Home

Balibo Five Remembered, 34 Years On

By Laura Borghouts

 

 Melbourne - The screening of the Movie “Balibo” has resurrected painful memories of the events of October 1975 when five Australian journalists were killed during the Indonesian invasion of East Timor.

Balibo is a small village in the Bonabaro region of East Timor, just 10 kilometers from the Indonesian border. It was there that the five newsmen and technicians from Channel 7 and Channel 9 TV networks planned to capture footage of Indonesian troops setting foot in the former Portuguese territory.

On Oct. 16 1975, Greg Shackleton, Gary Cunningham, Tony Stewart, Malcolm Rennie and Brian Peters were killed by Indonesian forces near the building that reporter Greg Shackleton was famously filmed painting an Australian Flag. The building had been dubbed the “Australian Embassy” because the group believed it would provide protection during any conflict.
The Indonesian and Australian  governments have always maintained the death of the newsmen was  ‘accidental’ and had occurred during ‘the heat of battle’.
No one has been charged with the killings although numerous inquests and accounts from East Timorese witnesses have since branded the incident at Balibo as murder.
One month after the death of the Balibo Five, fellow journalist, Roger East, went to Balibo to uncover the truth of what happened to his colleagues.
On December 7, 1975 East was the only remaining journalist in Dili and was captured by the Indonesian troops. He was publicly executed on the wharf in Dili the following day.
It has not been an easy time for the families of the “Balibo Five”. Asked what support they had received from the Australian Government, Ann Cunningham, sister of Gary Cunningham, said there had been “little to none.”
“When a tragedy happens nowadays the government is there to offer counseling and family support. In 1975 there was none of that, in those days it was expected that you just get on with it,“ she said. We don’t just get on with it, we still want answers.”
The Melbourne premiere of Balibo, the movie, in August was attended by former Victorian Premier Steve Bracks along with the film’s Director,Rob Connolly, and some of the actors and family members of the Balibo Five.
The first night was in conjunction with a fundraiser for Balibo House, the same building where  Greg Shackleton painted the Australian Flag .
When still in office in 2002, Bracks announced “The Balibo House Trust” hand purchased and refurbished the building for use by the local community. It is now  a community learning centre, where locals have access to computers, a library and various machinery including sewing machines and workshops designated to mechanics and carpentry.
It also houses a crèche and a memorial for the five newsmen and local villagers  who also died during the invasion.
Anne Stewart, sister of Tony Stewart, saw the House a place of remembrance for the Balibo five and the East Timorese who lost their lives. “ It’s a living memorial to the boys and It’s some comfort to feel like we are doing something good for the people of Timor.”
When asked on her future outlook for Balibo, Anne says she hopes the town becomes a place more people wish to visit, “Maybe one day it will be a place where kids like to visit as a sort of pilgrimage, to see what happened.”
(To donate to the Balibo House Trust log onto www.balibohouse.com/support)