Keith Suter – The largest loss of life ever sustained by the Australian media industry took place on October 16, 1975, at the East Timor village of Balibo. Five journalists were killed. All the governments that had citizens involved in the deaths have refused to reveal all that they know.

One of the 20th century's biggest wars – in per capita deaths – arose from the 1975 Indonesian invasion of East Timor. The official date of the invasion is usually given as December 7. But five journalists knew the date as being October 6. They were killed before their story could get to the outside world.

Today the house where they stayed at in Balibo will be opened as a community centre. East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao and Victorian Premier Steve Bracks, (whose government has financed the restoration) will do the ceremony. Guests will include Shirley Shackleton of Victoria, whose husband died in or near the building.

In 1974, the Portuguese military overthrew the government in Lisbon. The new Portuguese regime wanted to quit East Timor quickly.

Indonesia feared that a flourishing democracy in its island chain could encourage parts of its own country to seek independence. Indonesia's aggressive intentions were endorsed by Australia's Labor Government.

Television journalists Greg Shackleton, 29, Gary Cunningham, 27, Tony Stewart, 21, Brian Peters, 24 and Malcolm Rennie, 29, travelled to the west of East Timor expecting to film invading Indonesian forces. All five were working for two Australian commercial TV networks but only two of them were Australian; Peters and Rennie were British and Cunningham was a New Zealander.

At dawn on October 16, 1975, about 100 Indonesian commandos and some pro-Indonesian East Timorese attacked the East Timorese defence force (Fretilin) in Balibo. All five journalists were killed.

Controversy continues over how they died. The original Indonesian explanation is that they were killed in crossfire between rival East Timorese groups (the Indonesians could not admit that they were inside East Timor). An East Timorese explanation was that they were killed by Indonesians during the fight. Other East Timorese argued that they were executed after the Fretilin survivors had fled and the fighting had ceased: they knew too much.

A sixth journalist, Roger East, an Australian freelancer, went to Dili, East Timor's capital, in November, to cover the invasion and find out what happened to the five journalists. He was the last journalist left in East Timor when Indonesia invaded in force on December 7. On December 8 he was captured by Indonesian forces and shot dead.

The Australian Government has always known more about Balibo than it has admitted. There was the problem that Australia was implicated in the Indonesian invasion. In September, 1974, Gough Whitlam, it seems, had advised President Suharto that Australia would not oppose an Indonesian takeover of East Timor. In mid-October, an Indonesian official secretly briefed Australian diplomats in Jakarta on the impending attack.

Some Australians knew of the Balibo deaths immediately but were not allowed to talk. The Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) was monitoring Indonesian military activities. At 6.45am (East Timor time) on October 16 it heard the military report on the dead white men.

Nearly a month after the killings, Indonesia gave the Australian Embassy in Jakarta a box containing charred human bone fragments, some camera gear, notebooks and papers belonging to the journalists.

Finally, there is the role of human error. The television companies had not advised the Australian Government of the travel plans for their journalists (who were not in radio contact). The Australian Embassy in Jakarta did not know the journalists were at Balibo.

Meanwhile, the Indonesians and Australian diplomats hoped that the military campaign would be over quickly and so the fate of East Timor and the journalists would soon be forgotten.

But the Balibo story refused to go away. The overall East Timor story did not go away. The Indonesian and Australian governments expected a quick Indonesian victory. Instead, the people of East Timor fought back – at a considerable cost to themselves. Their tenacity was rewarded in 2002, when an independent East Timor became the 191st member of the United Nations.