Obituary
Barbara Zochling – 17.1.1938 – 15.10.2014. Turnbull Family Funerals placed a brief notice in a local paper on Friday, 31 October.
It stated: Barbara died in Hobart. Formerly of Quarterdeck Mews.
A sadness arose from this notice that there was no mention of family or friends.
I never spoke with Barbara Zochling but I knew something of her. Here was a woman with a sense of responsibility and duty: she came forward to make a statement to police when she felt she had some valuable information in relation to a yachtsman who had disappeared from his boat on Australia Day 2009.
She told the police that, while sitting on a seat on the ‘doggie’ beach in Sandy Bay, she looked up when she heard the loud voice of a woman who was addressing a man walking in front of her.
Barbara Zochling recognised the gentleman as she had had contact with him during treatment at the Royal Hobart Hospital.
During a trial for murder in relation to the disappearance of the yachtsman, police brought Barbara Zochling into the Supreme Court, having arrested her for failing to appear as a witness in the trial.
She informed the court that the previous day she had been unlawfully arrested and locked up. She tried to explain that she had written to the prosecutor advising why she would not come. I spent four years thinking about his good soul and wondering if the police had really locked her up overnight.
When she appeared again in court a couple of days later, she told the court that she had seen a news report that showed a photograph of the accused and the woman in the photo was definitely not the same woman she had seen on the beach on Australia Day.
After the treatment she had received from authorities, she still had enough courage and concern to get to the truth of the matter. She waited for the court to adjourn and spoke to a family member and pointed to the missing person’s sister as the person she had seen and heard speaking in a loud voice. She had mistaken the day, as the gentleman and his sister had gone to Bruny Island the previous day, 25 January.
Although this misidentification was reported to two different authorities, no correction was made in court. The jury were left to believe that the accused had started the day on a bad note, arguing with her partner.
Mrs Barbara Zochling, you tried to be responsible, you were arrested for your efforts along the way, you tried to correct a mistake to no avail, and you are to be praised for your honesty and dedication to the truth. You were a hero, in my opinion.
