| The Geddes Mystery tells the true story of Queensland pioneer William Geddes, the 'Lord of Caboolture', and the exploits of his golden boy, Goodwin Geddes - dux of Brisbane Grammar School and one of the finest surveyors in the land. After the disappearance of 21-year-old Goodwin in 1877 darkness engulfed the Geddes family. A life insurance claim added controversy to grief with rumours of fraud and conspiracy. In the search for truth a web of intrigue was spun in almost every colony in Australia and New Zealand, as well as Fiji and San Francisco, involving bungled police operations, political interference and betrayal at Parliament House. Dubbed 'the Geddes mystery' by the press, it is a story of marginal people whose colourful lives - with champagne races, dances, riding parties and regattas - are etched against a backdrop of the rich and famous: the explorer Ludwig Leichhardt, the actress Nellie Stewart, the inventor Louis Brennan, the bushranger Ned Kelly, and politicians Sir Arthur Palmer, Sir Charles Lilley, Sir Henry Ayers and the man who drafted the Australian Constitution, Sir Samuel Walker Griffith. After discovering a set of documents from the 1870s-1880s, the author Brian Jones now reveals the secrets of the Geddes mystery. By allowing the documents to speak for themselves, he tells the adventurous story of his ancestors and offers a rare glimpse of colonial life in the late 19th century. Jones is the author of Searching for Tony, an account of his brother's disappearance in Queensland in 1982 - 105 years after the mysterious disappearance of his great-grandfather Goodwin Geddes. "Never did the AMP suffer more heart-burning than that experienced after one of its Queensland members disappeared. William Goodwin Geddes Junior vanished on the fringe of the Pacific Ocean...It was the most sensational case in the early history of the Society." Professor Geoffrey Blainey, A History of the AMP, 1999 "Fragments of this story were handed down by my great-grandmother (Edith Geddes), but I never realised my Queensland ancestors were caught up in the adventure, tragedy and intrigue revealed in The Geddes Mystery. It really bowled me over!" Simon Katich, Test cricketer, 28 May 2002 "The Geddes mystery...one of the most daring and far reaching conspiracies to which this country has given birth." Richard Teece, General Manager, AMP Society, 17 September 1889 "The Geddes family refused to accept the Sergeant's verdict, and put up such a determined front that public opinion in Queensland was divided...it was suggested that the police were trying to create a sensation where none existed." George Blaikie, Scandals in Australia's Strange Past, 1963 "A jury might find that Geddes Senior knew that his son was not dead, but it is by no means certain that they would do so." Sir Samuel Walker Griffith, Parliament House, Brisbane, 1889 |
| May be ordered direct from: Spectrum Publications Email: spectpub@ozemail.com.au Tel: +61 (03) 9429 1404 Fax: +61 (03) 9428 9407 Or ordered from these online bookstores or leading bookstores everywhere: Abebooks.com About Seniors Bookshop Andrew's Bookshop Angus & Robertson Australian Online Books Buy Australian Book City Booktopia Boomerang Books Cellarmasters:the Wine Cellar Chaos Books Coaldrake's Bookshop Collins Booksellers Dymocks Online Gould's Book Arcade Leading Edge Books Our Brisbane Bookshop Paperchain Riverbend Books SeekBooks Shearer's Bookshop University of Qld Bookshop Web Wombat Books Compare prices at GetOnce or BuyFast |
| Title: Author: Publisher: ISBN: Price: |
| The Geddes Mystery tree Brian Jones Spectrum Publications Melbourne 0867863757 $29.95 (Australian) |
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| The Geddes Mystery, a book of true crime by Brian Jones, Spectrum Publications, about William Goodwin Geddes who went missing in Caboolture, in 1877 and the search by the Queensland police and the AMP |
| Other books by Brian Jones. Searching for Tony: Profile of a Missing Person, Spectrum Publications, 1988. True story of Tony Jones, who went missing in Townsville, Queensland, in 1982. $250,000 Reward for information. New investigation. |
| Some of the characters in The Geddes Mystery include: William Goodwin Geddes Senior Susannah Geddes (nee Gurd) Richard Geddes Susannah Couldery (nee Geddes) William Henry Couldery William Goodwin Geddes Junior Henry Geddes Edith May Jones (nee Geddes) Anne Geddes Patrick Geddes John Petrie Tom Petrie Henry Lawson Thomas Archer John McConnel George Raff Claudius Buchanan Whish John Ignatius Stewart David Boustead J. W. Zillman Thomas Bryce Matthew Battersby Anthony Trollope Arthur Palmer Charles Lilley Sir Samuel Walker Griffith Beattie Sir Maurice Charles McConnell T.B. Schwabe William Fryar John Bannerman Hannah Dines Maggie Gunn Donald Gunn John Kaleski Frank Timmins Ernest H. Webb Alexander J. Ralston Richard Teece Hiram Barnes George Rewell Daniel Tapper McDonald-Paterson, Brisbane lawyer Morrice Black, AMP Bartholomew James Stubbs Mrs Barnett, Cosmopolitan Hotel, Warwick |
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| Jonathon Litherland Ann Litherland Emma Litherland Ned Kelly Lewis Adolphus Bernays George Cannon Egerton B. Barns B.J. Clune Joseph O. Bonney Thomas Bryce Sgt Thomas Atkinson Sgt Thomas Robinson A.J. Beau Inspector Lewis Nigel C. Herring Nicholas Maine Justin Fox Greenlaw Foxton W. Finucane Charles Hardie Buzacott Dr Richard Rendle Thomas L. Howell Alex S. Paterson Robert Bothwell Cameron Louis Brennan Commissioner Seymour J.A. Cockburn Sir Henry Ayres James Buyers David Carment W.J. Walker Henry James Grimshaw Alice Rewell Joseph Albert Riley Commissioner William John Peterswald Det. Edward W. Priest Dr Frederick Margetts Andrew Margetts Dr. Taylor I.R. Ross E.W. Lowe John Feldwick Walter Feldwick Stephen Henry Parker George Walpole Leake John Rowland Jones |
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| Geddis Gedis Gedes Geddys Gaddis |
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