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 mourning family seek answers from Magistrate and Broken Hill Coroner Geoff Dunlevy when their loved one is found dead in the desert after wandering from his car. In Dubbo, NSW Deputy State Coroner Paul MacMahon must inquire into the death of a local man and the three fruit pickers accused of killing him.

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.

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.