Estelle Blackburn

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Estelle Blackburn (born 1 March 1950) is a journalist who has played a crucial role in the review of some controversial criminal cases in Western Australia.

Estelle Blackburn, photographed at Fremantle Prison, in March 2008.
Estelle Blackburn, photographed at Fremantle Prison, in March 2008.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Born in Perth, to Margaret Mercer Blackburn (1920–90) and George Everard Blackburn (1917–82), and younger sister to Dr Gregory Blackburn (born 30 May 1947), Estelle Blackburn spent her pre-school years in Northam, Western Australia.

In 1956 her father's employment as a Personnel Manager with AMP Limited required the family to return to Perth, where she attended Floreat Primary School in 1956 and Presbyterian Ladies College, Perth Primary School, from 1957 to 1961.

She attended and completed high school at Methodist Ladies' College, Perth, from 1962 to 1967, obtaining a Western Australian High School Leaving Certificate with distinctions in the subjects English and Music.

[edit] Further Education and Employment

When unsuccessful in her initial application for a journalism cadetship with West Australian Newspapers she was offered a position with the company as a clerk in the newspaper library which she occupied for three months in 1968 until gaining a Commonwealth government scholarship to attend the University of Western Australia as a full-time student. She succeeded in entering the journalism cadetship program in 1969. She had learned touch typing at the age of 10 and, during the cadetship, developed shorthand skills required to pass a test at the rate of 120 words per minute.[1] While working for WA Newspapers, she completed a Bachelor of Arts Degree by part-time study until 1971, with a double major in Psychology and Anthropology.

Blackburn continued with West Australian Newspapers, progressing from general news and minor features to coverage of the proceedings of the W.A. State Parliament. In 1974 she travelled to Europe and, while contributing some articles to Western Australian journals as a freelance correspondent, mainly supported herself by teaching English and secretarial work.

In 1980 she returned to Perth and joined the ABC as a radio and television reporter. In 1985 she was invited to apply for a position in the Media Office of the W.A. Government and, upon acceptance, was engaged as the media advisor to the Minister for Police and Local Government, Jeff Carr; preparing media statements on government policy, responding to media enquiries and writing speeches. In addition to service with other minsters, she also worked for another occupier of that portfolio, Gordon Hill. In 1990 she became Junior Media Advisor in the office of the Premier of Western Australia, Carmen Lawrence. After the defeat of the Lawrence government in 1993, Blackburn gained continuing casual employment in government media relations.

[edit] Rise to prominence

Although a familiar name from by-line articles in The West Australian in the 1970s and a familiar face and voice on television and radio for Western Australians throughout the 1980s, Blackburn was not especially prominent in the public's consciousness until she decided to take up the cause of John Button.[2] Button's brother, James, had told her, in January of 1992, that his older brother had been framed for a murder committed by Eric Cooke. Initially skeptical, Blackburn met John Button in February of 1992 and, after hearing his testimony and reading the appeal books kept by him from his failed previous court actions, decided that his case would be an appropriate topic for the book which she had long aspired to write. Thus, in the final months of the Lawrence government, Blackburn converted to part-time employment in order to conduct the necessary research.

During the following ten years this project became a combined exercise in authorship and citizen advocacy which led to the re-opening of the cases of both Button and Darryl Beamish and the quashing of their long-standing convictions.

The key discovery in the revision of the case histories was that Eric Cooke had been a multiple-method killer. His offences show a significant deviation from the pattern generally accepted as the orthodox "serial killer" template, which holds that such killers target the same type of victim in the same way, impelled by the same underlying motive. Cooke, conversely, for differing reasons, using various methods, killed or attempted to kill persons of both sexes and of a wide spread of ages and social circumstances.

Justice for Button and Beamish: Darryl Beamish Estelle Blackburn and John Button at the Supreme Court celebrating Beamish's exoneration on 1 April 2005 (44 years after conviction), following Button's exoneration on 25 February 2002 (39 years after conviction).
Justice for Button and Beamish: Darryl Beamish Estelle Blackburn and John Button at the Supreme Court celebrating Beamish's exoneration on 1 April 2005 (44 years after conviction), following Button's exoneration on 25 February 2002 (39 years after conviction).

Blackburn discovered, once granted access to police archives, that the police had not emphasised this behaviour pattern of Cooke in their public statements. The Western Australian community at large and the legal advocates for Button and Beamish were unaware that Cooke had attempted murder of several people by vehicle impact. This was the means by which John Button's girlfriend, 17-year old Rosemary Anderson, had been killed. At the time of Button's trial for her wilful murder, her death appeared to be an isolated event and his claim that he had coincidentally discovered her after the attack seemed implausible. Likewise, during Darryl Beamish's trial for the wilful murder of 22-year-old heiress Jillian Brewer (who was attacked while she slept), the offence was not placed in the context of the series of assaults that Cooke had committed against other women asleep in their homes.

The location and interviewing of the other, surviving, victims of Cooke and the creation of a detailed analysis of his life and criminal career produced the narrative history, Broken Lives. This work had a powerful impact on the public discourse about jurisprudence in Western Australia and the process of completing it created relationships between justice advocates in the fields of journalism and the legal profession which provided the impetus for a renewed campaign to clear Button and Beamish.

During the writing of Broken Lives, Blackburn had severely depleted her finances and had disposed of assets to fund the research required for the book. During the period 1992-1998, in addition to occasional work relieving as a government media officer, she engaged in part-time work as a public relations officer at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, and taught English and Journalism courses.

Following the initial publication of Broken Lives in 1998, Blackburn became the recipient of a number of awards, the most significant being the Medal of the Order of Australia and a Walkley Award. Renewed public interest in the cases led to several appearances in the electronic media, including on ABC Television's high-profile programme, Australian Story. This increased media profile afforded an opportunity to engage in paid public speaking and invitations to contribute to true-crime anthologies.

Blackburn also assisted in the preparation of the appeal cases for John button and Darryl Beamish and acted as media liaison for the defence team during the preparation for and hearing of the appeals. In 2002, this epic story of Western Australian jurisprudence, begun with the events of the late 1950's and early 1960's, came to a conclusion: the conviction of John Button for manslaughter was quashed. Darryl Beamish's wilful murder conviction was quashed in 2005.

[edit] Further work and studies

In 2007, Blackburn's next book, The End of Innocence, was published. A partial autobiography (memoir), it revisited the topics covered in Broken Lives and told the story of the investigation which produced it. This work contained a background story of Blackburn's own experience of violence at the time of writing her first book. Blackburn speculated that a former partner may have been the offender responsible for the Claremont serial murders. This attracted media attention and led to further appearances on radio and television programmes (including a return to Australian Story).

Blackburn is currently (2008) a PHD candidate at Murdoch University on a Murdoch University scholarship. The PhD dissertation explores the methods and ethics of investigative journalism and the benefits and difficulties of literary journalism, using the writing of Broken Lives as a case study.

[edit] Awards

Blackburn has received the following awards and honours:

  • Medal of the Order of Australia. Date granted: 10 June 2002 Citation: "For service to the community through investigative journalism in Western Australia."
  • Perth Press Club Award for sustained excellence in journalism in 1999.
  • Western Australian Media Alliance's Clarion Award for the greatest contribution to journalism in 1999
  • Magazine Publishers' Association Story of the Year in 2002 for The Story of Broken Lives, HQ Magazine.
  • Brownes Yoghurt Woman of the Year (Western Australia) Award 2005 (Inaugural recipient): Citation: "Estelle Blackburn is a courageous woman who without a second thought impoverished herself to fight the cause of strangers. Estelle showed that she was an extraordinary woman when John Button was exonerated as a result of her expose Broken Lives. She demonstrated the power a single individual has to alter history and improve society at a fundamental level. Estelle again displayed her determination in the Darryl Beamish case. Against all odds she successfully fought to rectify one of Australia’s worst injustices. Here was a woman with no legal training and armed only with extraordinary qualities of courage and who took on the system and won. Because of Estelle Blackburn’s vision, hard work and self-sacrifice the justice system may have been set on a truer course."
  • Inclusion in Lotterywest/Scoop Magazine's list of the 25 most inspirational Australians for 2003.
  • Churchill Fellowship in 2007 to research Innocence Projects and other organisations helping the wrongfully convicted in USA/Canada and the UK.

[edit] Published Works

  • A condensed version of Broken Lives was published by Readers Digest, Australia and New Zealand, in Encounters in November, 2002.
  • Blackburn, Estelle (2007). The End of Innocence. Hardie Grant. ISBN 1740661621. 
  • Blackburn, Estelle (2000). "The WA Bikie Wars", in Malcolm Brown: Bombs Guns and Knives; Violent Crime in Australia. New Holland. ISBN 1864366680. 
  • Blackburn, Estelle (2002). "Righting Wrongs", in Stephen Tanner: Journalism: Investigation & Research. Pearson Education Australia. ISBN 073399931X. 
  • Blackburn, Estelle (2007). "Dancing With Strangers", in Deborah Fleming: Australian Story - Off the Record. ABC Books. ISBN 978 0 7333 21344. 
  • Blackburn, Estelle (March 2001), “The Story of Broken Lives”, HQ Magazine .

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes and References

  1. ^ The End of Innocence, p.18
  2. ^ "I enjoyed...journalism and made a good living. But I wouldn't have been remembered for it. Eveything I did for the West Australian or the ABC had been transitory - newspapers becoming fish-and-chips wrapping and electronic stories disappearing into thin air...A book would let me write something meaningful, from the heart. And it would be enduring. My name would live on - even if only high on a dusty shelf of the State Library - rather than be lost to the recycling bin or the ether."- Blackburn, quoted from The End of Innocence, pp 18-19.
  3. ^ Western Australian Premier's Book Awards - 1999 Winners. State Library of Western Australia (11 June 2007). “Historical & Critical Studies Broken Lives”

[edit] External Links

2002
Transcript of Interview from Episode Murder He Wrote - Part 1 (Broadcast 8:00pm on Monday, 29 July, 2002.)
Transcript of Interview from Episode Murder He Wrote - Part 2 (Broadcast 8:00pm on Monday, 5 August, 2002.)
2007
Transcript of Interview from Episode Before You Leap - Part 1 (Broadcast 8:00pm on Monday, 5 November, 2007.)
Transcript of Interview from Episode Before You Leap - Part 2 (Broadcast 8:00pm on Monday, 12 November , 2007.)
Persondata
NAME Estelle Blackburn
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Investigative Journalist
DATE OF BIRTH 1950-03-01
PLACE OF BIRTH Perth, Western Australia
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH