Unlike the monstrous Bali bombing recent anniversary , which received extensive coverage , Sunday's 47th anniversary of the murder of two Australian media teams in Balibo , Potuguese Timor,, by invading Indonesians , appears to have been almost completely overlooked .
Darwin had many reasons to mark the tragic Balio event which claimed the lives of Greg Shackleton, Gary Cunningham and Tony Stewart of Channel Seven and Brian Peters and Malcolm Rennie of Channel Nine .
Journalist Jill Jolliffe , who once lived in Darwin , wrote extensively about the Balibo Five, her book about them- Cover Up- later updated, became Balibo-the definitive, true account of a major picture , starring Anthony LaPaglia.
The film was screened in Darwin , at which the following copy of the book was signed by Jill Jolliffe and Australian filmmaker Rob Connolly .
LaPaglia played Australian freelance journalist Roger East who came to Darwin with the head of the Darwin Reconstruction Commission after Cyclone Tracy . He later went to East Timor to investigate the Balibo Five episode and help Fretilin , and was himself shot and thrown into the sea at the capital , Dili .
On the 20th anniversary of East's murder , Darwin activist Robert Wesley-Smith re-enacted the shooting and was himself thrown into the sea.
The above poster , advertising a play about the Balibo Five , on display in the Darwin Press Club, sparked an international incident when an Indonesian television film unit , passing through the Territory capital on the way to the Brisbane Expo , spotted it , and went back home .
Balibo featured in T-shirts turned out during the East Timor struggle for freedom .
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