What's On Tablelands October 2018 - FINAL EDITION | Página 9

From writer to investigator
A man’s determination to find the truth
Robert Reid at his home in Mareeba
W
ith a career spanning decades, renowned journalist and
author Robert Reid has enlightened and entertained
a diverse audience of readers with his many fiction and
non-fiction stories. With a special interest in crime writing,
his signature story is undoubtedly the 1991 Arnold-Leahy
murders in Atherton—a case on which he has published
three books.
Robert’s first foray into writing was at the age of 11 when
he won a writing competition for the Hobart Mercury in
Tasmania. A story about hop growing won him a whopping
two shillings and sixpence (approximately $5.30 today) which
was a lot of money for a young lad! Raised in New Norfolk,
Tasmania, Robert couldn’t wait to leave the Apple Isle as soon
as his final school bell tolled. As an adventure-seeking 17
year-old, he embarked on an overseas trip with a group of
friends and explored the world.
In his late twenties, he returned to Australia and made
a decision to settle in a warmer climate. He chose north
Queensland. Robert always knew that he could write so he
began writing a range of stories that were picked up by many
popular news outlets and magazines across the country.
In 1993 he wrote his first book in collaboration with fellow
journalist Paul Whittaker. Patenela is Missing is the story of
Australia’s greatest sea mystery and it whet his appetite for
‘long writing’ and he would go on to write more.
Robert also enjoyed writing feature stories and editorials and
was soon approached by his former co-writer Paul Whittaker
in 2000, who was then Cairns Bureau Chief of The Courier
Mail, to take over the bureau. His introduction to that ro le
was a 2am phone call from his boss in Brisbane welcoming
him to the job and to immediately organise a plane, a
photographer and get to Burketown to report on a plane
crash. The crash became known as the “Ghost Flight”. Seven
mine workers were travelling from Perth to a mine 800km
away when the cabin depressurised soon after take-off. All
on board, including the pilot, lost consciousness. The plane
continued to fly for more than 3000km before crashing on
the other side of the country on a property near Burketown.
There were no survivors.
During his three-year tenure as Bureau Chief, Robert travelled
all over north Queensland reporting on hundreds of stories,
but after three years of being ‘on call’ he’d had enough. He
then set out to write his second book—a collection of crime
stories in north Queensland—titled Under a Dark Moon. In
total Robert has written eight books with his ninth currently
in progress.
Three of his most popular books are based on the Arnold-
Leahy murders. When asked why this particular case took
his attention Robert responds simply, “It just wasn’t right.
It looked staged from the outset”. This sense of injustice
drove Robert to spend years investigating and seeking the
truth of what happened to Vicki Arnold and Julie-Anne
Leahy. Vicki Arnold’s aunty, Janice Charlton, was the first to
raise questions and issues with the initial police findings
and relentlessly lobbied the police hierarchy at the time
to look further into the case. With so many inconsistencies
at the crime scene and errors in the police investigation
Robert’s research and hundreds of interviews further
provided evidence that no one can ignore—this was not
a murder-suicide. It’s no secret that Robert’s investigative
work and dogged tenacity to find the truth, resulted in the
case receiving national exposure and subsequently three
inquests into the case. In 1992 the coroner ruled that it was a
murder-suicide, the second inquest in 1999 ruled the same,
but in the third inquest in 2013 State Coroner Michael Barnes
ordered Alan Leahy to stand trial for murder. However, Leahy
appealed to the Supreme Court and walked free.
Robert is certain that while Leahy may not have actually
murdered the women, he most surely had knowledge of
it, with the most likely murderer being Chris Dunlea (now
deceased). With the discovery of Alan Leahy’s body at his
home in Alice Springs on 30 July 2018, Robert sees this as
the end of a very sad story that has impacted many lives.
Robert says he’s staggered that Leahy would commit suicide.
As a journalist, Robert says this story has now reached its
conclusion and the families now have part-closure.
Having started his career as journalist, he’s emphatic that
he wouldn’t work in the newsroom these days. With the
never ending 24/7 news cycle and hourly deadlines, there is
too much pressure on journalists. Robert says “A journalist
today is required to be a writer, investigator, photographer
and social media expert, but they’re not granted the time
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