Outback Coroner

In May 2011, the Northern Territory Coroner, Greg Cavanagh, was forced to officially close Mount Bundy Cattle Station due to a death attributed to arsenic poisoning. What ensued was a series of events that brought into question the validity of two government investigations across two state borders that nearly destroyed a family and crippled their business.

A camping trip on inland waters near Inverell, NSW goes seriously wrong when the group’s boat overturns, claiming the lives of Jane Clitheroe and four-year-old Elizabeth Tucker. Grieving families relive the experience as Magistrate and Moree Coroner Michael Holmes ensures a tragedy like this never happens again.

NSW Deputy State Coroner Paul MacMahon and NSW Acting State Coroner Hugh Dillon enquire into two missing persons cases at opposite ends of NSW – the disappearance of a farmer near Wagga Wagga and that of an 18 year-old girl in the small country town of Bellingen.

Tasmanian Magistrate and Coroner Stephen Carey investigates a tragic marine accident involving two cray fishermen off the coast of Port Davey and Northern Territory Coroner Greg Cavanagh conducts an enquiry into a fatal road accident involving three of Australia’s most eminent architects.

Former NSW State Coroner Mary Jerram travels to the town of Griffith for an inquiry into a neighbourhood dispute that has resulted in a death, while Dr Peter Smart performs one of the most confronting procedures faced by a recently bereaved family – the autopsy.

In the northern town of Burnie, Tasmania, Magistrate and Coroner Don Jones inquires into two coronial cases – a retired hobby farmer whose car was hit by a freight train and the unsolved disappearance of bushwalker Susan Maddern. Meanwhile, NSW Deputy State Coroner Paul MacMahon conducts an inquest into a young family who died in a light plane crash.

In Alice Springs, the violent death of a woman leads Northern Territory Coroner Greg Cavanagh to investigate duty of care issues surrounding mental health in the community. Also in Alice Springs, he inquires into a death in custody, as the family of the deceased question the prison system’s treatment of their loved one.