Estelle Blackburn
Walkley-Award winning author of 'Broken Lives'.
Profile
Estelle Blackburn is a Walkley Award-winning journalist whose determined sleuthing for her book Broken Lives (1998).led to the overturning of the two longest-standing convictions in Australia in 2002 and 2005.
Author:
Estelle’s passion and self-funded work unearthed fresh evidence that prompted WA’s Attorney General to allow the men new appeals after they had lost a combined total of seven Appeals in the ’60s.
Coming across the story by chance and persisting with it turned Estelle’s life around. From a journalism career with The West Australian, the ABC and WA Government Ministers and a Premier, Estelle has become a crusader for justice. She has worked on further cases, including helping with the exoneration of Andrew Mallard, and is currently working on a 2011 Sydney case and the findings of what’s known as the Canberra Air Disaster of 1940.
She is also re-writing her second book, the writing memoir The End of Innocence, which was launched at the Sydney Writers Festival (2007)
Achievements
Her work for justice has won Estelle an array of awards including an Order of Australia Medal in the Queens Birthday Honours List, for community service through investigative journalism, the prestigious national Walkley Award for the greatest contribution to the profession, the Perth Press Club Award for sustained excellence in journalism, WA’s Woman of the Year, WA’s Citizen of the Year in the Arts, induction into the WA Womens Hall of Fame and a Churchill Fellowship to visit different forms of innocence projects in the USA, Canada and the UK.
She has been the subject of three one-hour episodes of ABC’s Australian Story televised in 1998, 2002 and 2007, a 60 Minutes segment and an episode on the US Forensic Files program titled ‘Dueling Confessions’. A four-episode documentary is currently airing on Stan, and a 6-part drama series is in the works.
Feedback
Excellent speaker. It is not often that you can keep audiences enthralled and attentive for the entire duration of their presentation. Estelle did this and more. She spoke for the required 35 minutes and you could have heard a pin drop until the spontaneous applause at the end of her speech.
We received excellent feeback on Estelle's presentation at the launch of the Australian Corporate lawyer's Awards from both our partners and the guests who attended. Estelle's enthusiasm and commitment were obvious throughout her excellent presentation.
Your passion, perseverance and determination were motivational for all who attended. The feedback from administrators has been very positive and many expressed amazement at your story and the commitment that you have shown to a cause which is quite clearly close to your heart. Once again thank you for an outstanding presentation.
Estelle captivated the audience for the full length of her presentation. Estelle has a great story to tell and is well skilled at presenting it in an entertaining and engaging manner. The feedback received from the event organisers was positive. Many were amazed at her perserverence and determination to succeed at her quest. Thank you for an outstanding presentation.
