Outrage over backpacker murder site tours
July 14, 2015
According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) the so-called "extreme terror tour" was only revealed when the business, Goulburn Ghost Tours, applied for a permit to conduct the tours in the Belanglo State Forest, around 120 kilometers (74 miles) from Sydney.
The excursions have apparently been taking place since June last year, with the company claiming it was unaware it needed permission.
On its website, the outings are promoted as visiting sites "where horrific crimes have been committed and bodies have been found."
"Is there another victim waiting to be found?" it asks.
Premier of the state of New South Wales, Mike Baird, said the tour was "completely and utterly outrageous," and "in bad taste." He told the ABC he would reject the group's application to continue the outings in Belanglo. A cached version of Goulburn Ghost Tours' site shows the "paranormal investigation" held on June 27th was sold out while there were only six tickets left for the upcoming August 8thtour.
It also gives an email address for people to contact if they have any concerns over the tours.
'Taking advantage of our grief'
Ivan Milat is currently serving consecutive life sentences for the killings of seven young travelers in the early 1990s, in what came to be known as the "Backpacker Murders." The victims—two Britons, three Germans and two Australians—were abducted, tortured and murdered, with their remains dumped in Belanglo.
Milat's crimes were only uncovered when a survivor of one of his attacks, Briton Paul Onions, came forward after seeing news reports of human remains being discovered in the forest. Onions jumped out of Milat's car in 1990 after accepting a lift, when Milat pulled a gun on him. Though he reported the incident to police at the time, nothing came of it. He eventually gave critical evidence at Milat's trial.
In 2010, a teenage relative of Milat killed 17-year-old David Auchterlonie in the same location. The boy was jailed for 30 years for what was described as a "thrill kill." The victim's grandmother, Sandra Auchterlonie, told daily newspaper "Sydney Morning Herald", she thought the excursions were "disgusting." "It is a money-making tour at our expense," she said.
"They're taking advantage of our grief."
Chief executive of the New South Wales Victims of Crime Assistance League, Robyn Cotterell-Jones, said while she understood people's fascination with crime and murder "every time something like this arises it rips the scars open again."
A spokesperson for the tour company, Louise Edwards, told the Herald the tours were run "with great respect."
"We wanted to make sure it was sensitive. We really don't want to upset anyone," she said.
Edwards told television network Channel Ten on Tuesday night the tours had been permanently canceled.
an/jil (AFP, ABC, SMH)