Balibo Five
|
|
The Balibo Five were a group of Australian television journalists based in the town of Balibo in the then Portuguese Timor (now East Timor), who were killed on October 16th, 1975 by Indonesian troops mounting incursions, prior to the full-scale invasion of the territory on December 7th that year.
They included two Australians, Greg Shackleton and Tony Stewart, a reporter and cameraman for HSV-7 (Seven Network) in Melbourne, two Britons, Brian Peters and Malcolm Rennie, and a New Zealander, Gary Cunningham, working for TCN-9 (Nine Network) in Sydney.
While the men were aware that Indonesian troops were to mount an attack on the town, they believed that as Australian journalists, they would not be considered military targets. Greg Shackleton was filmed painting a Australian flag and the word 'AUSTRALIA' on the wall of a house.
The Indonesian military justified its killing of the camera crews on the grounds that they were 'communists', and sympathisers with the Fretilin party in Portuguese Timor; however most historians think they were killed to prevent them exposing the Indonesian incursions. The men's remains were, in fact, taken to Jakarta for burial, without the consent of their families.
Greg Shackleton's widow, Shirley, became an outspoken supporter of East Timor's fight for independence in Australia. Other relatives were so traumatised by the event that for many years they did not pursue the matter any further. It was not until 1994, that Brian Peters' sister, Maureen Tolfree, became involved with the East Timor issue, having heard of a demonstration in her home town of Bristol against the sale of BAE Hawk fighter jets to Indonesia.
External Links
- Sunday report on Balibo memorial Nine Network Australia (http://sunday.ninemsn.com.au/sunday/feature_stories/article_1437.asp)
- BBC Radio 4 Death in East Timor - Interview with Maureen Tolfree (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hometruths/20031201_death_in_east_timor.shtml)