Cowra is a town in the central west region of New South Wales, located about 300 kilometres west of Sydney and 189 kilometres north of Australia’s capital, Canberra.

With less than ten thousand residents, it was a town where everyone knew everyone and things that happened took no time to be whispered across the bar at the pub or in the yard after church.

Cowra wasn’t a place where the locals thought much about violence or violent crime. It wasn’t something that was of great concern within the community. Of course, there was trouble, every community had its fair share of that, but it was very much a normal country town. It wasn’t unusual for many houses in the 80’s to leave their doors unlocked. It was just the way it was – safe; people looked out for one another.

But in the early hours of Wednesday, April 15th, 1987, the simple, peaceful country town of Cowra was faced with a crime so violent and so shocking, it would be forever changed…