A move is afoot to try and locate the grave of Australian journalist Roger East who was killed when Indonesia invaded the Portuguese Timor capital , Dili , in l975. Furthermore, it has been suggested a monument should be raised honouring East on or before next year's 50th anniversary of the invasion.
There is already a small Roger East plaque which was arranged by his family in 2000.
Nearby is another memorial to that fateful day in 1975, marking the start of the attack on Dili , shown below .
The wide ranging discussions on the subject have included the suggestion that Australian actor Anthony LaPaglia be asked to play a leading part in the campaign .
He played East in the film, Balibo, about the five members of the Australian news team killed on October 16 , l975 , at the start of the incursion , based on Cover Up, the book by Shirley Shackleton , whose television reporter husband, Greg, was one of those murdered.
In the attempt to find the exact spot where East was supposedly buried after being shot and thrown into the sea on December 8, l975, it has even been suggested that a US Department of Defence organisation , based in Hawaii , which looks for the missing in action graves of 80,000 Americans, might become involved in a roundabout way .
This is because there is a site in Dili, not far from where East was possibly interred , which might contain the remains of Japanese, Australian and American airmen . Ground probing radar could be used in the hunt for East's remains.
One of those discussing the proposal is Darwin agronomist Robert Wesley-Smith , deeply involved in the East Timor struggle , who re- enacted Roger East being shot and thrown into the sea , below , on the 20th anniversary -
Wes , 82, has just produced a 44pp , illustrated booklet ,Timor Tales, about the long , bloody struggle , which includes articles he wrote over the years , some poems by Timorese , 1942 photos of Dili , a map used by Australian commandoes during WWll and even a photo of the brave November 28,1975 universal declaration of independence in Dili , Roger East , in shorts, visible with a camera at the historic event . Wes produced an earlier E-book, 117 Days in Timor .
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Hot off the press Timor Tales , Sam Kruger and Yamamoto plus Other Stories . The person featured on the cover is the late Sam Kruger who , while in charge of radio communications on Guadalcanal during WW2, is said to have played a part in Operation Vengeance, the shooting down by Americans of the plane in which Japan's Admiral- in - Chief Isoruku Yamamoto , mastermind of the attack on Pearl Harbour, was travelling. Kruger was also involved in the early days of the East Timor struggle ; he spent time in the Northern Territory and was buried at Alice Springs .
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Wesley-Smith has passed on information about East's likely grave site he has gleaned from various sources . He firmly believes the Australian Embassy in Timor - Leste should become involved in the search .
Recently Melbourne activist, John Waddingham , keeper of the East Timor clearing house archive , came to Darwin, went to Timor- Leste . He is due back in Darwin in the coming week and will stay with Wesley-Smith .
Human rights advocate and author , Pat Walsh , who wrote The Day Hope and History Rhymed in East Timor , plus other pieces on East Timor, went to Timor Leste this year and made inquiries , especially in relation to a possible burial site near a major government building .
A former priest , he lived in East Timor for 10 years and with the suport of the United Nations helped set up and run the ground breaking reconciliation commission .
It is hoped that Timor- Leste president , Jose Ramos- Horta , a Nobel Peace Laureate , will become involved in the Roger East proposal. The Australian Journalists' Association has been informed .
A veteran reporter with experience in several overseas troublespots , Roger East came to Darwin after Cyclone Tracy and met up with old reporter friend , Peter Blake ,they both having worked on the Hong Kong Star , a Darwin independent newspaper named after The Star .
East went to Timor to investigate what happened to the Balibo 5. His despatches about the worsening situation were flown back to Darwin by plane , where they were picked up by a woman at the airport , photocopied , and distributed to news outlets, including Australian Associated Press .
In a lighthearted covering note to one , he described himself as his mother's favourite son , who was being shot at from many angles.
A Balibo Five-Roger East Fellowship, an initiative of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance and Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA -was set up to promote journalism in Timor Leste .
(Timor,East,Hawaii.)
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