Case 32: Grace & Kathleen Holmes

Casefile True Crime

Casefile Presents

True Crime, Society & Culture, History, Documentary

4.7 • 41.6K Ratings

🗓️ 4 September 2016

⏱️ 33 minutes

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Summary

After migrating from England to Australia after World War II, the Holmes family were looking forward to embracing a safer and higher quality of life. They’d experienced trauma and hardship during the war years and were ready to start afresh.

That dream was shattered on August 29, 1950, just weeks after their arrival, when 18-year-old Grace Holmes and her 11-year-old sister Kathleen went for a walk along the Canton Beach foreshore in Toukley and never returned home.

NOTE: The interviews played in this episode are a re-enactment of actual transcripts. Detective Whalen is played by Sam McCool. William Birtle is played by Craig Forest.

For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-32-grace-kathleen-holmes

Transcript

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0:00.0	The 1950s was the decade that saw the birth of the suburban dream in Australia.
0:18.4	There was a time where employment levels were extremely high and there was a very good
0:23.0	standard of living across the country.
0:25.7	The economy was booming, which is what made it so attractive for hundreds of thousands
0:29.8	of people to migrate here after World War II.
0:33.7	The home's family was one of many who moved to Australia from England after the war.
0:38.4	They came here to escape the destruction.
0:41.0	To a place they thought would be much safer and would offer a better quality of life.
1:07.8	Grace and Kathleen Holmes were sisters.
1:10.8	Grace was 18 years old.
1:12.6	Kathy was 11 years old.
1:15.0	They moved to Australia from England with their parents Eleanor and Clarence Holmes and
1:19.2	their brothers Doug and Frank Holmes.
1:21.9	They arrived here on the 27th of March 1950.
1:26.5	Clarence served in both World Wars.
1:28.9	During World War II the Holmes family lived just outside of London and were victims of
1:33.2	the German blitz, suffering from heavy bombing.
1:36.8	But they survived.
1:38.6	They lived six months huddled in a bombshell.
1:42.5	Clarence was wounded in the war and he decided to move his family to Australia for a better
1:46.6	chance in life once World War II had ended.
1:50.1	They arrived in Sydney on Grace's 18th birthday.
	...

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