Bernadette
DONALDSON
*A huge thanks to Channel 7's Sunday Night TV
show for these images.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/sunday-night/features/article/-/21467745/meet-mark-donaldson-vc/
Bernadette Donaldson was 46 years old
when she was last seen in Dorrigo, northern NSW on
April 29th or 30th 1998.
Unsolved Homicide Team
detectives conduct search relating to historic
suspicious death
Monday, 03 Nov 2008
05:20am
NSW Unsolved Homicide Team detectives will today begin an
extensive excavation of bushland at Bellingen as
part of ongoing investigations into the suspicious
death of a woman in 1998.
Northern Region Unsolved Homicide Team detectives
are leading investigations into Strike Force
Hoopeston, which was originally established by
detectives at Coffs/Clarence Local Area Command in
June 1998 to investigate the incident.
Detectives believe Bernadette Donaldson, who was
46-years-old at the time, had planned to fly to the
Gold Coast on 30 April 1998, where she planned to
meet with friends for a holiday.
However, police were contacted by a male boarder
after he returned home to find Ms Donaldson’s
luggage still at the Dorrigo residence. It’s
understood Ms Donaldson never made her flight and
has not been seen since.
Strike Force Hoopeston detectives will today begin
an extensive search for skeletal remains, involving
the excavation of bushland in Bellingen. The search
is expected to take about a week.
Today’s search follows a Coronial investigation that
was conducted in 1999.
Previous investigations by detectives located a
yellow Suzuki sedan at a home in Grafton in May
1998, containing forensic evidence which was linked
to Ms Donaldson.
Coffs/Clarence Local Area Commander, Superintendent
Mark Holahan, said, “Strike Force Hoopeston
detectives are working tirelessly to investigate
this historic case.
“Detectives are following all lines of inquiry into
the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of
Bernadette Donaldson and will continue to conduct
inquiries into the matter.
“Strike Force detectives are hopeful this search may
lead to further developments into the case,”
Superintendent Holahan said.
NSW police scour bush for
remains of woman, presumed murdered
3rd November 2008,
17:15 WST
- The West.com.au
The remains of a woman believed to have been
murdered more than a decade ago lie in bushland in
northern NSW, police say.
A team of homicide investigators today started
combing bush near Bellingen where they said the
skeletal remains of Bernadette Donaldson, aged 46 at
the time of her disappearance in 1998, are hidden.
Ms Donaldson has not been seen since April
1998 when she had planned to fly to the Gold Coast
to meet friends for a holiday.
However, she never made the trip and her
luggage was found at the boarding house she owned at
Dorrigo in the state’s north, not far from Bellingen.
A coronial investigation in 1999 provided
little insight into her fate but Superintendent Mark
Holahan said the unsolved homicide squad had taken
on the case and was confident of finding answers.
“It’s not so much fresh evidence, but the
unsolved homicide squad has taken the opportunity to
reopen the matter 10 years on, in light of a few
changes to the ways we can look at evidence,“ Supt
Holahan told AAP.
“We have identified an area that may bring
some results. All we can say at this stage is that
it is an area in bushland near Bellingen but we are
not saying specifically because we don’t want to
risk contaminating the area.”
Supt Holahan would not be drawn on whether it
was forensic evidence that led investigators to the
area.
However, he conceded detectives were no longer
pursuing forensic evidence linked to Ms Donaldson,
found inside a yellow Suzuki car at Grafton the same
year as her disappearance.
Ten officers today started combing bushland
and that work is expected to step up tomorrow.
“Tomorrow we expect to move on to a hand dig,”
Supt Holahan said.
Detectives expect to spend all week in the
area.
“Ms Donaldson is survived by relatives who
would obviously like to know what happened to her or
at least recover her remains, and the investigation
team is hopeful the search will find valuable new
information,” Supt Holahan said.
10 years on, Police dig for
remains
Craig Mctear | 4th
November 2008 - Coffs
Coast Advocate
POLICE
are looking for the
skeletal remains of a
Dorrigo woman who went
missing in suspicious
circumstances 10 years
ago.
Unsolved Homicide
Team detectives
yesterday began an
extensive excavation of
bushland on Bellingen's
outskirts as part of the
ongoing investigation
into the death of
Bernadette Donaldson,
46.
The search is
expected to last a week.
Detectives are
leading investigations
into
Strike Force Hoopeston,
which was originally
established by
Coffs/Clarence police in
June 1998.
Investigators
believe Ms Donaldson had
planned to fly to the
Gold Coast on April 30,
1998, and was due to
meet friends for a
holiday.
However, police
were contacted by a male
boarder after he
returned home to find Ms
Donaldson's luggage
still at her Dorrigo
house.
It's understood Ms
Donaldson never made her
flight, and she has not
been seen since.
This week's search
follows a coronial
investigation in 1999,
with previous
investigations locating
a yellow Suzuki sedan at
a Grafton home in May
1998. The car contained
forensic evidence linked
to Ms Donaldson.
“Strike Force
Hoopeston detectives are
working tirelessly to
investigate this
historic case,”
Coffs/Clarence local
area commander
Superintendent Mark
Holahan said.
“Detectives are
following all lines of
inquiry into the
circumstances
surrounding the
disappearance of
Bernadette Donaldson and
will continue to conduct
inquiries into the
matter.
“Strike force
detectives are hopeful
this search may lead to
further developments
into the case.”
It is
understood Ms
Donaldson's family had
been contacted about the
excavation
Police
re-visit
Donaldson
case
4/11/2008
10:34:00 AM
- Bellingen
Shire
Courier Sun
Unsolved
Homicide
Team
detectives
have
begun an
extensive
excavation
of
bushland
near
Bellingen
as part
of
ongoing
investigations
into the
suspicious
death of
a
Dorrigo
woman in
1998.
Northern
Region
Unsolved
Homicide
Team
detectives
are
leading
investigations
into
Strike
Force
Hoopeston,
which
was
originally
established
by
detectives
from the
Local
Area
Command
in June
1998 to
investigate
the
incident.
Detectives
believe
Bernadette
Donaldson,
46-years-old
at the
time,
had
planned
to fly
to the
Gold
Coast on
April
30,
1998,
where
she
planned
to meet
with
friends
for a
holiday.
However,
police
were
contacted
by a
male
boarder
after he
returned
home to
find Ms
Donaldson's
luggage
still at
the
Dorrigo
residence.
It's
understood
Ms
Donaldson
never
made her
flight
and has
not been
seen
since.
Strike
Force
Hoopeston
detectives
will
begin an
extensive
search
for
skeletal
remains,
involving
the
excavation
of
bushland
on
Kalang
Road,
previously
used by
Council
to
dispose
of
euthanased
dogs.
Detective
Pat
Gleeson
said:
“We will
definitely
uncover
bones.
We will
have the
help of
a
specialist”.
Police
are
hopeful
of
determining
reasonably
quickly
if human
bones
are
present,
although
they
have set
aside a
week for
the
work.
The
search
follows
a
Coronial
investigation
that was
conducted
in 1999.
Previous
investigations
by
detectives
located
a yellow
Suzuki
sedan at
a home
in
Grafton
in May
1998,
containing
forensic
evidence
which
was
linked
to Ms
Donaldson.
Coffs/Clarence
Local
Area
Commander,
Superintendent
Mark
Holahan,
said:
"Detectives
are
following
all
lines of
inquiry
into the
circumstances
surrounding
the
disappearance
of
Bernadette
Donaldson
and will
continue
to
conduct
inquiries
into the
matter.
Animal
graveyard searched in suspicious
death probe
Posted
Wed Nov
5, 2008 10:08am AEDT -
ABC
Excavations
are continuing near a former
animal graveyard on the
outskirts of Bellingen as police
look for clues in a 'cold case'.
The old pound site on the
Kalang Road has been identified
as an area of interest in the
probe into the suspicious death
of a local 10 years ago.
The Unsolved Homicide
Squad is trying to find out what
happened to Bernadette Donaldson
in April 1998.
Local area commander Mark
Holahan says new technology
helps with old cases.
"We've changed the whole
way in a lot of ways in which we
investigate and technology
continues to change," he said.
"Probably 10 years when
this murder occurred DNA was
only in its infancy and now DNA
is an area where we rely upon in
some investigations. It's just
an indication that as technology
evolves that the way we
investigate and the evidence
that's available to us in the
future well probably be much
different than it is today."
Superintendent Holohan
says the work is hard and often
unpleasant.
"We're searching an area
which has previously been used
by the Bellingen council to
dispose of dead animals, so as
you can probably imagine as we
dig through those pits it's not
the nicest of environments to
work in and that will take us
some time," he said.
"So we continue to work
through a number of those pits
at this stage and we forecast we
should be finished by the end of
the week and we'll be in a lot
stronger position from then."
The private
pain of a national hero
This solitary young rebel
surprised his loved ones by enlisting,
writes Matt Buchanan.
WHEN Trooper Mark Donaldson
showed the extraordinary courage,
character and inner strength that
resulted in him being awarded the
Victoria Cross, it was not the first
time.Those same qualities
had been forged earlier, in the
mysterious and tragic circumstances
of his family life, circumstances
that utterly transformed him.
Donaldson and his older
brother, Brent, lost both parents
between 1995 and 1998, when the boys
were 16 and 17 respectively.
Friends of the Donaldson
family from the small town of
Dorrigo, near Coffs Harbour, believe
the sudden death by heart attack of
their 47-year-old Vietnam veteran
father, Greg, in a dentist's chair,
sent the "mischievous", "carefree"
and "creative" young boy into a dark
period of introspection and
solitariness.
And the disappearance three
years later, in April 1998, of their
mother Bernadette - who is still
missing and now presumed murdered -
is credited with wrenching Mark
Donaldson from art college in Sydney
after only six months, and
initiating a period of wandering in
the wilderness for the young man.
This period took him from
working on power lines in the Snowy
Mountains to making snow in Canada.
Word of his decision in 2002
to join the army, at the age of 22,
came as a shock to those who knew
him growing up as his mother's son,
full of fun, with a wild streak.
"When I was sent a letter telling me
he'd joined the army I just fell off
the chair," says Bob Denner, the
secretary of Dorrigo RSL sub-branch.
Denner, a former lieutenant,
served in Greg Donaldson's unit in
Vietnam, 176 Air Despatch, though at
a different time. As a member of
Legacy, he helped look after Mark
and Brent when Greg suddenly died.
Denner became Bernadette Donaldson's
legatee, and the boys, Mark and
Brent, became junior legatee wards
at the Coffs Harbour Legacy Club.
"He'd sort of slipped away
before the HSC." Denner says. "And I
just thought Mark was not the sort
of person to join the army at all.
He was fiercely independent, a
typical country boy. And there was a
real softness about Mark, too. I
remember he 'inherited' a Kelpie
puppy, shortly after the loss of
Bernadette, that he loved. But he
wasn't someone, from my recollection
of his relationship with his dad,
who responded to discipline and
conformity."
Mark's early nonconformity was
evident at school.
When one old school friend,
who does not wish to be named, saw
"a clean-cut, super-fit looking"
Donaldson on the television
receiving his Victoria Cross last
week he could barely believe the
transformation from the year 12
student at Dorrigo High School who
had just lost his father.
The Mark Donaldson he remembers
was "an anti-authority,
anti-military sort of guy with wild
hair" who "painted black pictures of
skulls",whose manner and
appearance attracted mockery from
other students, but whose ability at
martial arts meant that comments
eventually came at a cost.
"I was in year 10 and I knew
to stay out of his road. Other kids
would want to pick on him. And I
remember my design and technology
teacher telling this young kid to
leave Mark alone because 'he'll take
it, and he'll take it, but one day
he'll floor you'. This was like a
red rag to a bull for this kid, who
went straight after Mark, who
finally just gave this kid a
split-kick to the guts and just
felled him.
"When the kid went back to the
teacher to tell him what had
happened, the teacher just said,
'Well, I told you.'
"If I saw Mark now I'd say to
him, 'Wow, awesome! You've just done
so well."'
Brent Donaldson, a physical
education teacher, said he and his
family were extremely proud of his
brother.
"The events that happened had
an effect, as it would on anyone,
and I don't think it matters at what
age it happens," he says of the loss
of their parents. "I think for us it
gave us a more steely resolve and a
stronger-than-average coping
mechanism."
His brother's joining the army
had surprised him.
"He was definitely good at
art, and that's a tack we were
thinking he might take. But he still
always had loved running, and being
outside. And being in a country town
you do a bit of everything. You
don't specialise like you do in
cities, just finding friends who
like one thing, because if you did
you'd have no friends."
Mark Donaldson's enlistment in
the army made some sense to a family
friend, Jo Beaumont, 52.
Along with a former Dorrigo
GP, Peter Vandyke, who trained the
boys in rugby, Jo Beaumont and her
husband Gary were the only Dorrigo
representatives Mark invited to his
VC ceremony last week.
After the death of both
parents, the Beaumonts looked after
the boys. Greg Donaldson and Gary
Beaumont had grown close while
fishing in local streams, sometimes
with Mark.
The Beaumonts remember the
family as hard workers, with
Bernadette taking on three jobs at
one stage. "Both boys had very high
work ethics as a result."
Jo Beaumont, who lost an
11-year-old son 20 years ago, sees
Mark's decision to join the army as
a turn towards the stability of his
father's example.
"He got a bit rebellious there
at one stage, but nothing out of the
ordinary, and it probably had a lot
to do with losing his mum, as it
would. But at 15 I didn't ever think
he'd take an army career. But
there's probably another family for
him there in the army, in the SAS,
the discipline of his dad."
The townsfolk of Dorrigo
fiercely protect the Donaldson boys'
privacy, and especially the memory
of their parents.
In November the police
reopened the case of Bernadette
Donaldson, digging in bushland
without success.
In 1998 traces of her blood
were found in the car of Christopher
Watt, the branch manager of the
Banana Coast Credit Union in
neighbouring Bellingen.
The two had struck up a
friendship after Bernadette was
widowed and working in the Bellingen
Shire Council office. Days after
Bernadette went missing Watt
committed suicide by drug overdose
in Brisbane.
"I know Mark is very, very
private, which is something I want
to respect," Jo Beaumont says. "At
the ceremony I was talking to
another SAS soldier who was at our
table, and he asked me, 'Where are
Mark's parents?' Mark hadn't even
told him."
Voodoo Medics — Part Six: Mark Donaldson’s courage
under fire forged by the tragic death of his parents
Teenage Mark Donaldson lost his father to a heart
attack and his mother to murder. It helped forge an
iron will and his courage under fire. “I believe the
deaths of my parents had an element in transforming
me,” he says now. Donaldson was awarded the Victoria
Cross for battlefield heroics — the first in almost
four decades. WATCH PART SIX OF VOODOO MEDICS NOW.
KRISTIN SHORTEN
Daily Telegraph
“I was at peace with (the thought that) my mate
could die, my friend could get wounded really badly
— and there were many instances where that
happened,” Donaldson said.
“I was also at peace with the fact that it might
happen to me and they might be the ones standing
there, looking over my body, and going ‘gee, that
sucked’.
“From my own experience before joining the military
and having a few events happen in life — and lots of
people do — I learned not to look back on that, not
to dwell on those things, because it only holds you
back.”
Resilience is a common characteristic among the Voodoo
Medics — the name adopted by the unsung heroes
in an elite group of medics who deployed to
Afghanistan alongside Australia’s special forces —
including then-Corporal Donaldson.
“The level of trauma the medics see, particularly in
Afghanistan from my experience there, is hard to put
into words. It’s tremendous,” he said.
Donaldson is blunt when describing his adolescent
turmoil and how it influenced his adult
decision-making.
Disaster struck Donaldson’s family when he was just
15. It was 1995 and his father Greg, a Vietnam
veteran, suffered a fatal heart attack.
A few years later Donaldson visited his mother
46-year-old Bernadette for Christmas at her Dorrigo,
NSW, home. It was the last time he saw her. She
vanished four months later.
Then a student in Sydney, he learned of her
disappearance only after he called home one morning
and was told she was gone and there were bloodstains
throughout the house.
Police suspected murder but two days later their
chief suspect, Christopher Watt — a Bellingen man
besotted with Ms Donaldson — committed suicide in
Brisbane.
“(He) didn’t leave any notes or letters about what
had happened or her existence or where she was and
even until this day she’s still missing,” Donaldson
said.
In July 1999, a coroner returned an open verdict
after an inquest, unable to decide whether
Bernadette was dead or alive. A decade later, a
second inquest found Watt had murdered her.
It was also the year Donaldson became the first
Australian to be awarded a Victoria Cross in almost
four decades.
“The hardest part is, to me, really knowing what
happened and really piecing together what happened
to her in her final moments,” he said.
“That trauma that she probably faced and that fear
that she was under.
“What was she thinking in those final moments?
“They’re the things I’ll never ever be able to know.
“Probably the other hardest part is having my own
children and she’s not around to see them grow up.”
Donaldson puts his own fortitude down, in part, to
experiencing what is a child’s worst fear.
“I believe the deaths of my parents had an element
in transforming me into the attitude, mindset,
perspective that I take to these challenges and
opportunities,” he said.
The loss of his mother in particular taught
Donaldson about “the choice to be a victim of what
had just happened or to be a product of what had
just happened.”
“It definitely changed my opinion on what hard is or
what tragedy is or what resilience is,” he said.
“In one aspect I was parentless.
“The silver lining for me around that was it forced
me to figure it out. There was no reliance on anyone
else. There was no crutch. There was no fall back.”
Donaldson had to sink or swim.
“I certainly sunk for a little while although I
managed to get my head back above water at some
stage to move through it,” he added.
He also realised without parents to influence him he
could “do whatever I wanted”.
“My thought process was this is a gift. This is a
gift of strength. This is a gift of power. This is a
gift of resilience,” he said.
“If I can deal with this then I should be able to
deal with anything.
“It’s that mindset and attitude that you bring to it
that will shape the way you move forward.”
That grit galvanised him through the gruelling SASR
selection course, just 15 months after joining the
army and being posted to IRAR in Townsville.
“For me that’s what resilience is. It’s not so much
weathering a storm. It’s going ‘OK, have we been
here before? What can I draw on? What strength have
I got to get through these things?’” he said.
“Everyone has some sort of tragic event or something
that’s difficult in their life.
“It’s about how you deal with it, use it and move
forward.”
The matter-of-fact way the father-of-two approaches
adversity offers an unique insight into what made
him an effective Special Operator — a term used for
special forces soldiers.
“I don’t leave any photos around or keep photos of
them around the place,” he said.
“It’s not that I don’t remember them. It’s not that
I don’t want to remember them. But the way I see it
that’s just a constant reminder of what’s not there.
“For me that’s just holding me back.
“I don’t need to be reminded that they’re not there.
I know they’re not there.”
While his striking non-sentimentality is at odds
with his kind nature, his attitude is not uncommon
among his special forces peers.
For now, the VC hero is focused on making up for
lost time while serving.
“Right now my focus to the future is getting my own
house in order, looking after my own family,” he
said.
“What’s happened has happened. It’s done. They’re
not coming back. They’re not around.
“If she turns up one day then great, we can give her
a proper burial, but until then there’s life to
live.”