Australia Australia - Marion Barter - Missing After Trip to UK - June 1997 #16

[mishy66]

You‘re thinking of NAPLAN and that was also later 2008. Queensland education department central office specialist speaking here.national curriculum was causing waves in the 90s not not Gonski or NAPLAN. Even Alan Luke‘s Productive Pedagogies model (which MB would have loved!) was around 1998).
Don’t worry I’ve passed it on the TLV team as it may not be important but then again with this case who knows?

Yes sorry just a typo

 

[VisitorDog]

It’s hard to know but regarding the medical tests - you’d think those would have as much chance of proving a person did not have underlying health issues as per the opposite. But perhaps depending on the results a different plan was considered.

 

[HinterlandObserver]

W

I’d love to know more about the woman he abandoned in Bali. And I hope that more women come forward. There must be so many more. Listening to the podcast again reminded me of the old message post looking for a man named Fernand Remakel. I don’t think the poster was ever identified but I believe now she was talking about RB and he may have scammed her under the Fernand Remakel identity. Does anyone else remember this bit in the catch up?

Where was it posted?

 

[xdfg]

Was Gonski involved in education reform before the Gonski report of 2010? I’m a teacher here too and it’s confusing.

According to Wikipedia, Gonski was looking into the film industry in 1996 and 1997. I can find no reference to his involvement in education before 2010.

" During 1996 and 1997, Gonski undertook a Review of Commonwealth Assistance to the Film Industry, presenting his report of that review in 1997. He was also a member of the committee appointed in 1998 to conduct an Inquiry into the Major Performing Arts Sector"

 

[HinterlandObserver]

According to Wikipedia, Gonski was looking into the film industry in 1996 and 1997. I can find no reference to his involvement in education before 2010.

" During 1996 and 1997, Gonski undertook a Review of Commonwealth Assistance to the Film Industry, presenting his report of that review in 1997. He was also a member of the committee appointed in 1998 to conduct an Inquiry into the Major Performing Arts Sector"

I could only find a budget which he was mentioned along with this study in for that time too.

 

[gymtonic]

I know in 1999 in Qld, we had introduced the statewide testing - I cannot remember what it was called, maybe the 'The Queensland Test?????" but I do remember administering it to my year 3's, 5's and 7's in that year and for the next few years. This was my first year as a teaching principal and rural Qld and that is why I remember it. Is this what they may have been talking about way back in 1997?

There was a lot of curriculum reform going on in all states and on the national scene in the 90s. There was a 4 or 5 year Queensland state-wide literacy and numeracy testing from around the mid 90s. In those days and pre national curriculum, education was more of a state based concern and literacy and numeracy testing along with moving towards a national curriculum approach was certainly a focus. The national curriculum assessment items were also trialled in selected schools. But both NAPLAN and Gonski came later.

PLUS and this is the main point I was making: It seems very specific reference for a non-education specialist medical Doctor to recall that name in particular In relation to consultations with MB! I mean did anyone else, apart from those in the education curriculum department (like me) sit up straight when they heard mention of Gonski? The layperson would just let it pass not thinking that the timeline was out.

 

[gymtonic]

According to Wikipedia, Gonski was looking into the film industry in 1996 and 1997. I can find no reference to his involvement in education before 2010.

" During 1996 and 1997, Gonski undertook a Review of Commonwealth Assistance to the Film Industry, presenting his report of that review in 1997. He was also a member of the committee appointed in 1998 to conduct an Inquiry into the Major Performing Arts Sector"

Yes, he was a business person who had done reviews in other areas but was commissioned to do the education review by the Rudd government in 2010 with Julia Gillard as education minister who oversaw it. the report then came out in 2011. I was in the Queensland Education Department curriculum policy area during the 90s -2000s and Gonski was not, in my memory, in parlance in Queensland education in 1997. Specifically not for a classroom teacher.

 

[sunnybree]

W

Where was it posted?

I can’t remember! On a message board of some kind. Now I’m worried I imagined it

 

[brjakj]

I found a really good scenario on MB’s return on TLV FB page: (from MN - sorry if you are in this group)
I am slowly listening to all of the new ones, so far number 1, here I hear a Mum who is worried about her daughter Sally, Threadbo disaster was giving out only the Christian names of Stuart and a Sally were trapped, now Marion message Sally on the 30th and didn,t get a reply, Think by now Panic would had set in and Marion booked herself on a flight to return to Aussie via Japan, where she rang from a pay phone and found out that Sally was okay, but decided to continue her journey and arrived home on the 2nd August. I would had thought she would had tried to contact Stuart or Owen, at the same time she first rang Sally, but what this tells you is that Marion cared about her family although she had a different name she was not going to lose touch with her family no matter what her plans were. As for Blum, he was already back in Aussie, gosh he would had panic thinking he had dumped Marion in England.

 

[HinterlandObserver]

With his life’s cons catching up with him/them… The biggest thing on my mind right now is:
Will he be so vain he needs to stay alive to get credit for his deeds now they are coming to light, or will he (and Diane?) somehow drop off the perch before justice is served to avoid their comeuppance?

He’s probably already written his book so people can know and appreciate his genius once he’s gone anyway.

MOO

 

[HinterlandObserver]

I can’t remember! On a message board of some kind. Now I’m worried I imagined it

If you remember which one we might be able to use Internet Archive: Wayback Machine to view the forum backdated before it was deleted.

 

[gymtonic]

I can’t remember! On a message board of some kind. Now I’m worried I imagined it

Was it this?
Post in thread 'Australia - Marion Barter, 51, missing after trip to UK, Jun 1997'
Australia - Australia - Marion Barter, 51, missing after trip to UK, Jun 1997

 

[gymtonic]

Another thing about the first catch up episode which I started listening to as a refresher...I thought they would correct things previously said that were incorrect. In SL’s first interview she talks about MB supposedly returning on 2 August for 3 days (something which has then been oft repeated on this forum) BUT those of us who waded through the NAA documents have seen the original arrival card which says 8 days. TLV did not correct this.

EDIT I found a link to previous posting of arrival card:

https://www.websleuths.com/forums/attachments/passengercard-jpg.222214/

 

[HinterlandObserver]

Was it this?
Post in thread 'Australia - Marion Barter, 51, missing after trip to UK, Jun 1997'
Australia - Australia - Marion Barter, 51, missing after trip to UK, Jun 1997

Looks like someone called Michelle called the real FRs house from that post.

 

[Behrnsy]

I think the wife and his real life is the missing link, imo he came back to fleece her accounts but marion came back like jo.
Interrupted his plan. Probably didn't really believe what was being told to her.
She discovered his wife and other life maybe saw some of his documents.
Confronted him last seen at his house (according to him)
He couldn't disappear she knew who he was, because she knew who his wife was.
They need to put more pressure on the wife and what she knows.
The two different accounts of her personality on the podcasts show she is just as capable of being awful too.

 

[MrsWattle]

I think the wife and his real life is the missing link, imo he came back to fleece her accounts but marion came back like jo.
Interrupted his plan. Probably didn't really believe what was being told to her.
She discovered his wife and other life maybe saw some of his documents.
Confronted him last seen at his house (according to him)
He couldn't disappear she knew who he was, because she knew who his wife was.
They need to put more pressure on the wife and what she knows.
The two different accounts of her personality on the podcasts show she is just as capable of being awful too.

What if the wife did something to Marion.? They seem to be stuck together through his life of crime. They live with the daughter who was helping catalogue at the coin shows in Ballina, She is the coin apprentice. Bali could be a place for them to launder money. Invest possibly?

 

[lrb66]

I think the wife and his real life is the missing link, imo he came back to fleece her accounts but marion came back like jo.
Interrupted his plan. Probably didn't really believe what was being told to her.
She discovered his wife and other life maybe saw some of his documents.
Confronted him last seen at his house (according to him)
He couldn't disappear she knew who he was, because she knew who his wife was.
They need to put more pressure on the wife and what she knows.
The two different accounts of her personality on the podcasts show she is just as capable of being awful too.

Yes
I imagine a scenario at the house that could explain Marion’s permanent disappearance with Mr and Mrs involved.
As for the bank and withdrawal of her funds- I would have changed my terms and conditions of my account and got my money in a lump sum if I was Marion and I believed his stories of a new life
The withdrawals at Byron Bay were testing the waters by an imposter in my opinion.
IMO

 

[Behrnsy]

What if the wife did something to Marion.? They seem to be stuck together through his life of crime. They live with the daughter who was helping catalogue at the coin shows in Ballina, She is the coin apprentice. Bali could be a place for them to launder money. Invest possibly?

I don't think they invest, I think they spend faster than it comes in, the wife said at the inquest that the children never got their inheritance, but the podcast says they got given a large sum of money, enough for a deposit on a house.
They potentially all are grifters, I am surprised the aren't saying anything house purchases leave a paper trail.

 

[poppypopcorn]

On the Suzy Cooper thing - I said at the time that Marion could not have been further apart from this lady's home town and still be in England. Kent/East Sussex are in the far south east, Cumbria is in the far north west. It's a good 8-10 hours drive, or a complex train journey involving changing stations by tube in London.

I am not surprised that these people - who had only had a fleeting connection with Marion - didn't want to speak. They had probably heard/seen the treatment which the Remakels had in Luxembourg, with a strange Australian camera crew turning up on their doorstep and basically demanding to know where they'd buried the body. And "forbidden to speak" by her husband could equally mean "we have decided as a couple that we don't want to be involved in this".

Cooperating with the police in private, if and when asked, with a lawyer present, is entirely different from giving an interview to a podcast.

have skim read lots of posts and a few other things:

1. Yes Heathrow had a manned left luggage room where you checked your stuff in and got a receipt rather then self-service lockers. This was standard practice in the UK in the 80s/90s because of the terror threat from the IRA.

2. Tunbridge Wells is indeed SE of Heathrow and not north. Colchester is more ENE than "north" but appreciate that perceptions are different when coming from overseas.

3. Marion, given her comments about getting to grips with UK driving is incredibly unlikely to have picked up a car on arrival at Heathrow airport and driven it herself. Anyone who has been to Heathrow knows that the M4/M25 junction at Heathrow is the busiest motorway in the country, 5 lanes of traffic going all directions and a challenge for anyone who isn't used to it never mind someone recently arrived from rural Australia. Far more likely that she hired a car in Kent/Sussex.

4. It really struck me that Marion told several people she intended working in England. She would have known as an experienced teacher that it's not that simple - immigration, registration with the General Teaching Council, proving your qualifications. No school worth their salt is going to employ an illegal Australian worker without a working visa. If you think you're going to BUY a school with a view to marrying a European and working there at some point in the future once you've got UK/European nationality though, that's a different matter.

 

[Carovb5]

I’d love to know more about the woman he abandoned in Bali. And I hope that more women come forward. There must be so many more. Listening to the podcast again reminded me of the old message post looking for a man named Fernand Remakel. I don’t think the poster was ever identified but I believe now she was talking about RB and he may have scammed her under the Fernand Remakel identity. Does anyone else remember this bit in the catch up?

I’ve tried looking for old posts in msm or websites about her but haven’t found anything. It’s frustrating.