1963 Newspaper Articles

The Age, 02 Jan 1963

Mystery Surrounds Death of Scientist, Woman

Sydney, Tuesday. -- Detectives are mystified about the deaths of a C.S.I.R.O. scientist and a woman whose semi-nude bodies were found in thick scrub in a North-Shore suburb today by two boys.

A postmortem examination tomorrow is hoped to reveal if the couple were murdered.

Both were married, with children, and were last seen together at a New Year's eve party late last night.

The scientist, Dr. Gilbert Stanley Bogle, 38, of Turramurra, married, with four children, was a specialist in solid-state physics with the C.S.I.R.O. and a former New Zealand Rhodes scholar.

The woman was Mrs. Margaret Chandler, 29, of Croydon, married with two children. Her husband, Dr. J. Chandler, is an experimental officer with the C.S.I.R.O. radio-physics department.

The police inquiry began this morning when two teenage boys found the bodies while walking along the banks of the Lane Cove River, near Fuller's Bridge, Chatswood.

Second Body

They told police they first saw Dr. Bogle's body. He was lying face down, close to a dirt track bordering the river bank.

He was naked except for his shorts, socks and shoes.

His trousers, neatly folded, were placed over his legs.

The boys ran to a nearby kiosk and the proprietor rang the police.

Chatswood police were examining the body when they stumbled across the body of Mrs. Chandler. She was lying on her back in a shallow depression about 13 yards from Bogle.

She was covered with cardboard cartons, bushes and old newspapers. She was wearing a dress which was rolled around her waist.

No Marks

Detectives were notified and after inspecting papers found in Dr. Bogle's clothing they placed a guard on a small sedan parked near the scrub.

They found a number of other personal papers in the car which are believed to have belonged to Dr. Bogle.

Police questioned dozens of nearby residents and holiday makers who were camped only a few yards from the spot where the bodies were found.

Later, a Government medical officer, Dr. Brighton, made an on-the-spot examination of the bodies.

He said there were no external marks of violence of any description on the bodies.

No Struggle

The mystery was further depend when no evidence of a struggle or disturbance in the area was found.

Police believe the couple died about four or five hours before they were discovered this morning.

They were last seen at a party about midnight and police are trying to trace their movements since then.

Neighbors described Mrs. Chandler as being very pleasant and well spoken.

They said she was attractive with dark hair almost to her shoulders. The most notable feature about her was her beautiful white teeth.

She dressed neatly, frequently in shorts.

Brilliant Scholar

The Chandlers had spent about a year in Melbourne returning to Sydney about nine months ago.

Dr. Bogle was leading a team of research workers in a special project in the C.S.I.R.O. division of physics in Sydney.

He was a principal research officer with the division which is attached to the National Standards Laboratory.

His colleagues acclaimed him as an expert on paramagnetic research which deals with solid-state physics.

Dr. Bogle came to the division six years ago from New Zealand with a brilliant record.

He was a Rhodes Scholar, a doctor of philosophy from Oxford University, a master of science and a master of arts.


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02 Jan 1963, Sydney Morning Herald



Deaths After Party Puzzle Detectives

Poison May Have Killed Couple on Riverbank

Police believe that poison killed a scientist and a young housewife whose bodies were found beside the Lane Cover River at Chatswood yesterday.

Detectives have found no evidence of a third person having been present.

Last night they sought answers to three vital questions:

・What poison killed the couple?

・Who administered the poison?

・How was it administered?

"Seemed Happy"

The dead scientist was Dr. Gilbert Bogle, 38, of Warragal Road, Turramurra, a specialist in solid state physics with the C.S.I.R.O.

He was married with four children, the youngest of whom is aged four months.

The dead woman was Mrs. Margaret Chandler, 29, of Cromwell Street, Croydon, mother of two children, and a former C.S.I.R.O. employee.

Her husband, Mr.Geoffery Chandler, is an experimental officer in the C.S.I.R.O. Division of Radiophysics.

Detectives are puzzled by these aspects of the case:

・The deaths occurred soon after a party at which both Dr. Bogle and Mrs.Chandler are reported to have seemed in a happy mood.

・Detectives who examined the area around the bodies found no evidence that a third person had been present.

Police were told that Dr. Bogle was to have gone to the United States in about a fortnight to take up a research post with the Bell Telephone Laboratory.

Dr. Bogle, Mrs. Chandler and Mr. Chandler were guests at an all-night New Year party in Waratah Street, Chatswood.

Widow Daughter of Bishop

According to police Mrs. Bogle did not attend the party because she was nursing her young baby. Mrs.Bogle is the daughter of a former Bishop of Wellington (N.Z.), the Right Rev. E. J. Rich.

The host at the party, Mr. Kenneth Nash, a C.S.I.R.O. photographer, said it was a "festive and happy occasion."

He said Dr. Bogle and Mrs. Chandler were happy and "certainly not adversely affected by liquor."

Police have established that Dr. Bogle and Mrs. Chandler left the party soon after daybreak, which occurs about 3:45 a.m.

Boys Find Body

Just before 9 a.m. two boys on their way to search for golf balls at nearby Chatswood golf course found Dr. Bogle's body.

The boys, Michael McCormick, of Fourth Avenue, Bradfield Park, and Dennis Wheway, of West Street, Hillview, told a kiosk proprietor, who notified the police.

Detectives found Mrs. Chandler's body about 17 yards from Dr. Bogle's and covered with beer cartons.

The bodies were in bush about 50 yards from Fuller's Bridge, off a track leading to Lane Cove National Park.

Dr. Bogle's car was about 150 yards away.

Underfelt on Body

Dr. Bogle wore only shirt, shoes and socks. His blue-grey suit, neatly folded, was beside his shoulders. A piece of under felt partly covered his body.

Mrs. Chandler's clothing was disarranged.

A doctor gave the opinion that Dr. Bogle had been dead three or four hours.

Mrs. Chandler, he said, could have died an hour before her body was found.

Police said there were no injuries on Dr. Bogle's body. Mrs.Chandler had only slight abrasions to the nose.

Police believe that after Dr. Bogle collapsed Mrs. Chandler crawled 17 yards away from him, then collapsed herself.

They base this belief on marks in the sodden grass and mud stains on clothing.

Close to Dr. Bogle's body police found evidence that two persons hash been ill.

C.I.B. scientific experts took samples of soil and other specimens for tests.

Post-mortem examinations will be held today.

Mrs. Bogle telephoned police when her husband failed to arrive home.

Widow Feared Road Accident

She told them she feared a road accident.

She collapsed when police later informed her of her husband's death.

A policewoman went to the Chandler home and took charge of the two Chandler children, the younger of whom is aged nine months.

Mr.Chandler was distraught when told of his wife's death at Chatswood Police Station.

He told police his wife was devoted other family.

Close Friend of Dead Man

Mr. Chandler said he did not know why anyone would want to kill either his wife or Dr. Bogle, who was his close friend.

The Chief Superintendent of the C.I.B., Mr.R.Walden, is directing the investigation of the deaths.

Others on the case include the superintendent of detectives at the C.I.B., Mr.A.E. Windsor, Superintendent A.E.Winter, Detective-Inspector E. Freeman, Detective-Inspector R. Watson, and Detective-Sergeants K. Paul, H. Parsons, M.Carmody and K. Bevan.


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02 Jan 1963, Sydney Morning Herald


Associates Say Dead Man Had Brilliant Future

Associates of Dr. Bogle said last night he was an outstanding scientist and had a brilliant future.

Born in New Zealand, Dr.Bogle graduated as a Bachelor of Science at Victoria University, Wellington, in 1944.

Later he became a Master of Science and a Master of Arts.

He gained a college blue in athletics and was a keen swimmer.

In 1946 he was awarded a Rhodes scholarship and went to Oxford University where he did research at the Clarendon Laboratory for five years into atom crystal structure.

He gained his doctorate of philosophy in physics.

When he returned to New Zealand, Dr. Bogle became Lecturer in Physics at Otago University, Dunedin, from 1952 to 1956.

While in Dunedin he was well liked by his university colleagues who regarded him as a stimulating person.

Dr. Bogle married Miss Vivien Rich, daughter of the Right Reverend E.J. Rich, former Anglican Bishop of Wellington.

Mrs. Bogle liked living in Dunedin and was believed to be not keen to go to Australia.

Dr. Bogle was a brother of A.G. Bogle, Professor of Electrical Engineering at Auckland University, also a Rhodes scholar.

He came to Australia in 1956 and joined the C.S.I.R.O. where he worked in the physics department at the National Standards Laboratory, Sydney.

He was a principal research officer in the department.

Dr.Bogle recently accepted a two-year research position with the Bell Telephone Co in America and had planned to leave for America in about a month.

Colleagues said his research in solid state physics had won him a high reputation.

He had several scientific papers published, including onion the properties of solid matter in the presence of magnetic fields.

The chief of the physics division of the National Standards Laboratory, Dr. R.G. Giovanelli, said Dr. Bogle was a "very outstanding scientist."


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