Three relationships dominate the story of missing mother Lyn Dawson: her marriage to husband Chris, his affair with schoolgirl Joanne Curtis and his inseparable connection to his twin.
There is the normal bond often found between brothers, the sometimes spooky similarities between twins – and then there is the downright weird closeness of Paul Dawson and his identical sibling Chris.
For 70 years the Dawson brothers have lived, worked and played in a proximity that borders on the bizarre to those outside their two-man bubble world.
Paul and Chris Dawson with a model wearing a Newtown Jets jumper in a 1970s print advertisement for the David Jones department store. Chris’s wife Lyn has been missing since 1982. Paul Dawson knew his brother was having an affair with schoolgirl Joanne Curtis
In a 1975 episode of the ABC program Chequerboard the Dawson brothers were asked what it would be like to be married to identical twins. They denied playing tricks on their own wives
Team Dawson: Chris (left) and Paul (right) Dawson are now 70 years old and living in Queensland. The brothers have numberplates ‘TWIN 1’ and ‘TWIN 2’. Note Chris’s T-shirt
Chris Dawson met Lynette Simms when he was at Sydney Boys High and she was at the adjacent Sydney Girls High. Two coroners have found Mr Dawson most likely killed his wife in 1982 but the Director of Public Prosecutions declined to prosecute, citing lack of evidence
Once free of school the Dawson boys chose to join the same sporting teams, followed the same careers and bought land to build homes in the same suburb.
Together they played top level rugby league for the same club – in the same position, over the same period – went to teacher’s college and took identical roles at the same, or nearby, schools.
They held part-time jobs together as garbage collectors, models and personal trainers, jogged side-by-side on road runs when they weren’t working, and each fathered three daughters.
They also had affairs with girls they had once taught and according to evidence heard at a 2003 coronial inquest both had sex with babysitter Joanne Curtis, including at the same time.
Now the Dawson brothers are the focus of unwanted worldwide attention brought by a re-investigation into Lyn Dawson’s 1982 disappearance. As always, they are sticking solid.
Today the 70-year-olds live in Queensland – Chris on the Sunshine Coast and Paul on the Gold Coast – and regularly spend time together. Paul has ‘1 TWIN’ number plates on his Subaru SUV and Chris has ‘2 TWIN’ on his Volkswagen van.
Paul and Marilyn Dawson (left) did not appear at the 2003 inquest into the disappearance of Lyn Dawson (right with husband Chris). They both knew of Chris’s affair with Joanne Curtis
Lyn Dawson was a devoted mother whose family say would never have left her two children. She is pictured here with daughter Shanelle, who was four when the nurse disappeared
A crew from Channel 9’s A Current Affair confronts Chris (right) and Paul Dawson last month
While it is Chris who is suspected of his wife’s murder it is his brother who is considered the more forceful personality.
He was the better footballer, more successful educator – becoming a deputy principal – and unlike his twice-divorced brother has been married to the same woman, Marilyn, for more than 40 years.
In a 1989 newspaper interview unrelated to Lyn Dawson’s disappearance the brothers were quoted saying it was ‘great being a twin because you had a friend for life no matter what happened.’
‘We love it – we always asked to be in the same classes at school and we have played the same sports together all our lives,’ they said.
The closeness of the brothers is examined in a 14-part podcast called The Teacher’s Pet produced by The Australian newspaper which has intrigued audiences around the world.
This week police began a thorough search of the home on Sydney’s northern beaches where Chris and Lyn Dawson lived and where some believe her body has lain buried for the past 36 years.
Forensic police search for clues at the former home of Chris and Lyn Dawson at Bayview, on Sydney’s northern beaches. Forensic investigators have been visiting the site since the 1990s
Chris and Paul Dawson lived just a few hundred metres from each other in Gilwinga Drive, Bayview, in the early to mid 1980s. The brothers have lived near each other all their lives
Police returned this week to search around the pool at Lyn and Chris Dawson’s old Bayview home. A search in the same area in 2000 located a pink cardigan which Lyn might have owned
Christopher Michael Dawson and Paul Anthony Dawson were born to Syd and Joan on July 26, 1948. Paul entered the world first.
As children the pair developed their own secret language and eventually had to undergo speech therapy so they could be understood by others.
The boys went to Sydney Boys High where they met Lynette Joy Simms when she was in fifth form of Sydney Girls High and all three went on to be prefects.
They completed diplomas in teaching at Balmain Teachers’ College and later gained Arts degrees through the University of New England. Both became physical education teachers.
Chris and Lyn married in 1970. The twins, who had played rugby union for Eastern Suburbs since 1967, switched to league and joined the Newtown Jets as second rowers in 1972.
The pair reportedly went to the inner-city club because it was the only place that would take them both, Paul being considered the more handy footballer.
Teachers Paul and Chris Dawson were minor celebrities on Sydney’s northern beaches in the early 1980s due to their years playing professional rugby league and their modelling careers
‘But when they first start dating twins, I think they realise the relationship between twins, I think they tend to accept it,’ Paul Dawson told the ABC’s Chequerboard program in 1975
The younger brother was known among fellow players as ‘Cranky Chris’, a coronial inquest heard in 2003. His older sibling was ‘Passive Paul’.
‘Amongst their football teammates Chris and Paul Dawson generally stuck to themselves,’ Sergeant Matt Fordham told coroner Carl Milovanovich. ‘They appeared to be introverted and vulnerable without each other’s support.’
In 1975 the brothers appeared on an episode of the ABC program Chequerboard devoted to the special relationship between twins.
During that program the brothers were filmed watching each other as they lifted weights in front of a mirror.
‘Quite often you’ll see a reflection of yourself and straight away you think, “Ha, it’s the other one,” one of the twins said. ‘And of course on realisation that it’s obviously yourself you sort of have a little chuckle inwardly that you yourself could be confused.
‘Our whole lives really are mirrored reflections of each other.’
You can’t say no: The Dawson twins dressed as police officers in a commercial for CC’s chips
Chris Dawson married Lynette Simms in 1970. They had two daughters, Shanelle and Sherryn, before the registered nurse disappeared from Sydney’s northern beaches in January 1982
The interviewer asked the brothers if it was hard on their wives to be married to twins because ‘they can scarcely be said just to be married to one man when you’re so close.’
They chuckled when they interviewer asked if they had ever ‘pulled the trick’ on their wives of swapping themselves.
Paul: ‘No, no.’
Chris: ‘That’s a clear no, no we haven’t.’
Paul: ‘Certainly that’s an emphatic no.’
‘But when they first start dating twins, I think they realise the relationship between twins, I think they tend to accept it,’ Paul said.
‘And they wouldn’t enter into anything like marriage unless they did accept this, you know, this bond or this relationship between their husband and his twin.’
Chris and Paul Dawson played second row for the Newtown Jets from 1972 to 1977. They then joined the Gosford Townies on the Central Coast and later played for the Belrose Eagles
Lyn Dawson also addressed what it was like to be married to an identical twin.
‘I hadn’t put any thought about sharing him until somebody a couple of years ago said, “What is it like sharing a husband?”,’ she said.
‘And to me it just seemed so silly because I hadn’t put any thought into it and you just join in. You encourage their closeness, not that it needs encouragement.’
I hadn’t put any thought about sharing him until somebody a couple of years ago said, ‘What is it like sharing a husband?’
In the mid 1970s both brothers bought blocks of land a few hundreds metres apart on Sydney’s northern beaches in Gilwinga Drive at Bayview.
They employed the same builder to construct their dream homes and later used the same company to put in swimming pools.
Lyn, who had struggled to conceive, gave birth to Shanelle in 1977 and Sherryn two years later. Paul and Marilyn already had three daughters.
Both Dawsons left the Jets at the end of the 1977 season and went on to play with the Gosford Townies on the Central Coast, where in 1978 they won a premiership.
They later spent two seasons as joint captain coaches of their local Belrose Eagles.
The Dawson brothers help teach NFL player Manfred Moore how to tackle during his brief stint with the Newtown Jets in 1977. Moore won the 1976 Super Bowl with the Oakland Raiders
Good-looking, powerfully built and photogenic, they were viewed by many as minor celebrities on the northern beaches.
At the time of Lyn Dawson’s disappearance Paul was a PE teacher at Forest High and Chris had the same role at nearby Cromer High, where he seduced Joanne Curtis.
Sergeant Fordham outlined the rivalry between the siblings in his closing submissions at the 2003 coronial inquest.
‘In his youth Chris was continually trying to live up to the standard set by his older twin brother,’ Sergeant Fordham said.
‘There was, in my submission, a form of sibling competition between the two twin brothers with respect to relationships with women, finance, employment, status, sporting prowess and property.’
The brothers’ shared interests and experiences allegedly extended to a sexual proclivity for schoolgirls.
The Dawson twins featured on football cards during their years playing for the Newtown Jets
‘Chris Dawson was known amongst his peers for incidents of infidelity,’ Sergeant Fordham told the coroner Carl Milovanovich.
‘Some of these included the participation of his twin brother Paul and there is evidence in the brief that sex was organised for his brother as a form of gift giving.
‘Chris Dawson’s self-esteem appears to have depended upon being able to keep up appearances with his twin brother.’
Detective Sergeant Damian Loone told the 2003 inquest: ‘Joanne Curtis admits that, at Christopher Dawson’s instigation she had sexual encounters with Paul Dawson, including both Christopher and Paul Dawson together.’
Ms Curtis had told Detective Sergeant Loone in 1998 that Paul and Marilyn Dawson had been aware of her relationship with Chris.
Chris Dawson, now 70, lives at Mt Coolum on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. He has always denied any involvement in his first wife Lyn’s 1982 disappearance and presumed murder
Chris Dawson was twice the age of Joanne Curtis when they began having sex while she was in Year 11 at Cromer High and he was a teacher there. The pair married when she was just 19
‘Well, Paul did, because he was having relationships with young girls all over the place, so you know, he was… ‘ she said.
‘Well, you know, I wouldn’t name names, but, you know, he had relationships going with schoolgirls.’
Detective Sergeant Loone: ‘Did Marilyn know Paul was having affairs?’
Well, you know, I wouldn’t name names, but, you know, he had relationships going with schoolgirls.
Joanne Curtis: ‘I don’t think so, I don’t know. I really don’t know, ’cause it was certainly happening right under her nose. Whether she just turned a blind eye to it.’
In the same interview Ms Curtis said Chris Dawson was a narcissist and the only other person he really cared about was his sibling.
‘He was quite possessive, pretty anti-social, but certainly, you know, he was the most important and no one else really mattered,’ she said.
‘His brother Paul was, you know, very, very important to him, but, you know, that’s not surprising being a twin.’
Joanne Curtis (centre) with her school teacher lover Chris Dawson’s children Shanelle and Sherryn. Ms Curtis babysat the girls then became their stepmother when she married Chris
Former football star Chris Dawson married his 19-year-old lover Joanne Curtis at their home at Bayview in 1984. They moved to Queensland and had a daughter Kristen (all pictured)
It is not disputed Paul Dawson, his wife and children were at Lake Munmorah on the Central Coast when Lyn disappeared from Bayview on January 8 or 9, 1982.
Mrs Dawson has not been seen since then and two coroners have recommended Chris Dawson be charged with her murder. He denies any wrongdoing.
It is not suggested his older twin brother is suspected of any involvement in Lyn Dawson’s disappearance
Paul Dawson was interviewed in March 1999 by NSW detectives about what he knew of his brother’s marriage and his sister-in-law’s disappearance.
‘I think they were both dissatisfied with certain aspects of their marriage,’ he said. ‘They both probably had legitimate beefs…
‘Chris is my twin brother, so obviously he’s close to me, and I think they were sorting themselves out.’
In that interview, Paul told police what Chris had told him: that Lynn had called him after her disappearance, that she had been sighted on the Central Coast and that she might have run off with a religious group.
He agreed Lyn Dawson was a good mother but claimed she was not overly affectionate. He denied having sex with Joanne Curtis.
Detective: ‘In relation to Joanne Curtis, did you ever have a relationship with Joanne Curtis?’
Paul Dawson: ‘No.’
Detective: ‘No physical relationship?’
Paul Dawson: ‘No. No.’
Detective: ‘No relationship whatsoever?’
Paul Dawson: ‘No. No.’
Chris and Lyn Dawson with their daughter Shanelle. Lyn has been missing since January 1982
Christopher Dawson’s teen lover Joanne Curtis plays with his daughters Shanelle and Sherryn
He did, however, admit to having had a relationship for some months with a former student he had taught at Forest High.
Paul said he had sex with this teenager in ‘various places’ including once at his home but denied Chris ever had sex with the same young woman.
He was sure his brother had nothing to do with his wife’s disappearance.
I mean, he’s my twin brother… He wouldn’t have played any hand in Lyn’s disappearance.
‘It wouldn’t have happened,’ he said. ‘I know, I mean, he’s my twin brother, I know he wouldn’t have, I don’t know, whatever, he wouldn’t have played any hand in Lyn’s disappearance.’
He and Marilyn had considered how Chris would explain Joanne Curtis living with him if he truly believed Lyn intended returning home after a short time away from their marriage.
‘I think we asked ourselves the same question at the time by memory,’ he said. ‘I think Marilyn and I probably said the same thing, I don’t know. I don’t know how they were going to sort it out.’
After Chris married Joanne, they moved up to the Queensland Gold Coast about the same time as Paul and Marilyn did the same thing.
Joanne Curtis pictured on Sydney’s northern beaches recently. Ms Curtis lives not far from her daughter Kristen and has not had another relationship since leaving Chris Dawson in 1990
Before that move both brothers cashed in the insurance policies they had on their own lives because, according to Paul in his 1999 police interview, they would not need as much money or cover as they did in Sydney.
Detective: ‘Would you agree that you were, even allowing for the fact that you were twins, you were sort of even closer than maybe twins would expect to be?’
Paul Dawson: ‘We… twins are close. Yeah. It’s hard to understand if you’re not a twin, but twins are close, yeah.’
Detective: ‘Allowing for that closeness, has Chris ever indicated anything untoward that may have happened?’
Paul Dawson: ‘None whatsoever.’
Marilyn Dawson was interviewed on the same day as her husband.
The former home of Chris and Lyn Dawson in Gilwinga Drive, Bayview, as it is today. Police visited the property looking for forensic evidence in 1990, 1991, 1999, 2000, 2015 and 2016
‘We were fairly intensely involved in Chris and Lyn’s lives because my husband and his twin are extremely close,’ she said.
‘I wanted Lyn to fight for Chris and her marriage and the children and she didn’t…
‘She seemed to be meek when I wanted her to be strong.
‘I would’ve fought and in a way I did fight for my marriage because my husband was his twin and, you know, whatever Chris was doing my husband may have been doing too, and so I fought for my husband, and I wish Lyn had.’
Whatever Chris was doing my husband may have been doing too, and so I fought for my husband…
Marilyn Dawson was not asked about her husband’s affair with a former student but spoke further of Chris and Paul’s personalities.
‘When Chris was doing his university, Paul and I would sit up half the night typing his assignments up,’ she said.
‘I believe that my husband is the dominant personality, has more common sense and I believe my husband loves his brother and [would] protect him in any way that he had to…
‘But… I don’t believe that Chris could do anything to harm his wife Lyn, and I don’t believe that my husband could hide that from me… ‘
Marilyn was asked directly if she believed her husband would lie to her or police about Chris’s potential involvement in Lyn’s disappearance.
‘I don’t believe that he would do anything to not assist you in your job,’ she said. ‘But I’m telling you that his twin is the most, probably the most important person to him in the world, after his wife and family.’
Chris, Paul and Marilyn Dawson all declined to give evidence at both the 2001 and 2003 coronial hearings.
In his closing submissions in 2003 Sergeant Fordham returned to the allegations of Paul Dawson having had sex with a student.
‘Then there is the allegation that he and Chris had sex with another female student at the same time which is flatly denied in his record of interview,’ Sergeant Fordham said.
‘Paul also denies that his relationship occurred at the time that that girl was still in school and yet her statement describes incidents which could only have occurred during her school years.’
Joanne Curtis pictured with her daughter Kristen on Sydney’s northern beaches last week. Ms Curtis does not believe Lyn Dawson would have chosen to leave her own two daughters
Chris and Paul Dawson were represented at that 2003 inquest by their solicitor brother Peter Dawson, who submitted there should be an open finding into Lyn’s disappearance.
‘The investigating officers also alluded to the involvement of Paul Dawson in the disappearance of Lynette and my friend has suggest some sinister connection between them,’ Peter Dawson told the coroner.
‘I suggest with respect, sir, that all that has been demonstrated is a very strong sibling bond.’
There is a $200,000 reward for anyone who has information which leads to the arrest and conviction of Lyn Dawson’s killer. Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Chris and Lyn Dawson pictured on their wedding day on March 26, 1970. Mr Dawson would go on to marry his teen lover Joanne Curtis in 1984 and is now onto his third marriage with Sue