioning it with a part of the bow sticking jauntily over the promontory's edge, it gave them and their guests the impression of being aboard a ship at sea.

In 1992, six years after moving in, they applied to the local Zoning Board for permission to register their towering "shiphouse" as a Bed and Breakfast, a request that resulted in a long and costly legal battle, and which they eventually lost.

After finally conceding defeat, the couple put the place to auction in 1999, with an amazing 128 bidders from ten American States and Canada registering interest. The successful bidders were an Ohio father and son, Jerry and Bryan Kasper who've turned it today into a holiday retreat most of us could only fantasise about.

For wanting to maintain the original Henry Ford ambience, they've recreated much of the lavishness of the Ford era, the polished walnut panels glowing once-more, and rich button-stitched leather and other elaborate furnishings of his time its highlights throughout.

There are also Ford-era mementoes, curios and photographs, as well as antiques that are a nod to the inventiveness of Ford's good friend Thomas Edison, who once sailed with him aboard the Benson Ford.

The Kasper's have also renovated dining and sleeping areas including creating a yester-year family room, put full-size baths into ensuites attached to each of five refurbished guest bedrooms, added a bar adjacent to the refurbished dining-  and living-room, and a library… and as their only concession to the 21st century, modernised the kitchen to state-of-the-art.

And while many of these areas take-in expansive views of Lake Erie, it's from the pilot house atop the four-storey forecastle that the Kasper's and personal guests can take-in wondrous million-dollar sunset views across the lake, and their shore-side surrounds below them.

And they've returned the name Benson Ford to the bow: were he around today, it would doubtless suit old Henry to a T.

                                                            ……………………

PHOTO CAPTIONS:

 

[] ONE of the more unusual in holiday retreats, a complete cargo ship's forecastle. (Jerry Kasper)

[] THE Benson Ford as she originally sailed on America's Great Lakes for the Ford Motor Company. (Ford Motor Company)

[] FROM ashore you can see how the complete forecastle was cut off and relocated.  (Jerry Kasper)

[] THE luxurious leather and walnut lounge. (Jerry Kasper)

[] HOME comforts of the spacious master bedroom as originally designed by Henry Ford. (Jerry Kasper)

[] HENRY Ford at the wheel of his twenty millionth vehicle, a Model A in April 1931. It is now on display at the Henry Ford Museum at Dearborn, Michigan. (Henry Ford Museum)

   

 

Bowral Tulip Time a bloomin' success

TIP-TOE-ING BOWRAL'S 100,000 TULIPS

David Ellis



ADA Corbett would doubtless get a kick out of seeing what's become today of a one-time paddock in the Southern Highlands of NSW that she wrote of in 1929 as "a tip for old tins, dead cats and a blot on Bowral..."

For that old paddock is now a Southern Highlands' showpiece public park – and home to this month's annual Tulip Time Festival that's grown into one of Australia's most successful gardening events.

So successful that in the two weeks between this September 16th and 28th some 35,000-plus visitors will flock into the Southern Highlands for this now-renowned Festival with its centre-piece 100,000 flowering tulips and 25,000 specially-planted flowering annuals.

The wife of a Royal Navy Commander who spent long periods away from home, Ada Corbett was a feisty lady who never took No for an answer, peppering the press and politicians – in particular the-then Minister for Lands – with proposals from the early 1900's for that disused paddock to be turned into a "carpet square of beauty, a recreation resort and garden, and with a bandstand in its centre…"

And even though the Lands Minister had several times told her that there was no purpose in him visiting Bowral, when Ada finally brow-beat him into doing so in 1911, he confided to she and her hard-working supporters, that he was, in fact, "very favourably impressed."

So much so that on his return to Sydney, he decided that if Ada's committee could raise the first 150 then-pounds of the 410 pounds required to buy the paddock, his Department would fund the balance – a major departure from the government norm of pound-for-pound raised publicly.

After a feverish campaign to get that 150 pounds, Ada finally in late 1911 led the work herself on clearing the paddock of its straggly trees, native weeds and grasses… and those old tins and cat carcases. She also talked the Sydney Botanical Gardens into donating scores of shrubs for the new park, which she suggested be named "The King's Park" or "Edward Park" after the late King.

And while greatly admired by most for her physical involvement, as well as being secretary of the park committee, Ada Corbett's feisty nature made her many an enemy also. Some complained openly of a lack of public consultation over plans for the park after the public had put so much money into it, while others alluded to Ada being somewhat tardy in her book-keeping practices…

And when the park was finally opened in December 1914 – 100 years ago this year – local MLA Mr F.A. Badgery officially opening and naming it "Corbett Gardens," it sent some of Ada's critics into near-apoplexy.

Forty years later in October 1958 Bowral's first "Festival of Flowers" was staged at Corbett Gardens, but foundered just two years later from lack of funds. The local Rotary Club came to its rescue in 1961, donating 500 tulip bulbs that were planted by Rotarians and other service club members in Corbett Gardens, in so-doing launching Bowral's first Tulip Time.

This year's will be the 54th such Festival, with 100,000 tulips in flower in Corbett Gardens and other public areas in Bowral, Moss Vale and Mittagong – after having taken a team of twelve gardeners ten days to plant back in April.

The Festival will also feature a huge supporting program ranging from some near-40 of the Highlands' most extraordinarily spectacular private and institutional gardens open to public viewing (small entry fees go to charities,) a street parade, billy cart derby, street markets, and the Finals Cook-off for the now-famous Battle of the Bangers creative sausage competition.

For a detailed program: www.tuliptime.net.au


FOOTNOTE: Ada Corbett left Bowral in 1912 and never saw her finished park. She died on Norfolk Island in 1943 aged 82 – writing to a Bowral friend some years before her death: "I worked very hard to perfect my idea for the benefit of all of Bowral. Now I am more than repaid (as) my work is appreciated at last; I can forgive all the unkindness, insults and worry. Some day I hope to sit in Corbett Gardens and enjoy an hour there, and think of the time it was the tip for old tins, dead cats and a blot on Bowral..."

Sadly she never realised that hope.




PHOTO CAPTIONS:



[] BOWRAL'S first-time Tulip Festival in Corbett Gardens 1961. (Destination Southern Highlands)

[] STREET parade to celebrate 1961's first-ever Bowral Tulip Time. (Destination Southern Highlands)

[] TULIP Time more recently… (Destination Southern Highlands)

[] CROWDS enjoy the spectacular colours of Tulip Time in Bowral's Corbett Gardens. (Dee Kramer)

[] HISTORIC Milton Park Country House & Spa's gardens dating back to the early 1900s are amongst a near-40 private and institutional open to the public during Tulip Time. (Milton Park Country House & Spa)

[] BOWRAL has come a long way since its settlement in the early 1800s. (Destination Southern Highlands)



FOR WEEK BEGINNING 08 SEPTEMBER 2014