© ATOM 2014 A STUDY GUIDE BY MARGUERITE O’HARA
http://www.metromagazine.com.au
ISBN: 978-1-74295-533-9 http://www.theeducationshop.com.au CONTENTS 2 CURRICULUM GUIDELINES 3 THE CRIME GENRE 5 MAP OF THE AREA 6 CAST AND CREW 7 PRE-VIEWING ACTIVITY 7 SYNOPSIS 7 STUDENT ACTIVITIES: WATCHING, REFLECTING AND RESPONDING 11 RESOURCES AND REFERENCES
CURRICULUM GUIDELINES
Catching Milat is a dramatic reconstruction of how mem- bers of the NSW Police Department tracked down and secured the conviction of a notorious killer Ivan Milat. His murderous spree took place over a number of years in the early 1990s. While the film does show something of how Milat is thought to have operated and managed to escape detection for some years, the program is more concerned with the police enquiry (catching Milat); how the investigat- ing team were able to link his movements and behaviour to the murders through a meticulous process of gathering INTRODUCTION evidence and following up earlier leads.
Catching Milat is a two-part drama based on the events surrounding the investigation that led to the arrest and conviction of serial killer Ivan Milat. Most characters play the roles of actual people, but certain events and charac- ters have been created or changed for dramatic effect.
Incorporating stylised flashbacks and archival footage, Catching Milat is a television mini-series that returns viewers to a time when backpacking was a rite-of-pas- sage for young people eager to explore the world.
Ivan Milat was arrested in 1994. Catching Milat is the story of the men who brought him to justice. Catching Milat is based on the book Sins of the Brother by Mark Whittaker and Les Kennedy.
The program was filmed entirely around Sydney, at loca- tions including Parramatta, Wattle Grove, St Ives, Terrey
Hills and inner-suburban Balmain and Glebe. SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2014
Twenty years have passed since Ivan Milat was jailed in 1994 for the murders of seven backpackers in NSW in the early nineties. The story told in this program drama- tises how the investigation unfolded over 6 months from October 1993 when Task Force Air was established to find the killer of these young backpackers. 2 The program would be of interest to senior and tertiary students of Legal Studies, Criminology and Media Studies. For students of Legal Studies and Criminology it provides a fascinating case study of the nature of the work of a police enquiry, revealing the time-consuming work required to establish a compelling and legally secure case against a suspect, revealing how sound research, forensic evidence, meticulous checking of older reports and checking leads from the public, cohesive team work and gut human in- stincts were all part of a successful murder enquiry.
The program illustrates the kind of tensions that can develop during a police enquiry amongst the investigating officers on the taskforce who were under pressure to find the killer.
Catching Milat also establishes a compelling picture of the relationship inside the Milat family, and in particular of Ivan Milat. While the program does not attempt to determine THE CRIME GENRE the reasons for Milat’s actions, it offers a chilling picture of a man whose motivations remain unclear, a disturbed thrill killer with very odd attitudes to women in particular. Milat, WHY ARE WE DRAWN TO who is serving seven consecutive life sentences for the 1 CRIME DRAMAS? murders, still denies having killed these young people. The question about whether Ivan Milat worked alone has never been ascertained one way or another, though he alone Why do many of us enjoy watching crime shows on televi- was charged and convicted of the murders. sion, whether based on true crimes or about fictionalised people and events? ‘The Backpacker Murders’ have become etched into Australian folklore where the bush and the highway be- From Shakespeare’s Macbeth to Breaking Bad many of us come the hunting ground for individuals to prey on inno- are drawn to dramas about a range of villains and their ex- cent young people. Elements of the 2005 Australian horror treme behaviour, individuals who enact their darkest desires, film ‘Wolf Creek’ play on the fears felt by young backpack- who go where most of us would never go. You only need to ers and their families hitching rides on country roads. Mick observe the crowds who sometimes gather to watch and Taylor, the menacing killer in this film is thought to have even film accidents and crime scenes to see evidence of been partly based on Ivan Milat. With the murders taking morbid curiosity about violence, perpetrators and victims. place in wooded forest country, the victims, all young backpackers picked up while hitching a lift on the Hume Most crime stories naturally have all the elements that make Highway, being driven into the forest where they are bru- for a compelling narrative: life, death, freedom, and justice. tally murdered — this is the stuff of nightmares. The open road leads into the bush that becomes the lonely and Do crime dramas stimulate and then release our deepest hidden final resting place of these young victims, a place fears and fantasies? where screams cannot be heard. The program explores how difficult it was to track down this when many of the Crime dramas may show us something about how the bodies remained undiscovered for some years and there criminal justice system works — and when, how and why it were few witnesses to Milat’s activities. doesn’t. They can show us what the process of investigat- ing and identifying suspects really involves within the rules There are three main areas of interest in this program: operating under the law. They can also show us the time intensive cross-checking and following-up of tip-offs and 1 The process established by Task Force Air to identify leads. And they can provide a glimpse of the role of tech- and charge Ivan Milat with these crimes nology and know-how, revealing the increasingly important 2 How Ivan Milat and his family are represented in the role forensic and especially DNA evidence play in achieving program a conviction, even in so-called ‘cold cases’. However, many SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2014 3 The tensions that developed between the members of crime shows understandably telescope much of this often the Task Force tedious work for dramatic purposes.
In addition there are questions raised about the number What do you think are the main reasons why crime dramas, of guns the Milats owned and used for ‘hunting’. (In 1996 whether novels, plays, film or television remain amongst the stricter gun laws were introduced into Australia following most popular forms of entertainment, not just in Australia, the Port Arthur massacre) but all over the world? 3 criminals and their often highly glamorised lifestyles and not so much with the processes involved in arresting the criminals. How realistic their depictions of these individuals’ lives are is debatable. Catching Milat is different: essentially concerned with how the police collected information and enough evidence to result in a successful prosecution of their suspect.
Other television crime series such as Broadchurch also focus on the search for a killer within a community, with false leads and media intervention along the way before the killer is finally caught. Others have a stronger interest in the personal lives of the police investigators and lawyers who secure convictions, such as Law and Order and Scott and Bailey. However, it is not uncommon today for crime dramas to include aspects of all these elements, sometimes with a lone detective or a pair of police officers solving the case.
Catching Milat is not a ‘Whodunit’ or even a ‘Howdunit’. It is a true crime story that dramatises the events, recreat- ing the search for the killer. It is not a documentary film, although it does include television footage from the time. Many viewers will recognise the name Ivan Milat and the place in the Southern Highlands of NSW where the murders were committed and the bodies discovered — the Belanglo State Forest. The crimes became known as the ‘Backpacker Murders’, putting fear into hitchhikers and their families, particularly overseas backpackers. Many of us may recog- nise Milat from media images (his hatted, gun-toting ‘selfie’ must be one of the best-known and chilling images of any individual), know what he did, when, where and to some DRAMATISING TRUE extent how; what we don’t really know about is the investiga- 2 CRIME STORIES tive process that eventually identified him as the killer and ensured that the prosecution could gain a conviction.
The stories told in many crime novels, plays, films and We will probably never know why Ivan Milat went on this television dramas are often drawn from real events and real killing spree. He has never admitted his guilt and is serving people. A writer may have read a brief report in a newspaper multiple concurrent life sentences in Goulburn jail, his file and used this information as the basis for a story. In some marked ‘never to be released’. cases, the crime may have been high-profile and attracted a lot of media attention, speculation and interest. Cases such as the ‘backpacker murders’ of the early 1990s in NSW generated a great deal of media attention as bodies were discovered in the Belanglo State Forest. In 1994, when Ivan Milat was arrested, charged and found guilty of these appall- ing and seemingly random acts of terrible violence, there was a sense of relief, particularly amongst the parents of young holiday makers and visitors to Australia. Many people were both shocked and fascinated by these apparently motive- less crimes committed by someone who did not know these SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2014 young victims, whose only motive appeared to be for the thrill of killing or to express some kind of hatred and con- tempt for young people, especially women.
While many crime programs on television such as the recently screened and very popular Underbelly series are based on real events, they tend to be more interested in the 4 WHY WATCH AND STUDY A POLICE 3 DRAMA? secure a conviction. A task force was established, rewards were offered and a team of investigators set about cross- checking all possible leads. We are witness to the often While many of us regularly watch crime dramas on televi- tedious processes involved in police work as opposed to sion and enjoy working out who the perpetrator is and how the sometimes rather sensationalised intuitive sleuthing he or she is caught, teachers may be reluctant to use crime often shown in 1 hour television dramas where the crime is dramas in a teaching situation, seeing them as principally committed, the suspect arrested, tried and convicted within escapist entertainment. However, some police shows are a very brief time frame. very good at reflecting the complexities of social and politi- cal issues in a society, whether their story is drawn from Popular culture, particularly as it is represented in televi- true crime or fictional stories. The three series of East West sion dramas and reality shows, is enjoyed and watched by 101 presented a complex picture of western Sydney com- a range of people. Increasingly it is through television that munities where ethnic tensions were part of everyday life. people not only get their information but also form opin- Historical crime dramas such as the Miss Fisher series and ions and develop views, both within their own societies the Dr. Blake mysteries can reveal a great deal about how and globally. While there is often an ‘identifier’ element in people lived and how crimes were solved in the past. our enjoyment of police shows — ‘that could be me or my children’, ‘how creepy is that guy’ — they can also reveal a Catching Milat is a dramatised account of how a serial killer great deal about the different worlds inhabited by the crimi- was finally caught. It presents the dynamics of the Milat nals, the police and the victims and their families. In cases family, the police process of tracking suspects and the such as the ‘backpacker murders’ or the Joanne Lees/Peter terrible grief of the families of the young people who went Falconio/Bradley Murdoch case, there is often a sense that missing while travelling. These elements are explored within the randomness of these violent crimes could make any SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2014 a thoroughly believable suburban world of barbecues and of us victims. In truth, despite the enormous media cover- strangely dysfunctional and often disturbing family dynam- age of these violent acts, serial killings make up less than ics. The phrase ‘the banality of evil’ comes to mind as we 1% of all homicides in Australia. Most victims of homicides observe the Milats. The focus in this program is on how are known to their killers, either family members or associ- this killer was caught and convicted — a police procedural. ates; the loner who abducts and murders for the thrill of it It took many months of painstaking work by the police is of course the one we most fear. They do not come with a task force to finally gather enough watertight evidence to ‘Beware, I am a murderer’ sign. 5 PRE-VIEWING ACTIVITY
Before watching this program, share your responses to the following questions about crime dramas.
1 Name any television police dramas you have watched that you consider offer a fairly realistic picture of how the police go about their business. 2 Name any crime shows that you believe offer a real- istic picture of criminals and the way they operate. 3 List any police shows you watch, such as Law and Order, Crime Scene Investigation, Criminal Minds, Boardwalk Empire, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, The Wire, Breaking Bad, Dexter or any other drama that is about crime and policing. Identify what style of crime drama each one represents — is it primarily a police procedural, about the day-to-day activities of a particular squad, station or unit, about the char- acters and lives of the police or investigators, about the criminals and their lives and/or about the society in which the series or program is set? 4 Are crime dramas more satisfying when the per- petrators of crimes are made accountable for their crimes, caught and convicted, i.e. a cathartic conclusion where evil is punished and the mystery solved? SYNOPSIS 5 What do you think is the fundamental appeal of many crime stories and dramas about law and polic- A psychological thriller and procedural drama, Catching Milat ing? In what ways can recent television crime shows is a dramatised version of the story of the investigation into such as Breaking Bad, The Killing and The Wire be the 1990s New South Wales backpacker murders leading to said to be re-defining the crime genre in going well the arrest and conviction of serial killer Ivan Milat against a beyond the ‘who done it?’ formula? backdrop of intense media pressure and public fear. 6 Do you think audiences generally enjoy watching depictions of violence and even savagery in relation After the bodies of backpackers are discovered in Belanglo to crime dramas? If you think some of us do get a State Forest, New South Wales, Police unit Task Force Air kick out of watching violent crimes on screen, do begins its search for a murderer. Ultimately the bodies of you think this is a relatively recent phenomenon? seven backpackers are found.
Task Force Air’s only evidence is Ruger rifle ammunition from the crime scene. Superintendent Clive Small heads up the investigation. With the help of forensic clues, tip-offs from the public and a complex computer system, police while hitchhiking. It is the vital clue police have been investigate thousands of leads and possible suspects. searching for, but it provides a dilemma. Small can arrest Ivan for the armed robbery of Onions, but there is no di- Task force member Detective Senior Constable Paul rect evidence linking Ivan to the murders. If Small doesn’t Gordon is an old school detective who relies on gut instinct. arrest him, Ivan may dump evidence and their opportunity When the Milat file comes Gordon’s way, he quickly helps could be lost forever. Small takes a gamble. identify Ivan Milat as a suspect, but is frustrated when Small insists on more evidence before putting Ivan Milat un- On 22 May 1994, police raid the Milat family homes and der surveillance. Wary of tunnel vision, Small wants Gordon Detective Gordon is one of the arresting officers of Ivan to investigate every reason why Ivan is not the killer. Milat. Fears grow that the operation is doomed until a Ruger trigger assembly is found hidden in a wall cavity. SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2014 As Gordon continues his enquiries, Small fears Gordon is Ivan Milat is the killer they are looking for. jeopardising the case with his direct approaches to Ivan’s colleagues. Small’s concerns are soon confirmed when Ivan A newspaper article reports that lone detective, Paul becomes aware of the task force’s interest in him. Gordon, is responsible for cracking the Belanglo case. Furious, Small accuses Gordon of not being a team player The case stalls until Gordon helps discover Paul Onions, and jeopardising the case. Small kicks him off the task an English backpacker who escaped after being attacked force. Gordon is devastated. 6 BELANGLO STATE FOREST
MAP OF THE AREA Above: Map of the NSW Southern Highlands BELANGLO STATE FOREST showing The Hume
Belanglo State Forest is predominately a pine plantation SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2014 Highway, the Belanglo with some areas of native forest around the edges. Just over State Forest and the an hour’s drive from Sydney, it is a popular recreation spot. closest towns including Forests in this area are a mixture of pine plantations and na Bowral where Task Force - Air was established. tive forests. The first radiata pines were planted in this area in 1919. Today there are around 3,500 hectares of commercial pine plantations in the southern highlands with timber being processed at a local mill. There are fire tracks going off the BELANGLOmain road, mainly used STATE by forest workers, timber cutters and FOREST people bushwalking or orienteering. 7 CAST AND CREW Milat in 1990. ARTIE BIGMAN (played by John Brumpton) is a fictional character, a IVAN MILAT’S FAMILY workmate of Ivan’s. DES BUTLER (played by Michael Denkha) is a work colleague of IVAN MILAT (played by Mal Kennard) was convicted of seven Richard Milat who contacts Crime Stoppers about the Milat family murders and one offence of detaining for advantage. He is and their gun collection and shooting activities. serving seven consecutive life sentences plus six years. CHALINDER HUGHES (played by Leah Vandenberg) is Ivan’s girlfriend ALEX MILAT (played by Alan Flower) is Ivan’s oldest brother and a workmate of Ivan’s sister Shirley. who provided a statement to police about seeing a possible RUTH KILMARTEN (played by Lizzie Schebesta) is a fictional abduction of two women in Belanglo State Forest. character; a crime journalist following the backpacker murders DAVID ‘BODGE’ MILAT (played by Ben Geurens) is Ivan’s younger investigation. brother who lived with his mum at the family home in PHILIP POLGLASE (played by Steve Le Marquand) is a friend of David Guildford. ‘Bodge’ Milat who claimed to police to have seen Ivan with a KAREN MILAT (played by Sacha Horler) is Ivan’s ex-wife who bloody knife. was interviewed by police prior to Ivan’s arrest in 1994. BRUCE PRYOR (played by Steve Anderton) is a Bundanoon local who MARGARET MILAT (played by Carole Skinner) is the matriarch of finds the bodies of Deborah Everist and James Gibson. the Milat family, mother to 14 children. THERESE (played by Linda Ngo) and MARY (played by Millie Samuels) RICHARD MILAT (played by Fletcher Humphrys) is Ivan’s younger are two Australian hitchhikers who were attacked in 1977 on their brother. way to Canberra. Their story surfaces during an ABC Four Corners SHIRLEY SOIRE (played by Leeanna Walsman) is Ivan’s youngest report in 1994. No police reports were ever made or charges laid. sister who was living with Ivan at the time of his arrest. MARGARET (played by Sage Scott) and GRETA (played by Sophie WALLY MILAT (played by Daniel Krige) is Ivan’s youngest brother. Irvine). Ivan was charged with their rape in 1971, but was found not guilty when doubt was thrown on the prosecution’s case. JOANNE WALTERS (played by Cecelia Peters) was Welsh and MEMBERS OF THE INVESTIGATION CAROLINE CLARKE (played by Mavournee Hazel) was British. They disappeared on 18 April 1992, the last victims to disappear SUPERINTENDENT CLIVE SMALL (played by Geoff Morrell) leads the and the first bodies to be discovered in Belanglo State Forest in task force into the backpacker murders (Task Force Air) after a 1992. legendary career working on some of Australia’s most high profile DEBORAH EVERIST (played by Hayley Mitchelhill-Miller) and JAMES cases. This role was seen as a poisoned chalice as the chances of GIBSON (played by Brendan Merdzan): the remains of the success were slim. Victorian backpackers were found in Belanglo State Forest in DETECTIVE SENIOR CONSTABLE PAUL GORDON (played by Richard 1993 after their disappearance on 30 December 1989. Cawthorne) is one of the detectives who joins Task Force Air after SIMONE SCHMIDL (played by Natalia Ladyko) was a German back- a few months and soon after is handed the Milat file. His hunch packer who disappeared on 20 January 1991. Her remains were about Milat drives him through until he finally arrests Ivan Milat. found in Belanglo State Forest in 1993. DETECTIVE NEIL BIRSE (played by David Field) is a fictional character: GABOR NEUGEBAUER (played by Milan Pulvermacher) and ANJA an investigator on the case when the first bodies are discovered. HABSCHIED (played by Charlotte Chimes) were German back- DR MIRIAM BENTLEY (played by Helen Thomson) is a fictional packers. Their bodies were the last to be found in Belanglo State character: a forensic pathologist and psychiatrist who provides a Forest in 1993. They had disappeared on 26 December 1991. profile of the potential killer. PAUL ONIONS (played by Alex Williams) is the British backpacker who DETECTIVE MARK CAMENZULI (played by Salvatore Coco) is a fic- escaped Milat after Ivan offered him a lift and years later was able tional character, who is Paul Gordon’s partner on Task Force Air. to identify him, which helped to convict Milat. DETECTIVE INSPECTOR BOB GODDEN (played by Luke Ford) is the senior investigator involved in the investigation of the first bodies to be found. DETECTIVE ROYCE GORMAN (played by Richard Sutherland) manages VICTIMS’ PARENTS the team of detectives in Task Force Air investigating a ‘person of interest’. RAY (played by Mark Kilmurry) and JILL WALTERS (played by DETECTIVE INSPECTOR ROD LYNCH (played by Craig Hall) is second Lucy Bell) are Welsh: Joanne Walters’ parents, who travelled in command to Superintendent Clive Small on Task Force Air. to Australia to search for their daughter and Caroline Clarke. CONSTABLE JANET NICHOLSON (played by Julia Billington) is the MANFRED (played by Julian Pulvermacher) and ANKE constable at the Bowral Police Station who takes the initial report NEUGEBAUER (played by Anja Raith) are German and the from Paul Onions in 1990. parents of Gabor Neugebauer. They travelled to Australia to SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2014 SERGEANT GERARD DUTTON (played by Steve Vella) is a ballistics search for their son and Anja Habschied. They returned to expert involved in the investigation. Germany with no news of the whereabouts of their son.
OTHER CHARACTERS PRESENT AT THE MEMORIAL
JOANNE BERRY (played by Ingrid Kleinig) is the woman who rescues PATRICIA EVERIST is Deborah Everist’s mother. Paul Onions on the Hume Highway after his escape from Ivan RAY AND PEGGY GIBSON are James Gibson’s parents. 8 STUDENT ACTIVITIES: • At this early stage, list the range of visual materials the WATCHING, REFLECTING filmmakers are using to tell this story? • How well does the integration of archival television AND RESPONDING and print news footage from the time integrate with the dramatised reconstructions of witness accounts and • How is this story told and developed by the filmmakers dramatic representations about what happened, based over the two episodes? on available evidence? • What materials were available for the filmmakers to • What do the scenes of life at the Milat family houses draw on to construct: reveal about the family dynamic? What insights do they (a) The narrative of Milat’s crimes and provide into Ivan Milat? (b) The work of the police Task Force Air in catching • Identify any scenes or interactions between Ivan Milat Milat? and others that suggest there is something menacing about him. What does the photo he took of himself ώώ EPISODE 1 — an early selfie — suggest about how he thought of himself and liked to be regarded? What are some of the OPENING SCENES qualities he displays and what do others say about Ivan, i.e. his workmates and family? The opening scenes of any drama must capture the audi- • What do the multiple injuries to the victims suggest ence’s interest and establish something crucial about the story. Often, a dramatic scene will precede the title card to set up viewer curiosity. In a 2 part program, dramatic recapitulations are important as reminders of what has hap- KEY CREW pened earlier. Co-producer and Director: Peter Andrikidis: an award winning director of numerous television dramas, including You know I think you’re the first real Aussie bloke I’ve met Wildside, East West 101, Underbelly, Killing Time, Brothers in — British backpacker Paul Onions to Ivan Milat (‘Bill’) who Arms and Fat Tony. offered him a lift. Executive Producers: Rory Callaghan and Julie McGauran • Describe who, what, where and when the incident with
Producer: Kerrie Mainwaring SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2014 Milat and a young backpacker took place. • What does this pre-title sequence reveal about Milat’s Director of Photography: Joseph S. Pickering modus operandi? Production Designer: Tim Ferrier After the film title — CATCHING MILAT— appears on the screen, the story moves forward two years with a news Costume Designer: Jenny Miles report about German backpackers who have gone missing without a trace. Editor: Nicole La Macchia 9 One of the main reasons foreign tourists give for coming to Australia is they see us as a safe country. How then to explain two young German backpackers vanishing without trace? As Jane Hanson finds, there’ve been other mysterious disappearances that raise grave fears of a criminal pattern. In the last 18 months six international tourists have gone missing in Australia without a trace, and the latest case is that of missing German couple, Gabor Neugebauer and Anja Habschied. They’ve been missing since Christmas. 1992 CURRENT AFFAIRS TELEVISION PROGRAM
about the killer’s state of mind? houses that will eventually incriminate him? • After the police call off their search of the Belanglo • Describe what is so odd about older brother Alex Milat’s State Forest for bodies, whose discovery in the forest detailed account of what he claims to have seen some re-opens the search for bodies in October 1993? time back of young women gagged in the back of a car • It was not until the 1980s that police were able to after he left the pistol club. collate and centralise their information on computer • How many days into the Task Force investigation is it databases. before the seventh body is found? In what ways is consolidating all the available data • How do we know that the Milat family was on the ‘po- about possible suspects and earlier police reports into lice radar’ in the first two months of the Air Task Force a database important for the police involved in such a enquiry? complex investigation? • In what ways was the backpacker case believed to be What about all enquiries, arrest records and court cases affecting tourism? How important is backpacker tourism prior to the 1980s? How are police able to access these to the economy? records as they attempt to build up a pattern of offend- • Outline some of the difficulties for police in checking ing by a suspect? How far back does Milat’s pattern of gun ownership records. crimes go? • What is the pattern the police are able to demonstrate • Comment on how the police task force go about their that links the times Ivan Milat was not at work with work in identifying the killer. Why do they need to be the probable times of the murders of the backpackers very careful not to alert any suspects to their activities? between 1989 and 1992? What do they know at this stage in the investigation • What kinds of tensions are suggested between Senior about: Detective Paul Gordon and Chief Inspector Clive a) The number of victims Small as the investigation moves forward? What does
b) The weapon(s) used in the murders each officer see as the best way to proceed with the SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2014 c) How they were killed investigation? d) Possible dates of murders e) Any other forensic evidence that may help to narrow ώώ EPISODE 2 the search? • What do we see in the Milat world that shows us how • What do we see in the opening sequence of Episode he is believed to have operated over several years? 2? In what year is this incident believed to have • What are some of the things stored at his family’s taken place? Why might young hitchhikers have been 10 woman journalist have unintentionally compromised the police case? • Why has a suspicion remained in the minds of some people that Ivan Milat had not acted alone? • When was Milat finally caught and charged and when did his murder trial take place? • For how many days had Task Force Air spent collecting and assessing evidence before they were finally able to raid Ivan Milat’s premises? What assistance might the posting of a large reward have been to the length of time the enquiry took?
ώώ STUDENT ACTIVITY CHARACTERS AND PERFORMANCES
• Make brief notes about what we are shown of each of these four characters— Ivan Milat, Alex Milat, Paul Gordon and Clive Small in several scenes in the two episodes. For the Milat brothers include: family background, work, activities, personality, behaviour, relationships, and reluctant to report such incidents to the police? hobbies. What do you think such reluctance suggests about their For the two police officers include: work ethic, policing own and other people’s attitudes towards hitchhiking? style, priorities and motivation • In what year was Ivan Milat first charged with a violent • Comment on any aspects of each actor’s performance assault? What do the police need to do to check on that you thought were especially strong. In which the court records from this time to establish his prior scenes did these actors demonstrate their understand- history? ing of their charcter in the way they spoke, behaved and • What is the significance of the bullet hole in the car door moved? See Table 1 on the next page. that police discovered under the paintwork? • What vital information does the re-interviewing of the girl who had been driven off the highway into the bush some 17 years earlier provide? • How does the information supplied by Paul Onions and Joanne Berry about the 1990 incident on the highway provide further crucial information that suggests Milat might be the person they are looking for in relation to several crimes? • At this stage in the investigation, what concrete evidence do the police have to charge Ivan with any crimes? • How does Ivan’s reported behaviour to his ex-wife confirm his capacity for extreme sexual violence and sadistic and controlling behaviour? • What is the carefully planned and timed raid on the Milat premises expected to yield as evidence for the police case? • Describe how the raid takes place — when, where and
how. SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2014 • What are the most crucial pieces of evidence the search team finds on the premises? • When interviewed, what does Milat claim about the objects found by the police? • What is the most compelling piece of forensic evidence found that ties the gun to the Belanglo Forest? • How might Detective Paul Gordon’s ‘chat’ with the 11 KEY FIGURES IN THE STORY SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2014
12 THE MEDIA Just before the final credits roll at the end of the series, the 2 — HELP OR HINDRANCE? following text appears on screen: ‘Certain events, scenes and characters have been created or changed for dramatic effect’. What role do the media play in assisting or hindering the police in their work? How might the 4 Corners program and • Return to the character list in this guide to identify other television news reports have assisted or hindered where this dramatic licence occurred. Which of the the police in their work: by keeping the horrors of these characters in the episodes are identified as fictional and murders alive in the public mind or perhaps unintentionally what role does their character perform in the drama? tipping off suspects? What effect might these killings have had on tourism and hitchhiking? How damaging is the fear ώώ FINAL STUDENT ACTIVITIES such apparently random and unsolved crimes cause in the community? How can some media attention have the TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION potential to derail a police enquiry?
Use the quotes from the program scripts on page 14 of this POLICING — MANY APPROACHES guide, your own knowledge and understandings to respond VTO GETTING A RESULT to the following questions. 3
Outline how the different approaches of Senior Detective Paul Gordon and Superintendent Clive Small lead to con- WOMEN IN THIS ‘MAN’S WORLD’ 1 flict amongst some members of the Task Force Air. Why is it so important that members of an enquiry work as a Of the seven young people murdered, five were women. team and do not act as ‘loose canons’ pursuing their own There was some evidence of sexual assault of some of the women, though the amount of time the bodies had remained undiscovered in the forest made this hard to substantiate.
What is the role of women in this world, (apart from five of
Milat’s seven victims being young women? Is Ivan’s mother, SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2014 girlfriend, sister or ex-wife shown to have any awareness of the realities of the secret life of Ivan Milat? Have any of them been subjected to his violence and sadistic behav- iour? What other women are shown in the story?
13 ‘You know the girls like you, don’t you? It’s ‘cause you’re polite. You open doors for them and stuff’. ‘They haven’t found ‘em all. There’s more bodies out there’. ‘The Milats have records and live in the area. They all love guns’. ‘I knew right from the start that in order to convict Ivan Milat... I knew right from the start we didn’t need hero cops...just diligent ones’. ‘Alright, the press, the public, everyone is going to be screaming for answers, demanding that we catch this bloke now. But we will stay calm, do every- thing the right way so that we don’t miss anything. So when we do catch him, no lawyer will be able to agendas and following their own leads? get him off on appeal because we screwed some- thing up. Now this is where we know our killer has been: Belanglo State Forest’ The ‘lone wolf’ police officer is a popular style of character in many police dramas. In what sense can Paul Gordon’s ‘...from my experience I’m aware of the countless approach be related to that of other outsider cops in televi- times young men and women are observed driv- sion police dramas and novels? How is his ‘gut instinct’ ing around the forest, looking for somewhere they approach an appealing and quite believable approach to can have a good time. I didn’t think this were no identifying a suspect in a murder enquiry? different’.
‘...I don’t know how many bodies are out there, Do the filmmakers seem to endorse one approach rather or if we’ll ever find them. There could be dozens. than another in the investigation in the way they portray the Three more bodies, and with each one I think okay, key police figures? alright, alright, now this is new information. One more chance that that bloke’s made a mistake, left Investigate the work of police profilers in contributing to something behind that’ll lead us to him. But that the identification of criminals. How successful are they in damn forest, it’s given us nothing.’ providing a picture of people such as Ivan Milat? ‘The Backpackers’ Probe, and there are grow- ing fears tonight that the grim murder toll in the Belanglo Forest may affect Australia’s reputation abroad. Police heading the investigation are appeal- 4 WHO SAID THAT? ing to the international media to act responsibly.’ ‘One thing that is pretty clear is that there’s been an This activity is probably best done in a group as different escalation in the violence towards the victims. The students will recall certain comments more clearly than first two were just stabbed. By the time he gets to others. these new ones, and the English girls, they’ve been shot multiple times’. Identify who says the following (see inset right). Who are ‘Most of an investigation of this size is not about they speaking to and/or about? What does the remark zeroing in on one suspect. It is about eliminating reveal about the speaker and the subject? who is not the killer. It’s the boring stuff. We’ve got a system in place. You can just start accusing the On screen texts at the end of the program: first person you investigate – zeroing in on one line of inquiry? Tunnel vision. I cannot have this case Milat is serving 7 consecutive life sentences in Goulburn depending on gut feelings. Do you know what a Supermax Prison. His file is marked —Never to be released. SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2014 Defence Counsel would do with that?’ ‘Ivan thinks he’s one of those soldier of fortune Clive Small became Assistant Commissioner of the NSW types. If the world turns to shit, he can look after Police Force. He retired in 2003 after a 38 year distin- himself. With his guns and his knives, living off the guished career. land like Rambo’. ‘Ivan doesn’t like it when people leave him’. Paul Gordon left the NSW Police Force after 16 years service in July, 1995. He now resides in Queensland and is 14 a taxi driver. http://www.abc.net.au/austory/content/2004/s1236866. htm Seven backpackers lost their lives in the Belanglo State Forest. In alphabetical order they were: Image of the Belanglo Memorial Plaque in the state forest, erected in memory of the victims 1 Caroline Clarke — 22 http://www.panoramio.com/photo/38728984 2 Deborah Everist — 19 3 James Gibson — 19 Head of the investigation, Superintendant Clive Small’s 4 Anja Habschied — 21 account of the process leading up to the arrest of 5 Gabor Neugebauer — 22 Ivan Milat in May, 1994. This article — On the trail of 6 Simone Schmidl — 21 a... serial killer was published in the Sydney Morning 7 Joanne Walters — 22 Herald in April, 2014. It is an edited extract from Milat: Inside Australia’s Biggest Manhunt, Clive Small and Tom • While any representation, dramatisation, depiction or Gilling, Allen and Unwin, May, 2014 account of trial proceedings of this case is certain to http://www.smh.com.au/action/printArticle?id=5347578 be distressing to family members and friends, how sensitively do you think Catching Milat deals with the The book Sins of the Brother tells the story of Ivan Milat. It damage to individuals and families whose lives were is the book on which the program is based and de- forever changed by this man and his crimes? Try to put scribes his childhood and his relationship with his large yourself in the shoes of these people. What degree of family, particularly with his brothers. The book examines satisfaction might family and friends have felt after the the events leading up to the killings, the police inves- guilty verdict and sentencing of Ivan Milat? tigations and the aftermath of Milat’s arrest. It draws extensively on personal interviews with members of the Milat family and people involved in the investigations. RESOURCES AND Sins of the Brothers, Mark Whittaker and Les Kennedy, Pan
REFERENCES SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2014 Macmillan, 1998 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1543771. In 2004 the ABC television program Australian Story Sins_of_the_Brother broadcast a two - part program about Ivan Milat — Into the Forest. A transcript of these programs is available A biography of Ivan Milat and his crimes online; Part 2 of this program includes Milat speaking to http://www.biography.com/#!/people/ his sister-in-law by phone from Goulburn jail where he is ivan-milat-17169710#synopsis serving a life sentence with no possibility of parole. 15 Transcript of an FBI symposium on serial killers Read more about the trial of Ivan Milat http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/ http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/predators/ serial-murder milat/15.html
Transcript of a talk by crime writer Andrew Nette about ‘Trophies of a serial killer’. Images of some of the haul of true crime literature. Nette looks at the evolution of the personal belongings taken from Ivan Milat’s house when true crime genre in Australia, from literary approaches he was arrested by Helen Garner and Anna Krien, and serious works http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2633599/ of journalism by Robin De Crespigny and Matthew Trophies-serial-killer-new-photographs-inside-Ivan- Condon, to ‘hit and run’ books. What can a good true Milats-house-Australias-worst-murderer-marks-20- crime book explore, beyond the crime? And why is the years-prison.html genre suddenly so popular? http://wheelercentre.com/dailies/post/e40c5c6bb7fd/
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