Estelle Blackburn

Estelle Blackburn (born 1950) is an Australian journalist who played a crucial role in the review of several controversial criminal cases in Western Australia.

Early life Born in 1950 in Nedlands, Western Australia, to Margaret Mercer Blackburn (1920–90) and George Everard Blackburn (1917–82), and younger sister of 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 Primary School from 1957 to 1961. She then attended and completed high school at Methodist Ladies' College, Perth, from 1962 to 1967, obtaining a Western Australian Leaving Certificate with distinctions in the subjects English and Music.

Education and early career 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, she gained 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. While working for WA Newspapers, she completed a Bachelor of Arts degree part-time with a double major in psychology and anthropology. At WA Newspapers she progressed from general news and minor features to coverage of the proceedings of the WA state parliament.

In 1974, she travelled to Europe contributing some articles to Western Australian journals as a freelance correspondent. In 1980, she returned to Perth and joined the ABC as a radio and television reporter.

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. Police at the time didn't make public Cooke's deviation from this.

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 two on ABC Television's high-profile program, Australian Story, in 1998 'Dancing with Strangers' and 2002 'Murder He Wrote'. on 60 Minutes Australia 'Dead Man Talking' and on USA's Forensic Files 'Dueling Confessions'. This increased media profile afforded an opportunity to engage in paid public speaking and invitations to contribute to true-crime anthologies.

Blackburn assisted in preparation of the appeal cases for John Button and Darryl Beamish, and acted as media liaison for the defence team. In 2002, the conviction of John Button for manslaughter was quashed; in 2005, Darryl Beamish's wilful murder conviction was quashed.

The End of Innocence

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. This attracted media attention and led to further appearances on radio and television programmes (including a return to Australian Story in November 2007 'Before You Leap').

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." Walkley Award for Most Outstanding Contribution to Journalism in 2001. This award recognises long-term commitment and achievement in the Australian media. It has been awarded annually since 1994. Western Australian Premier's Book Award in 1999 in the category Historical & Critical Studies for Broken Lives. The Crime Writers Association of Australia's Ned Kelly Award for Best True Crime (Non-Fiction) in 2001 for Broken Lives. Perth Press Club Award for sustained excellence in journalism - 1999 Clarion Award for greatest contribution to the profession, WA - 1999 See Media and Entertainment Alliance, WA. Magazine Publishers' Association Story of the Year - 2002 WA Woman of the Year - 2005 Churchill Fellowship - 2007 to look at innocence projects in UK, US and Canada WA Citizen of the Year in the category of Arts, Culture & Entertainment - 2010 Induction into the inaugural WA Women's Hall of Fame, 100 women, March 2011

Published works

A condensed version of Broken Lives was published by Reader's Digest, Australia and New Zealand, in Encounters in November, 2002, and in 2008

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