Australia - Siege/Ambush at Remote Property - 6 Dead Including 2 Police/Neighbor - Wieambilla (Queensland)

[nhmemorymaker]

Interestingly, the rural Western Downs area of Qld (Wieambilla, where this crime happened, is in the Western Downs) has a high rate of gun theft. The reason being that farmers there are not locking their guns up securely.


QUEENSLAND’S Western Downs region carries the unflattering statistic of having one of the highest rates of firearm theft in the state ....
The campaign over the previous six months resulted in 2,300 weapons being surrendered as part of a permanent national amnesty.
Despite its low population compared to other regions, the Western Downs recorded more than 65 weapons offences over the past year.

Police reveal regional hotspot for stolen firearms

QUEENSLAND'S Western Downs region carries the unflattering statistic of having one of the highest rates of firearm left in the state, as police and Crime Stoppers announce a crackdown on illegal weapons.

countrycaller.com.au

(Although I can't see the date on this article, Google says it is from 4th April 2022)

This poem, and the author are always in my mind...
It is just so true....

https://allyourprettywords.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F187306113518

 

[nhmemorymaker]

I think it all depends on who now owns this property.
It may have already been bequeathed to other conspiracy nut jobs, should something happen to the owner(s).

The State of Qld may need to step in and stop that kind of land bequeathment.

And if it now belongs to the killers families, it may be something they also want to do. Give it to the police for a fair sum.

the issue does have some touchy consequences... but, it does seem, in the long run... that if the land continues to offer vital training services, I would think that the horrors of what happened, will be lessened. Over time.

The whole thought of being bequeathed to other nutcases... well that is rather horrifying...

 

[nhmemorymaker]

I worried about the property (that was before I heard the police night buy it).

Anyway I worried that it might become some sort of shrine to the Trains, and could attract all sorts of way out there conspiracy theory followers. When I thought of that, I had a feeling of fear for the neighbours and the town and surrounding areas.

Maybe that's part of what the Police are trying to avoid.

But i also think that having the Police buy it, might make it a target.

Whatever, I don't think I'd like to be living nearby.

Posting this when I can. I've been having an awful lot of trouble getting on Websleuths the past few days, it's been down for hours at a time for me, for a couple of days now.

I would think, neighbors might be comforted to know that strategic police work is going on there.... rather than always wondering who might buy it for its tunnels/storage and nefarious activities....


same here.... WS down for huge chunks of time.

 

[SouthAussie]

what an enlightening article...
Though there are handguns, and hand-made guns in some of the photos... the first is showing rifles. So WHY would these rural farmers and folks have the guns anyway? And how do criminals know that these rural folks even have the guns?

Aren't people allowed to hunt?
It is always so hard to understand (sadly), with the American landscape so filled with guns.

Farmers are allowed to have registered guns for keeping pests (like wild rabbits) under control.
Farmers would be the first people to think of, if you wanted to steal a firearm. Most other people wouldn't have one.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

learned a new word here.

Dobber is a well known Aussie word and is someone who dobs someone in.
Ie informs on them or reports them, usually to an authority. Maybe even Mum and Dad

I've never heard of the dibber part.

 

[iamshadow21]

Farmers are allowed to have registered guns for keeping pests (like wild rabbits) under control.
Farmers would be the first people to think of, if you wanted to steal a firearm. Most other people wouldn't have one.

Farmers use them for rabbits, foxes, etc. But also, anyone who farms animals will tend to have a rifle, for euthanasia purposes. If you have an injured or gravely ill animal that's suffering or in pain, you don't want to have to wait for the vet to get there if you know it's beyond hope.

2. How do most Australians feel about the strict Federal gun laws... Its hard not to imagine how things could be, if those laws had not been established decades ago....

RSBM

A personal perspective - I remember the gun buyback happening. I have felt nothing but positive about it. The Port Arthur massacre was horrible, deeply scarring, to the entire country. I literally cannot imagine living somewhere where not only do you have it happening almost every other week, but that the population is so numbed to it that it can be held up forever in political circular arguments where nothing changes and people just keep dying. Our parliament bilaterally approved the laws. They have, as far as I know, overwhelming support.

I also had the very rare experience of being a child in Australia raised in a household where there WERE guns. Multiple. And we did not live rurally. There was no reason for them to be in my home, except for my biological father being an abusive **** who liked guns, and liked the obvious threat they posed and the way they forced compliance on us out of fear for our lives. When the laws changed, I remember some of his guns being given to a friend of his to 'keep' for him, illegally, presumably because this friend had somewhere to hide them or land to shoot them on where they wouldn't draw the attention of the neighbours. I don't know what they were. I presume they had some kind of semi-auto capabilities. So, yeah, I have no problem with fewer guns, and fewer people like my biofather having access to guns.

 

[HinterlandObserver]

Dobber is a well known Aussie word and is someone who dobs someone in.
Ie informs on them or reports them, usually to an authority. Maybe even Mum and Dad

I've never heard of the dibber part.

Calling someone a dibber dobber is so Aussie schoolyard, sort of like liar liar pants on fire.

 

[iamshadow21]

Calling someone a dibber dobber is so Aussie schoolyard, sort of like liar liar pants on fire.

Yeah, I think 'snitches get stitches' kind of equates.

 

[HinterlandObserver]

Yeah, I think 'snitches get stitches' kind of equates.

Definitely in the same vein.
But it was so real that through covid the Aussie “live and let live” spirit was almost eradicated. It was every man for himself. It was really hard times socially, politically, mentally, financially etc.
people lost jobs, families broke up, people self cancelled because of isolation, family breakdown, financial ruin etc and everyone lived in fear if the government even busting you for an opinion on Facebook. Like people were raided for simply disagreeing let alone the Q conspiracy people.
With everyone so highly strung there was a lot of paranoia and survival mentality which often meant a phone all to the police if you saw a “breach” of mandate.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Calling someone a dibber dobber is so Aussie schoolyard, sort of like liar liar pants on fire.

It's new to me and I grew up here. I'd never even seen or heard or read the dibber bit before.

Seen pants on fire written many times, but dibber, no. Maybe it's a state thing.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

With everyone so highly strung there was a lot of paranoia and survival mentality which often meant a phone all to the police if you saw a “breach” of mandate.

Yes I guess with some people their true colours came through when they were put to the test.

The real nasty mean unaustralian side of them. Not so live and let live as they'd like to believe about themselves or like others to believe.

I can see how during war many were able to inform on others and justify it to themselves.

 

[HinterlandObserver]

It's new to me and I grew up here. I'd never even seen or heard or read the dibber bit before.

Seen pants on fire written many times, but dibber, no. Maybe it's a state thing.

could be a state one for sure.

 

[Ellery84]

It's new to me and I grew up here. I'd never even seen or heard or read the dibber bit before.

Seen pants on fire written many times, but dibber, no. Maybe it's a state thing.

I don’t think it’s a state-based linguistic thing, it’s something children call one another when they “tell on” someone.

I remember the turn of phrase from my childhood, but it’s not something that adults tend to say.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Police had arrest warrant for Train brother but couldn’t contact him

Queensland police say the brothers involved in last week’s fatal shootout in Wieambilla both had, or previously held, gun permits and one was subject to an outstanding warrant.

Deputy Commissioner Tracy Linford told a media briefing on Wednesday the agency had “very little history” with the group who killed two police and a neighbour on their regional property.

“We recognise the events of last week pose significant public and media interest,” she said, while providing a coroner-approved briefing, the most detailed since the shooting, in which six people died.

Linford said Nathaniel Train was subject to an outstanding warrant for events of December last year involving a border breach from NSW, which police tried unsuccessfully to reach him about at the address in August.

He had previously had only a 2014 driving offence in the state.

 

[Ellery84]

I don’t mean this as a criticism per se, but: To what extent do you think that reporters and journalists have potentially inadvertently glorified the perpetrators of this crime by plastering their names and images all over MSM?

Is there a way they could have approached the reporting of the incident differently?

I noticed whilst viewing the memorial service that the focus was solely on the victims and all the good they did in their lives.

Ps. Thank you to the mods for maintaining a respectful and intelligent thread on this matter.

 

[iamshadow21]

I don’t mean this as a criticism per se, but: To what extent do you think that reporters and journalists have potentially inadvertently glorified the perpetrators of this crime by plastering their names and images all over MSM?

Is there a way they could have approached the reporting of the incident differently?

I noticed whilst viewing the memorial service that the focus was solely on the victims and all the good they did in their lives.

Ps. Thank you to the mods for maintaining a respectful and intelligent thread on this matter.

I think I would have preferred an approach like that taken in New Zealand.

 

[SouthAussie]

Deputy Commissioner Linford said the wide-ranging investigation involved the counter terrorism command and other specialist police teams, but the shooting was not classed as "a domestic terror event".

"What we can see is a sentiment displayed by the three individuals … that appears anti-government, anti-police, conspiracy theorist type," she said.

"We can't see them connected to any particular group that they might have been working with, or inspire them to do anything. We haven't located anything like that at this point in time."

She said security and counter terrorism teams were working to determine possible motivations for the attack, including "religiously-motivated extremism" and "pathological-fuelled violence".

She said Nathaniel Train's wife, who resides in NSW, reported him missing as she had not physically seen him in 12 months.

Asked if the missing person's report could have been premeditated, Deputy Commissioner Linford said police believed his wife's report was genuine.

Queensland police reveal officers were following up warrant for Nathaniel Train

Queensland police reveal officers were following up an outstanding warrant for police shooter Nathaniel Train relating to a border breach from December 2021, as well as a missing person report, when they attended the Wieambilla property last week.

www.abc.net.au

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Firefighters save property of Wieambilla shooting victim from suspicious bushfire

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services say it is too early to determine the cause of the blaze, but are treating the bushfire as suspicious.

www.abc.net.au

Firefighters have saved the property of Wieambilla shooting victim Alan Dare after an out-of-control bushfire raged through the area this week.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services said it was too early to determine the cause of the blaze, but it was treating the bushfire as suspicious.

Rural Fire Service regional manager for the south-west region, Superintendent Wayne Waltisbuhl said investigations were underway with police assisting.

"There's a few things at the point of origin we've identified and we've got two experienced fire investigators coming up early next week.

 

[iamshadow21]

Firefighters save property of Wieambilla shooting victim from suspicious bushfire

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services say it is too early to determine the cause of the blaze, but are treating the bushfire as suspicious.

www.abc.net.au

Firefighters have saved the property of Wieambilla shooting victim Alan Dare after an out-of-control bushfire raged through the area this week.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services said it was too early to determine the cause of the blaze, but it was treating the bushfire as suspicious.

Rural Fire Service regional manager for the south-west region, Superintendent Wayne Waltisbuhl said investigations were underway with police assisting.

"There's a few things at the point of origin we've identified and we've got two experienced fire investigators coming up early next week.

His family and friends are already grieving his loss because he tried to help out, and now someone tries to torch his property? (allegedly etc.)

Un freaking believable. I am genuinely disgusted.

 

[Ellery84]

****Please delete if not allowed.****

It seems as if Walgett Community College, the most recent school that police shooter N Train worked in as Primary School Principal before absconding accross the QLD border, had it’s fair share of problems, and they seem to go back for over a decade.
IMO.

BBM

“Walgett Community College has been notoriously violent for years. Why hasn't that changed?”

In this first part of a three-part series on the trouble-plagued Walgett Community College, parents say the school's decade-long culture of violence — brutal assaults, prison-style lockdowns and a revolving door of staff — must be brought to an end.

Walgett Community College has been notoriously violent for years. Why hasn't that changed? - ABC News

amp.abc.net.au

Disgust at NSW indigenous schools system , Justine Ferrari, The Australian, 26 September 2013

25 September 2013 : NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli said Walgett Community College was the worst school, physically, that he had ever seen.​

On 25 September 2013 Adrian Piccoli invited people to "hound him" about the situation at Walgett Community College.
He named Walgett as the "worst school physically I've seen", in an "appalling condition" with "disgusting toilets", exposed wiring, disconnected downpipes and a hole in the roof that had been unrepaired for about a year.
Most of the school looked derelict.

The school had been built for 500 students.
But Mr Piccoli said only 30 to 50 students turned up on any given day.



Walgett Community College a hotbed of 'violence and criminal behaviour' , Julie Power, The Sydney Morning Herald, 23 April 2015

August 2014 : Walgett Community College's advisory committee met.
The minutes of this meeting reveal fears that the school had become a breeding ground for violence and criminal activity.