I thought I might try and put these claims in the context from which they arose from in the first place.
The following passages are from Dark Victory by David Marr & Marian Wilkinson
Page 184
The Olongs engine died just after sunrise and the small boat began rolling heavily in the swell. Banks reported several heads bobbing in the water. As the Adelaides RHIBs sped to haul them in, more passengers started jumping overboard. Banks counted six, then twelve, then fourteen in the water. The sailors were reporting men and then boys jumping in. The commander feared he was facing a mass exodus from the boat that would force him into a rescue
.Suddenly, some of the officers spotted a small girls about five years old in a pink jumper being carried by her father to the top of the wheelhouse. The child was one of the few on board without a life jacket on. Her father now dressed her in one. He then took the child to the guard rail on the upper deck and held her over the side, gesturing to the sailors in the RHIB below to take her.
During the middle of the events above the following happened
Banks was interrupted by a telephone call from Brigadier Mike Silverstone at Northern Command Headquarters in Darwin
..In any other circumstance, Silverstone would not interrupt a commander in the middle of an operational crisis but needed an update for Canberra because of Reiths planned television apperance. Banks gave Silverstone some brief facts. He would later recall telling Silverstone some of the passangers were throwing themselves into the water and threatening to throw their children.
The above events were the original basis for the whole children overboard claims. The photos that were used to support these claims were taken sometime later when that boat eventually did sink. Here are the events that led to those photos misrepresentations.
Page 195
Banks had been deeply affected by the events of the past 48 hours and was extremely conscious of the survivors welfare
No dount all this was on his mind when he decided to take a call from Channel 10s Elizabeth Bowdler. Banks described the extraordinary rescue to her in some detail
He told Bowdler there were pictures to go with her story because the Adelaide had emailed to Canberra two graphic photographs of Able seamen Laura Whittle and Leading Seamen Barker rescuing the children from the sea.
The interview was in clear breach of Banks orders under operation Relex which barred all military officials speaking to the media without clearance from the Minister for defence
So when channel 10 called defence public relations asking for the photos, alarm bells sounded
Tim Bloomfield finally had them emailed to him from the navy at about three that afternoon. Attached to each was a colourful commentary by the amateur photographer who had taken the shots. One was tagged whittle courage and a long caption read: Laura the hero. During the 08 Oct rescue by 223 SUNCs from a sinking Indonesian fishing vessel, Able Seamen Laura Whittle again typified this true quality through her immense courage in leaping 12 metres from the ships 02 deck into the water to drag women and children to the safety of a life raft
Bloomfield did not think they were great shots
but Hampton wanted to see them. A flustered staffer in Bloomfields office, under pressure to get the job done, copied the photos on his computer desktop and sent them off to Reiths office stripped of their commentaries.
