<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Five journalists who worked for Australian media networks were killed on October 16, 1975, while reporting from Balibo in East Timor.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Known as the Balibo Five, reporter Greg Shackleton, camera operator Gary Cunningham and sound recordist Tony Stewart of the Seven Network, along with reporter Malcolm Rennie and camera operator Brian Peters from the Nine Network, were killed as they witnesses an Indonesian incursion in the town of Balibo.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A sixth, Roger East, a reporter working for Australian Associated Press and Reuters, was executed in Dili on December 8, 1975.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/woman-charged-alleged-theft-of-wigs-for-children-with-cancer/0b94e827-9ba3-4c4b-af5a-01ba37fcc338" rel="" target="_blank" title=" Woman charged over alleged theft of wigs for kids with cancer in Melbourne"><strong><span>Woman charged over alleged theft of wigs for kids with cancer in Melbourne</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>No one has been brought to justice for their murder.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>They were in East Timor to cover the tumultuous move to self-rule when former Portugal released its colonies, sparking clashes between pro-independence fighters and militias who backed Indonesia.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The situation escalated when the Indonesian military launched its invasion of East Timor.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/today-in-history-october-16-what-happened-on-this-day/5332d76b-3263-46cc-a27f-e2f2d3b272bd" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The five journalists decided to stay in the town of Balibo even though the East Timorese had fled, believing that as journalists they would not be military targets.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>They painted a crude Australian flag on the wall of the house they were staying in, believing it would warn Indonesian troops.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/new-australian-bureau-of-statistics-figures-show-australians-are-delaying-parenthood/26b0427b-9651-419c-a7d5-e2a034bf3d96" target="_blank" title=""><strong><span>New figures show Australians are waiting longer to have children</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But after the heavy bombardment of Balibo early on October 16, the journalists were reported missing.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It took nearly a month before confirmation of their deaths, when a box of human remains was given to Australian diplomats in Jakarta.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>They were later buried in a single coffin in the Indonesian capital, despite calls for the bones to be returned to Australia for forensic examination.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The official Indonesian version is that the men were killed by a crossfire during the battle for the town.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But many others, including the Balibo Five's family and friends, claim they were executed by Indonesian security forces.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/triple-zero-power-outage-victoria-under-investigation/f2105778-45e9-4fca-9967-50a8da7b2f5b" target="_blank" title=""><strong><span>Union hits out at triple zero outage amid 'delays' to new system</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The killings of the Balibo Five cast an ugly shadow over relations between Australia and Indonesia.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The then Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam maintained the journalists had always claimed the men were killed in the crossfire between Indonesian troops and East Timorese independence fighters.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But his critics accused him and his government of covering up the affair to maintain good relations with the Indonesian dictator Suharto.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A NSW coroner in 2007 blamed the deaths on Indonesian special forces soldiers, but said there was no evidence to suggest Whitlam or subsequent Australian governments knew they had been murdered and had covered it up.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A five-year Australian Federal Police war crimes investigation into the deaths of the Balibo Five was closed in 2014, due to insufficient evidence and problems establishing jurisdiction.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span></span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/today-in-history" target="" title="For more from our Today in History archive, click here."><strong><span>For more from our Today in History archive, click here</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f" target="_blank" title=""><strong><em><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></em></strong></a><strong><em><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. 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