My Proposal! :D

History Extension
Bethanie Coleman


Description of preliminary research
Initially, I was researching the History Wars and Keith Windshuttle, however, I found his work to be tedious and I quickly lost interest. After many changes in topic I decided to research the East Timor war, my preliminary research used sites such as Wikipedia1 and a minor section from Jose Horta’s funu2. I quickly became interested in Australia's involvement in East Timor and its policy surrounding the situation, however, this idea was too broad and had to be narrowed down. With the help of Mrs Redman and Mr Wright, I narrowed my topic down to the Balibo five.
After watching the Balibo movie3, I began to research into the situation East Timor was in prior to Indonesian invasion and differing sources concerning the Balibo five. Currently I am reading 'cover up' by Jill Jolliffe4, who was a journalist reporting in East Timor and knew the 5 Australian journalists killed. She also worked on the set of the film to help make it as realistic as possible.
The movie Balibo has both the story of Roger East and the Balibo Five woven into one. The movie suggests that the 5 journalists were killed even when they identified themselves as Australian journalists, contrary to Indonesian government that claims they were caught in the crossfire. The movie also claims that the British funded the Indonesian invasion, weapons were provided by America and Australia provided it with intelligence. The film also shows that Colonel Dading Kalbuadi (commander of the Indonesian army) was present at the killing of the journalists, however, it appears in reality he wasn’t, apparently this was done to symbolise Kalbuadi’s knowledge of the journalists present in Balibo and his orders to kill them. Certain scenes in the movie appear to not be historically correct, however they are put in because they represent something.
The Balibo movie website5 provides a section called film vs. reality, in this section it provides documents and reports regarding East Timor and the Australian journalists killed. From this, I have been able to read government letters between Jakarta and Canberra and information on significant figures in regards to the situation in East Timor.
Recently I read, Inquest into the death of Brian Raymond Peters' (section 8) - Magistrate Dorelle Pinch Coroner. This section states that the Australian government had intelligence about Indonesian plans to invade Balibo where the journalist were at the time and their slow response in making a guarantee of safety.

Enquiry questions
Originally being interested in Australia's policy and the publics reaction to the situation in East Timor 1975, I came up with the question: Investigate differing Australian perspectives in regards to the Australian Foreign Policy and the East Timor war. However, this focus question was too broad and covered a multitude to topics. Mr Wright suggested the question ‘Can the movie Balibo, be used as an historical text?’ This question intrigued me and after watching the movie, I began to understand the broadness of my previous topic and was able to focus further into the specifics of the topic. Questions that I want to focus in on are –
1.What was Australia’s Foreign Policy at the time of Indonesian Invasion?
2.What was the Whitlam’s government response? (The movie suggests the government doesn’t care about East Timor)
3.Indonesians reasons for invading East Timor?
4.What did the Balibo five and other news stations hope to achieve by going to East Timor? (Rogar East, those of the Balibo five and other journalists)
5. What is Connolly trying to convey through scenes that represent an idea rather than an event that took place?

Research intentions in relation to areas/texts to examine
To evaluate whether the film can be used as an historical text, I need to continue researching the various opinions about East Timor and the Balibo five. I also need to take into account the perspective of the film and investigate previous and current Indonesian reactions to the situation. To begin I intend to read the book Shooting Balibo: blood and memory in East Timor by Tony Maniaty6. I would also like to read Funu: The unfinished saga of East Timor by Jose Ramos-Horta. I also want to investigate if any of the footage the Australian journalists filmed made it back to Australia. As well I believe I should continue to use the Balibo movie and watch interviews with the cast and director of the film. I also intend to use the website the national archives of Australia7.

Research intention in relation to methodology
My research project focuses on history in the media, in particular film. Through this investigation I need to be able to evaluate how well history is used in the media in relation to the Balibo five. This topic will most likely have me researching contrasting approaches to the historical event, to prevent bias and judge the reliability of the movie. I will continue using various texts and websites for research as well as investigating other ways in which modern media has approached this topic, such as podcasts and documentaries.

Bibliography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balibo_Five
Ramos-Horta, Jose. “Australia – Betrayal”. From his funu, the Unfinished Saga of East Timor, 75-85. Lawrenceville and Asmara: Red Sea press, 1987-1996.
Balibo, Connolly Robert, 2009
Jolliffe, Jill. Cover up: the inside story of the Balibo five. Scribe publications, Australia 2001
http://www.balibo.com/
Maniaty, Tony. Shooting Balibo: Blood and memory in East Timor, Penguin group, Victoria Australia, 2009
http://www.naa.gov.au/