The death of Dr Duncan by Tim Reeves

10 May 2022 is the 50th anniversary of the murder of Dr Ian Duncan, drowned in the River Torrens that runs through Adelaide, an anniversary commemorated in 2022 with an oratorio ‘Watershed’ created for the Adelaide Festival. Reeves’ book details the events of the night, the investigations, and the aftermath, in a succinct retelling that reads like a detective story bringing all the pieces of evidence together. It soon becomes apparent that there was a gross failure of justice to apprehend and convict those guilty, a failing that was rooted in the homophobia of the time, and the corruption of the police force.

Nowadays, Duncan’s death is commemorated with memorials and a law scholarship, as his case is recognised as a turning point in attitudes towards homosexuality, capturing the attention of the general public, and raising awareness of issues of inequality and persecution. Three years after Duncan’s death, legislation was successfully passed to decriminalise homosexuality, in a first for South Australia and Australia, becoming ‘the first legislation in the English-speaking world to eliminate any distinction in the criminal law between heterosexual and homosexual, including an equal age of consent’.

With this publication, Reeves presents his research into Duncan’s life, the Duncan case (police investigation, coroner’s inquest, New Scotland Yard report, reopened case and trial), and subsequent gay law reform, and includes a pictorial record, a timeline of events, glossary and index. It is a compact volume that serves as memorial to the individual and a testament to the cruelty and corruption of a previous time, a historical record that is of value to students of law, and to the general public.

Themes: LGBQTI+, Police corruption, Human rights, Law, Murder, Unsolved crime.

Helen Eddy