Blood on the Tracks

Unravel, Book 1

By: Allan Clarke, Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Narrated by: Allan Clarke

Indigenous reporter Allan Clarke’s five-year investigation to the explosive conclusion of the suspicious death of 17-year-old Mark Haines, whose body was found on the railway line outside Tamworth in January 1988.

It’s 1988. Just outside of Tamworth in country New South Wales, a freight train hits someone lying on the tracks. But when a rail worker looks at the body, the scene doesn’t seem to make sense. There is a towel under the head and hardly any blood. Why are the shoes on the body so clean when there is mud all around?

The tracks divide Tamworth in two. An Aboriginal community (nicknamed 'Vegemite Village') on one side, a largely white population on the other. The boy on the tracks is Mark Haines, a 17-year-old Gomeroi teenager. Despite the strange evidence found at the scene of his death, the family feel like they're being ignored by police. An inquiry finds no answers, and the mystery is left to fester, causing division and suspicion in the town.

Twenty-five years later, journalist Allan Clarke picks up the case. The more time he spends with Mark’s family, the more he feel he’s becoming a part of it. Allan tells a story of a town divided, an investigation bungled, evidence lost...and critical leads never followed up on.

We follow Allan through five years of investigation. His reporting sparks a resurgence of interest in the case that sees the file reopened, a review launched, a reward announced. During two trips to Tamworth our investigative team dives deeper, and the 30-year-old mystery finally begins to unravel.

As Allan gets closer to the truth, the story ends with a revelation no-one was expecting.

©2018 Australian Broadcasting Corporation (P)2018 Australian Broadcasting Corporation