Captain Stan Brown

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  • On board ship as an assistant engineer on which Gallagher died in 1941.
  • Eventually became commander of the Fijian navy.
  • It was alleged that he gave the box of bones to Dr. Gilchrist. This was one of the primary reasons for the second TIGHAR trip to Fiji.
  • Brown could not talk to us in 2003 due to the effects of a stroke. His wife asked him questions and interpreted his answers.
  • Stan's son died in a diving accident at the Molusalu (sp?) dam. He dove deep at night to try to repair something. Even though he had a partner, he got into trouble and died. It was "dumb and tragic" ( RG).

Jean Brown (born ~1923)

  • Stan Brown's wife.
  • Joined the government service at the end of WW II or shortly thereafter. She volunteered to serve in Tarawa with Maude. She was there for seven years (something like 1947 to 1954?). She does not remember the split between the office of the Fiji Governor and the WP High commission in 1953 because she was in Tarawa at the time.
  • Private secretary to Ratu Mara when he was Governor General. She was still serving as his secretary in 2003.
  • Mrs. Brown thought the bones had been found (probably saw article featuring bones file when WPHC archive opened in Auckland). She thought that a box of bones has already been found in the WPHC archives and that DNA testing showed that they are female.
    • She may have been confused by press coverage about the New Zealand aviatrix, Jean Batten, "Garbo of the Skies." She had six intense and highly successful years setting long-distance records. She lived to a ripe and (allegedly) randy old age. She died from a dog bite on the island of Majorca in 1982 and was buried in a pauper's grave. It was many years after her death that a newspaper reporter from Auckland solved the puzzle of her disappearance.
    • She may also have been confused by the opening of the WPHC Archives. They released the Hoodless' sketch of the bones. It was front-page news in some newspapers.
  • When TIGHAR came to Government House (the official residence of the President of Fiji) in 1999, "We knew it wasn't there. The place has been painted several times and there are no attics."
  • JB claims that it was Sir Harry Luke who liked the kanawa box and who asked to have another one like it made for him. Hmm. I did not follow up on this with the logical question: "How do you know this?" Was it something she witnessed? Or just a guess about Luke's character?
  • Tofiga: "She was one of the best typists." She came from a local European family. Her grandfather signed the first certificate for Kioa when it became a freehold. Her brother was a guest of honor at a celebration of the founding of Kioa.