Melbourne Marvels

In the early hours of 27 December 1988 an intruder broke into the home of the Wills family in Ringwood. After tying up the parents he took a 10 year old girl from the home and took her to an unknown lair where she was held for 18 hours. This episode is an an analysis of this crime.

At different times since 1985, the police or the media have also linked this same perpetrator to another 12 sexual assaults at least. At present, it is unknown if any of these attacks have been definitively ruled out by investigators as being the work of Mr Cruel.

An in-depth discussion of the first of the canonical attacks in the Mr Cruel series - the Lower Plenty Attack. This episode analyses the majority of what has been written or said about this case in the media and highlights many of the contradictions of these representations.

Mr Cruel is the moniker for a serial child abductor, and most probably murderer, who terrorised Melbourne in the late 80s and early 90s and has never been caught for his crimes. In this first post, I start with an overview of the case and try to clear up some confusion about which crimes were actually attributed to Mr Cruel. Music by Yellowtree.

On 21st of October, 1978, 20 year old Frederick Valentich is flying a Cessna 182L light aeroplane from Moorabbin Airport to King Island. Not long after commencing the over water section of the flight, between Cape Otway and King Island, Valentich reports to the air traffic controller seeing a craft with 4 bright lights passing over his plane. The unusual craft returns and Valentich reports it behaving strangely by playing some sort of game with him, and travelling at such high speeds he could not identify how fast. Valentich reports that the craft is a long shape and has green lights. The conversation lasts 6 minutes before he declares that the object is not an aircraft. Suddenly all radio contact with Valentich's aircraft is lost and he and his cessna disappear never to be heard from again. Despite a massive rescue operation, no evidence is found that would suggest what happened to Valentich or his plane.

In the late 1700s an iron meteor the size of a truck broke up and fell over Bunurong country, about 40km south east of the modern city of Melbourne. The event would have been spectacular visually and accompanied by sonic booms and a shock wave. It resulted in a number of large iron meteorites falling in what is now the Cranbourne area.

When Norman Clark and his fiance decided to go swimming at Middle Brighton Pier in February 1930, he had little inkling that he would have a terrifying encounter with a Great White Shark. This is just one of a collection of 7 stories about fatal shark attacks that have occurred in Port Phillip Bay.

After living with the Wathaurong aboriginal people for 32 years, Buckley is surprised one day to see a group of white men encamped on a beach.

William Buckley and the Wathaurong people live in the wild of South Western Victoria. Buckley witnesses a lot of internecine violence during this period of many years.

William Buckley conitinues his solitary wanderings in Wathaurong country before making contact with the aboriginal people and being warmly accepted into their midst.

The tale of an escaped convict who lived in the bush for 32 years with the Wathuroung aboriginal people before the settlement of Melbourne.