On a cool December morning in 1948, beachgoers discovered a well-dressed man slumped against the seawall at Somerton Park Beach, Adelaide. He carried no identification, wore clothes stripped of labels, and seemed to have died peacefullyâyet everything about his end was deeply unsettling.
A hidden scrap of paper in his fob pocket read âTamĂĄm Shudâ (âIt is finishedâ), torn from the final page of a rare New Zealand edition of the RubĂĄiyĂĄt of Omar KhayyĂĄm. When that missing book turned up with a handwritten code and a phone number inside the back cover, it deepened the mystery rather than solved it.
Initial Discovery
At 6:30 am on December 1, 1948, two trainee jockeys spotted the man lying face-up on the sand. He wore a suit, polished shoes, and a half-smoked cigarette tucked into his lapel. Witnesses had seen him motionless on the same spot the previous evening, but no one realized he was dying.
Autopsy and Unsettling Findings
Dr. John Dwyerâs post-mortem found no visible trauma, yet noted congestion of internal organs, a massively enlarged spleen, and signs consistent with poisoningâthough no toxin could be detected. His last meal, a meat-and-potato pasty, yielded no clues to his identity or cause of death.
The Suitcase at Adelaide Station
On January 14, 1949, a brown suitcase with its label removed was recovered from the Adelaide Railway Station cloakroom. Inside were clothes, toiletries and toolsâamong them a tie and laundry bag tagged âT. Keane,â plus a rare orange thread that matched repairs on the manâs trousers. The link to his fate remained elusive.
TamĂĄm Shud and the Missing RubĂĄiyĂĄt
Months after his burial, police found the torn page reading âTamĂĄm Shud.â A public appeal unearthed the book, whose back cover bore faint pencil indentations: a local nurseâs phone number and a jumble of letters. Both leads fizzled when the nurse, Jessica Thomson, denied any connection.
Coded Clues and the Nurse Connection
Under UV light, the back cover codeââWRGOABABDâŚSAMSTGABââremains undeciphered. Jessica Thomson fainted when shown a plaster cast of the dead manâs face but never admitted knowing him. No definitive link has ever been established.
Theories and Speculation
Espionage: Cold War context and undetectable poisons point to a spy hit.
Suicide: âIt is finishedâ may have been a final message.
Accident or Murder: A staged scene could mask foul play.
Despite decades of debate, every hypothesis leaves gaps.
DNA and Modern Investigations
In 2022, genealogists using DNA from hair fragments proposed the man was Carl âCharlesâ Webb, a Melbourne engineer born in 1905. South Australia Police have yet to confirm, and the case remains officially unsolved.
After more than 70 years, the Somerton Manâs identity and the meaning of âTamĂĄm Shudâ endure as one of Australiaâs most haunting puzzlesâproof that some secrets are deeper than any grave.