Paul Rath

Paul Edward Rath was twenty-seven years old when he died at the Shelley Headland in Manly on 15 or 16 June 1977.

He was born on 18 January 1950, the eldest of eight children in a devout Catholic family in Manly. He was still living at the family home on Pittwater Road when he died. He had schizophrenia, managed with medication, and had last been assessed by his psychiatrist as “fairly well” in the month before his death.

Paul left school at fifteen after a breakdown, worked briefly at a disability services organisation called the “House with No Steps,” and had been on a pension since. He spent much of his time doing voluntary work he loved — teaching religious education as a catechist at local Catholic primary schools. He wrote small pieces of prose for the children. He attended church regularly and was known to walk to the Fairy Bower headland to sit on the clifftops.

Approximately a year before his death, Paul told his youngest brother Gregory that he was gay.

On the evening of 15 June 1977, Paul visited his sister Helen Colman’s flat in Denison Street, Manly. He told her he was going to meet someone but was asked to keep it confidential. He left after dark, in his suit. He was found the following morning.

The Sackar Inquiry found there is “objectively reason to suspect both that the death of Mr Rath was a homicide and that LGBTIQ bias was a factor.” It recommended a fresh inquest.

Source: NSW Special Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQ Hate Crimes (Sackar J, 2023), Vol. 2, Ch. 5, paras 5.282–5.461, pp. 253–282.