Two couples, one visiting from Sydney, were four-wheel driving in the Stockrington area new Newcastle, on Anzac Day morning 1994. The terrain was pretty rough. There were old mining rail lines, now rough tracks, and lots of scrubby bush bristling over undulating land. Stopping at a kind of rough crossroads - an old rail tunnel … Continue reading 30 years ago today – the unsolved murder of Melissa
Imagine being stuck in the worst fortnight of your life and being forced to replay it again and again for three decades. That's what it has felt like for Melissa, who after running from her husband, and running from a former boyfriend, disappeared for a week before being found dead in a dam. Her loved … Continue reading 29 years of shocking replays
Watching Channel 7 and Channel 9 news last night, with reports from Natasha Squarey (7) and Grace Fitzgibbons (9), I saw images I could not recall of police removing Melissa's body from the area of Burrenjim Dam. It reminded me of the initial shock I had in seeing reports of her death on April 26, … Continue reading We should not just have memories…
It was a quiet Sunday afternoon and I was searching for a screwdriver in my ancient toolbox to complete a minor household repair. An aged newspaper clipping that had found its way into the toolbox at some stage, kept getting in the way and I finally focused on it, deciding to straighten it out so … Continue reading When murder infiltrates your life
Today Melissa's photo and story again featured on the pages of The Newcastle Herald, linked by a tragic affinity to an ongoing toll of violent murders of women. This is because I agreed hurriedly to make a few comments on the issue of the long list of murders in the Hunter region. Our family has … Continue reading Tragic affinity with Hunter murder toll
Anzac Day 1994, 9.15pm. I am sitting on the side of the bed in our house in Calwell contemplating getting an early night. The phone next to me rings. I pick it up and say hello, and hear my father's voice. My memory now shifts to a view of myself sitting hunched over, head in … Continue reading It doesn’t take a war to take a life
Melissa, I remember clearly standing here in the torrential rain, as we lowered your body into the ground to be buried and baptised at the same time.The bottomless ache and overwhelming senselessness were disregarded by a deluge somehow fitting for an ill-begotten time.We still remember, we still seek justice and I still fight murderers in … Continue reading Melissa, it’s not finished yet
The unsolved murder of Melissa Hunt 