William Murray Wilson

Murray Wilson (4 June 1914 – 28 September 1953) was a pilot and timber merchant from Perth, Western Australia. He was killed in 1953.

Murray was born in Claremont on 4 June 1914 to Jim and Edith Wilson.

His father had a house in Shenton Park on half an acre. It was still there, although unrecognizable, in 2005.

Murray served in the RAAF during the Second World War (service number 406376 ). His father died in June 1942, just after Murray turned 28.

For his service during the war, Murray was awarded four campaign stars (1939–45 Star, Atlantic Star, Africa Star & Clasp, and Pacific Star) and three medals (Defence Medal, War Medal 1939–45, and Australia Service Medal 1939–45).

Aircraft flown: de Havilland Tiger Moth; Avro Anson; Lockheed Hudson Mk I, II, III, V; de Havilland Dragon Rapide aka Dominie; Martin Baltimore; Bristol Blenheim Mk IV, V (aka Bisley); and Lockheed Ventura.

His crew while he was with 459 Sqadron was: Roy Woodhouse (navigator, born c.1910, also crewed with Murray at East Sale); Jack McMasters (gunner from Melbourne who possibly had 10 children); Smiles; Bill McCarthy (from the Snowy Mountains); and Rasheed (from South Australia, possibly of Syrian descent).

At some point during the war he suffered a possible fractured ankle when he fell from the rafters in a mess hall. He was off duty for 6 weeks so returned to Perth. There is a photo of him and Margaret at Safety Bay with his leg in plaster and using a walking stick.

By the early 1950s, Murray was a director in the timber firm C.M. Wilson Co Pty Ltd which was founded by his uncle Charles William McHarg Wilson and operated from premises on Troode Street in West Perth.

On the evening of Monday, September 28 1953,  just prior to a shareholders' meeting at the company offices, Murray and another director (William Ewart Livingstone) were shot dead by a former director (and current shareholder) of the company, William Charles Fawcett. The weapon was a sawn-off .303 rifle, with which Fawcett shot each of his victims once through the heart; they were both dead within minutes. Murray worked at the office, and Fawcett had waited outside in his vehicle until he saw Livingstone arrive. They were alone in the office. He had brought his rifle with him that day with the intention of killing both men.

Fawcett was seen leaving the office after the shooting and driving away, by Livingstone's daughter He went home to his wife at their home at 66 Victoria Avenue, Claremont (near Murray's home in Congdon Street, Swanbourne), told her what he had done, cleaned the gun, and (it is to be supposed) waited for the police to arrive. He was arrested either one or four hours later. The next day he was charged with murder, but later a jury found against this.

He said that his motive was financial: he believed that the directors were trying to cheat him out of his share in the company. He had attempted legal action, but didn't have a case.

The trial was held on the evening of Monday, 14 December, and the "elderly", "diminutive", "white-haired". Fawcett was found not guilty on the grounds of insanity. He was also in the timber trade.

Fawcett had expressed "interest in the Rifle Club movement" in 1940.

Media coverage

 * 1953-11-26: Rifle Victim Left Estate Of £4,587
 * William Murray Wilson (38), a Perth company director who was shot dead in a city office on September 28, left estate valued for probate at £4,587/7/8.
 * All his property was bequeathed to his widow. The will submitted for probate was made on a Royal Australian Air Force will form, and witnessed by two other airmen, on July 10, 1941.
 * Mr. Wilson left a widow and three children.