George Raymond Houston

At about 5pm on 31 August 1974, George Raymond Houston left Lancelin on the fishing boat, Silver Lining, with skipper Wasyl (Victor) Muran to go fishing for Dhu fish.

Silver Lining was owned by Alan Walkerden, a professional fisherman of Lancelin, but had allowed Muran the use of his boat, and on the night of 31 August, there was only Houston and Muran onboard. Muran’s boat the Jodie was out of the water for maintenance and he and Walkerden had entered into agreement whereby they would share the profits from the fish caught.

Houston and Muran had known each other for some nine years, and Houston had accompanied him as a crew member on many occasions, the most recent being February and June 1974.

Houston owned a house in Lancelin, but resided in Subiaco and worked as an employee of the Metropolitan Water Board. Muran’s normal crew member, Cecil Cousins, was unavailable on 31 August, so Muran approached Houston to go out with him. They had both been seen by Alan Walkerden at the Lancelin Hotel earlier in the day before leaving for fishing, but according to him they were both sober and in good spirits.

Once at sea they headed to an area known by local fishermen as ‘the Bank’, which is in about 18 fathoms of water.

Muran stated that the boat was stopped and allowed to drift in a two to three knot north to south current. The wind at the time was NNE blowing at about five knots, causing slightly choppy seas. Visibility was good due to a nearly full moon.

At about 10.30pm a fellow fisherman, James Richard Oliver, who was the skipper onboard the fishing vessel, Revilo, along with his crewman John Francis Salvaire, called up the Silver Lining and spoke to both Muran and Houston.At this time the Revilo was positioned about five kilometres south of Wedge Island.

At around 11.45pm Muran stated that he and Houston were line fishing from the port side of the boat, Houston from near the stern, and himself from near the wheelhouse. According to Muran, Houston had replaced his line in the water, when the boat rocked to port side and Houston fell head first over the side. He disappeared under the water immediately and never resurfaced. Muran allowed the boat to drift for some ten minutes, before starting the engine in case Houston got caught up in the propellor, and continued to search with a spotlight for a further ten minutes. It was at this time that he made a distress call over the radio on both frequencies, but could not raise anyone.

He had at this time thrown a marker buoy over the side to mark the spot where Houston disappeared. Muran fired three red distress flares, one of which was sighted by the Revilo at around 1.55am, some 30 kilometres away.

Oliver attempted to contact the Silver Lining with no success, eventually establishing contact around 2.45am. Once aware of the man overboard, first radio acknowledgements were made through Broome and Carnarvon, and eventually contact with Perth and Lancelin.

The search was continued by Muran and Oliver, and about 4am Muran recovered a white towelling hat that Houston had been wearing. It had been floating partly submerged about 274 metres from where Houston disappeared.

There was an 8.5 centimetre cut through one side of the hat, which on later examination, the pathology report stated that there was no clear evidence of human or animal blood, and that the edges of the cut were clean and appeared to have been made by a sharp edge.

The search continued with four other vessels from Lancelin joining the search. Opinion was divided amongst the fishermen as to whether Houston’s body would be recovered, but against all odds, aerial and land searches were maintained at length.

At 11.15am on 1 September the search was called off as the experienced local fishermen advised the police that continuing the search would be fruitless given the over 200 square miles already searched and the calm seas and good visibility. They deemed that if Houston was on the surface, he would have been sighted by now.

As a result of inquiries made by Senior Constable Stoneman, Officer in Charge of Lancelin Police, and his subsequent report to Inspector Higgins, Divisional Officer at Wanneroo, the CIB were engaged in investigating the disappearance of George Houston, given the information supplied by Stoneman indicated that there may be suspicious circumstances surrounding his disappearance.

It appears from police records that nothing came from this investigation, and with no body, the inquiry was not a matter for the Coroner. Late in 1975 the Supreme Court of Western Australia made a finding of Presumption of Death in order for a grant of probate to be made to his family.

George Raymond Houston was born in Geraldton on 16 June 1921. A plaque was placed on the family grave, which can be found in the Utakarra Cemetery, Geraldton.

A younger brother, Walter Clarence ‘Wally’ Houston, was accidentally drowned in New Harbour aged five and the family gravesite carries headstones for him, his father and mother, George and sister, Mary Madeline Page.