Some 50 years after five television newsmen including Kiwi Gary Cunningham were murdered by Indonesian soldiers, they are being honoured.
It has been described as a dark moment in Australia’s history. The cold-blooded killing of five young television journalists on the island nation of East Timor in 1975. One of those killed was New Zealander Gary Cunningham. No one has ever said sorry for what happened, and 50 years on, the families of those murdered are still calling for all information about the killings to be publicly released.
Timor, about 420 nautical miles north of Darwin, comprises Indonesian West Timor and Timor-Leste (East Timor), a former Portuguese colony. The latter’s road to independence was long and brutal. When the Portuguese started the process of decolonisation in late 1975, Indonesia invaded its resource-rich neighbour to the east on the pretext of civil unrest.
For a quarter of a century the occupiers raped, murdered, tortured and starved the Timorese people. Amnesty International has estimated that as many as 200,0000 people, a third of the population, lost their lives. It wasn’t until 2002, after growing international condemnation, that Timor-Leste gained sovereignty.
And it was only after several inquiries over the years and the release of top secret files that the truth of the invasion became known. In an effort to preserve good relations with Indonesia, Australia (and to an extent New Zealand) refused to intervene. And both countries were complicit in the decades of cover-ups, including over how the Balibo Five died.
The five young newsmen – Greg Shackleton, Tony Stewart, New Zealand cameraman Gary Cunningham and Brits Malcolm Rennie and Brian Peters – worked for Australian TV Channels 7 and 9. They went to East Timor to cover one of the biggest stories of the time, the looming invasion by neighbouring Indonesia. Instead of being protected by their jobs and nationalities, they were brutally murdered.
The Balibo incident occurred on the eve of Indonesia’s invasion. As cover for their infiltration, the Indonesians claimed East Timor was in a state of civil war.
Gone but not forgotten
Memories of the men have remained in the hearts and minds of both Australians and the people of Timor-Leste, none more so than the country’s President and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, José Ramos-Horta. Their deaths still haunt him.
Ramos-Horta was a young leader of the Fretilin national liberation movement at the time. As we sit together in the presidential palace canteen, the eloquent 75-year-old recalls those days with clarity and some regret. In September and October 1975, he escorted journalists from the Melbourne Age, New York Times, and Newsweek around the country to report on the growing aggression. He wanted to show them and the world the country was ready to self-govern. “The problem happening on the border near Balibo was Indonesian troops encroaching further into our territory,” Ramos-Horta says. “So I took the journalists there and they saw. There was no war going on.
“I recall it was around October 13. I drove Brian Peters and Malcolm Rennie from Channel 9 to Balibo. The three others from Channel 7, Shackleton, Cunningham and Stewart, had arrived two days earlier.”
Ramos-Horta stayed with the five men for several nights until he received a radio message from Nicolau Lobato, leader of the East Timorese resistance fighters. “We were staying on the dirty cement floor of an old abandoned Chinese store. I told them I had to return to [East Timor’s capital] Dili and it was better that we all go back because it was obvious the Indonesian side were going to attack Balibo.”
But the young men were eager to capture the unfolding history on film. They painted a flag with the word “Australia” on the side of the Balibo house where they based themselves. They believed they would be protected not just because they were Australian, but also as journalists. The flag is still there in Balibo, a poignant reminder of their sacrifice.
“All of these years [later],” says Ramos-Horta “I still regret I didn’t force them to leave. No way would I imagine the Indonesians would kill them.”
Early on October 16, the Indonesians attacked with heavy fire. When the bombardment had stopped all five journalists were reported missing. It would be almost a month before they were confirmed dead.
Indonesia claimed the men were caught in crossfire. Ramos-Horta says that was nonsense. “What happened, according to eyewitnesses who later talked in many investigations, is they were caught alive, killed with knives, then their bodies were mutilated and set on fire. The journalists were witnessing direct Indonesian troops invading Balibo and that is why they were killed.”
Ramos-Horta was able to carry film footage and the men’s last reports from Balibo back to Dili. The final, moving piece-to-camera by Greg Shackleton remains one of the most powerful in Australian television history. It plays on loop in Dili’s Resistance Museum. It also featured in the 2009 film Balibo.
After the deaths were confirmed, a box said to contain the charred bone fragments of the five men was given to the Australian ambassador in Jakarta. Many Australians wanted the remains returned for testing, but they were buried in a single coffin in Jakarta. Embassy staff and journalists were in attendance; the families of the men were not.
Ramos-Horta says their deaths did awaken Australian media but to no ultimate effect. “There were no repercussions and it was not long-lasting. After a few weeks, everybody went back to business as usual.
“We were the ones who kept their memories alive. The widow of Greg Shackleton, the families of those journalists, they’re the ones who kept demanding justice.”
Years after the incident, declassified documents revealed Australia became aware of the killings within hours. Australian signals intelligence transcripts included radio messages such as: “Among the dead are four (sic) white men. What are we going to do with the bodies?”
The Whitlam government in Australia was in chaos at the time of the invasion. It would later emerge that both Australia and New Zealand had advance knowledge of Indonesia’s invasion plan and tacitly approved of it. As New Zealand human rights activist Maire Leadbeater says in her 2006 book Negligent Neighbour: New Zealand’s Complicity in the Invasion and Occupation of Timor-Leste, authorities on both sides of the Tasman helped perpetuate the lie that the deaths were mysterious and the culprits unknown. Leadbeater wrote: “They were worried about the impact on the bilateral relationship of the cumulative effects of ‘these irritants’.”
Six weeks after the killings, a sixth journalist, Australian Roger East, was executed in Dili after writing about the murders based on eyewitness accounts. Again, there was no protest from Australia.
Gary Cunningham’s New Zealand family believe the group has been denied justice. Nor have the families received an official apology. Cunningham’s brother Greig says the actions of then prime minister Bill Rowling were disappointing. “He was advised if asked about Cunningham to deflect to Australia, saying Cunningham was an Australian resident employed by an Australian company. This was despite the fact Gary was a New Zealand citizen and carried a New Zealand passport.”
Eight years ago, Greig Cunningham was granted limited access to the Balibo files held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. “Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully was sympathetic to our cause and would’ve happily granted me access to all the files they held, but they were not allowed to without permission from the Australian government – something the minister knew wouldn’t be given.”
Unknown son
John Milkins was just five years old when Cunningham died – a son Cunningham never knew he had. Adopted at birth, it wasn’t until Milkins turned 20 that he discovered who his birth father was. Ironically, he had just been studying the Balibo Five in a politics class at university. When he located his birth mother she confirmed that he was born after a brief liaison between her and Cunningham.
Milkins has become a vocal campaigner for justice for the Balibo Five, chairing the Balibo Trust. “The trust is important to our family because it is one way of remembering Gary and his colleagues and honouring their legacy. But it is also our way of connecting with the community of Balibo and acknowledging their immense losses.
“The trust allows us to remember the darkness of the past but look forward and work together for something brighter and better.”
Milkins received a letter from former prime minister Helen Clark soon after the 2007 coroner’s inquiry into the journalists’ deaths. It acknowledged the finding that they were deliberately killed by Indonesian Special Forces to stop the news of the impending invasion.
“That meant a great deal at the time,” Milkins says. “Our own government had three Queen’s Counsel lined up in court to remind every witness they faced seven years in jail if they breached national security in giving evidence.”
Calling Winston Peters
Half a century later Cunningham’s family believe now is the time for Foreign Minister Winston Peters to acknowledge New Zealand’s role in the cover-up and for the government to release all the files held on the Balibo Five. Greig Cunningham says that would send a clear message that New Zealand is a nation that won’t blindly follow the interests of big political powers.
In 2009, the deaths were dramatised in Australian-made movie Balibo, which former Victorian MP and Balibo House Trust founder Rob Hudson has watched countless times. Every time he sees Shackleton’s last report it still “hits him in the gut”.
Hudson has held various positions in the Victorian state parliament but it was in early 2000, while working for the premier, that he became connected to Balibo. The Timorese asked the government if it would like to buy “flag” house, the slain journalists’ refuge. It turned out to be completely derelict. “There was no roof, crumbling walls and livestock were using it as a shelter,” Hudson says.
He says there was a lot of shame in the way the Australian government treated both the journalists’ families and Timorese people. “It became a turning point in Australian foreign affairs. Restoring the house and helping the local community was a way to create something positive.”
With the blessing of locals and donations from all over Australia the trust not only rebuilt the house but has gone on to rebuild schools, infrastructure, assist in heritage-based tourism and help with training. It has even set up a dental clinic, with visiting Australian dentists, to service the region.
On Thursday October 16, 2025 dignitaries and citizens from Australia, New Zealand and Timor-Leste will gather in Balibo to commemorate the lives of the five journalists. The memorial room at the house is being upgraded and there will be an art exhibition about the Balibo Five and local martyrs. Events are also planned in Australia.
Australian ambassador to Timor-Leste Caitlin Wilson says it is a “deeply significant milestone” and “a moment of reflection for both Australia and Timor-Leste on the enduring importance of press freedom and the strength of the people-to-people ties that bind our two nations.”
Cunningham’s family will not be attending the event in Balibo but will attend a ceremony in Melbourne on October 20 where the five journalists will be posthumously awarded the Order of Timor-Leste by Ramos-Horta.
More than 20 years on from independence, Timor-Leste has maintained peace and stability, although New Zealand’s government still urges Kiwis to exercise caution if visiting. Many of the resistance fighters of the past are now leaders working alongside their former Indonesian occupiers.
What is astonishing is the forgiveness. It is a mindset that has come from the very top. Despite losing three siblings and many friends in the conflict, Ramos-Horta’s ability to pardon is extraordinary. He says: “We will always remember, but forgiveness is important in order to move forward.”