Your opinions please

Keith Webb · #1 29-04-09, 11:38

Have a look at this TV segment - it was broadcast on April 26th 2009, the day after ANZAC Day.
link

You'll need to click on the 'Tomb raider' story. I'm not sure how long this link is going to be valid.

I supplied them with air to air footage of the Hudson following a request without knowing the content of the story beyond it being about a crash.

Be interested to hear your impressions on the bias of the reporter and how he handles the chap from the museum.

I'll let you know what I think after a few responses.

Bob McNeill · #2 29-04-09, 12:10

Watched that, more questions than answers. If four fellows are buried there why was the site not declared a grave. IF nobody records or preserves any thing, nothin will remain when the goverment decides to list the site. the people in charge should be ashamed [ but they ain,t ] leave it long enough and it will go away. Every militaria collector has items relating to deceased soldiers, how else can it be displayed for the future. we must preserve to enable our kids to have a visual display to relate to. I do not approve of grave robbing from sacred sites.

Keith Webb · #3 29-04-09, 12:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob McNeill

Watched that, more questions than answers. If four fellows are buried there why was the site not declared a grave. IF nobody records or preserves any thing, nothin will remain when the goverment decides to list the site. the people in charge should be ashamed [ but they ain,t ] leave it long enough and it will go away. Every militaria collector has items relating to deceased soldiers, how else can it be displayed for the future. we must preserve to enable our kids to have a visual display to relate to. I do not approve of grave robbing from sacred sites.

Thanks Bob - I wasn't so much looking at the rights or wrongs of the situation, more about the way the reporter handled the interview.

Snowy · #4 29-04-09, 12:37

I'm not sure what sort of responses you're trying to elicit but Munro, deliberately confrontational and sensationalist foot-in-the-door journo that he is, has a point. Four men died there, best leave it be. That the museum curator didn't seek the cooperation of the AWM in my mind indicates he was more than aware of the ramifications of what he was doing.

I think this site draws comparison with that of the Beautiful Betsy, which I believe is now marked as a war grave. There are aircraft wrecks, and there are aircraft wreck grave sites and yes perhaps the RAAF should do more to protect them then what they are, and it seems they should be doing something about this site.

People's attitudes can be very subjective - artefacts raised from the Titanic were auctioned off a few years back, yet one and a half thousand people died in that disaster. On the other hand when the space shuttle Columbia broke up in 2003 killing all seven crew it was made a US federal offence to collect any debris, there were even reports of items appearing on eBay until they were quickly pulled.

Steve.

hrpearce · #5 29-04-09, 12:41

I watched the segment on Sunday and I was discusted with the reprting. It was very one sided and conducted in a way to get a resonce he reporter wanted instead of a balanced report leaving the audence with the known facts from both sides and able to make up their own minds how they would like to react. Frankley I felt like decking he reporter.

Lynn Eades · #6 29-04-09, 13:04

The reporter never gave the guy a real opportunity to answer anything.
Who is right or wrong,... both sides.
To my way of thinking the reporter was typical of the common stereotype. A one eyed pratt, more interested in his own veiw, than presenting the case, and letting the veiwer draw his or her own conclusions.
He won't be remembered for his skill, integrity, or wisdom.

Ryan · #7 29-04-09, 13:57

Shithouse journalism but I expect nothing less from current affairs programs these days.
What surprises me is that there would be any unstudied wargrave/crash sites in Australia, 60+ years after WW2. We can uncover sites across the world, france and vietnam come to mind straight away, but queensland is too remote?
Boggles the mind.

Dean (Ajax) · #8 29-04-09, 14:00

This is very interesting, and I am of 2 minds on this subject.
I am a relic hunter, and my personal collection is dug up badges and buttons ect that date from the 1700s to WW2. I buy some and hunt for other bits myself.
Also I have several Parts from a WW2 Canadian Halifax Crash site which killed the entire Crew...I use many of these dug items including the Halifax bits when I put on the Rememberance Day display for the Camp X Historical Society here in Ontario Canada....with the Halifax parts I have photos of the Mens Graves, and Photos of 2 of them..it is a very moving display..and I get may positive comments on it...and yes these came from a site thats now forgotten where Brave Men Died.

I feel that by doing what this fellow has done, he is bringing it into the Public eye, and perhaps the Governorment will make this a Proper Grave Site.

By doing what he is doing, these Men will now be known by those that were not related to them...and it brings the Message of their Sacrifice home.

The big problem with this is the way the reporter acted and ambushed this fellow...never letting him fully explian...or at least washing over his explanations..poor show on his part.

Not sure that I would have removed the boot sole.

Just my thoughts

Dean
Ajax Ontario Canada

Col Tigwell · #9 30-04-09, 02:03

The full story is shown on

adf-serials.com

Bit of a beat up and do not let the truth get in the way of a story.

Regards

Col

Wayne Henderson · #10 30-04-09, 03:31

Feel uncomfortable about this one. 20 years of media experience say Sensationism at its best. Grave robber, don't know the full story, wasn't there.
Grave Robber? Some Russians make a living out of it. French school boys did the same for years after the war.
Must be the only site in Oz with bones unaccounted for. Hard to believe there would be bodies present. Look at the work the VV/SQD do to recover their own.

Keith Webb · #11 30-04-09, 11:10

Mike Munro ambushed that man and I think made a fool of himself in the process. As I understand it, there are some interesting details the so-called reporter chose not to mention. The man who claimed to have resigned in disgust had in fact been sacked sometime earlier. The poor bloke who was castigated was a volunteer who had been asked by the RAAF to recover the parts and was doing it with the best intentions of honoring the memory of those who had died.
Those parts can now be used for that purpose rather than slowly turn to useless powder in an almost unreachable marsh.
I agree with Robert's comment about decking the reporter. I had to stop the replay for a while just to calm down.