Caroline Overington

Last updated

Caroline Overington
Born1970 (age 53–54)
Melbourne
OccupationJournalist, author
NationalityAustralian
Website
carolineoverington.com

Caroline Overington (born 1970) is an Australian journalist and author. Overington has written 13 books. She has twice won the Walkley Award for investigative journalism, as well as winning the Sir Keith Murdoch prize for journalism (2007), the Blake Dawson Waldron Prize (2008) and the Davitt Award for Crime Writing (2015).

Contents

Life and career

Overington was born in Melbourne, Victoria in 1970. [1]

She began her journalism cadetship with The Melton Mail Express, and other titles in The Age Suburban Newspaper Group, covering courts, local council, and school fetes. Melbourne businessman and editor, Alan Kohler, recruited Overington to write for The Age in 1993, where she became a sports writer. Several of her pieces were selected for the Best Australian Sports Writing and Photography anthologies, published by Random House in the 1990s. She was awarded the Annita Keating Trophy for Female Journalism in Sport.[ citation needed ]

In 2002, Overington assumed a position as foreign correspondent in New York for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Her first book, Only in New York, published by Allen & Unwin in 2006, is a comedy based on her family's experiences with young twins in the United States. [2] While based in the US, Overington's work included an investigation into an Australian literary scandal involving Norma Khouri's book Forbidden Love . Together with Malcolm Knox, Overington won a Walkley Award for investigative journalism in 2004 for her research into the mysterious life of Jordanian-American-Australian author Norma Khouri. [3] Both Overington and Knox appeared in Forbidden Lie$, a documentary on the scandal by Anna Broinowski that won a Walkley Award and two Australian Film Institute (AFI) Awards. [4]

Following her return to Australia in 2006, Overington gained a position as senior journalist with the News Limited newspaper The Australian . [5] She covered the AWB scandal, in which AWB Limited (formerly the Australian Wheat Board), owned by the Australian Government, paid $290 million in kickbacks to the regime of Saddam Hussein, in contravention of the United Nations Oil-for-Food Humanitarian Program. Overington's book Kickback: Inside the Australian Wheat Board Scandal, released by Allen & Unwin in 2007, provided an account of the scandal. [6]

During the 2007 federal election campaign, Overington made headlines for her conduct in the Wentworth electorate although no adverse findings against Overington were made. [7] Overington was said to have been involved in an altercation with the Labor candidate George Newhouse, who claimed Overington had "whacked" him, while Overington said she had pushed him away with an open hand. The Australian published an apology to Newhouse from Overington over what as described as "an encounter" in December 2007. [8] [9] [10]

Overington's first novel, Ghost Child was released in 2009 to both literary and popular acclaim. The book was short-listed for the Davitt Prize for Best Adult Crime Novel. [11] Her second novel, I Came To Say Goodbye, was short-listed for Book of the Year and Fiction Book of the Year at the Australian Book Industry Awards in 2010. [11] The novel Matilda is Missing, released in 2011, told the tale of a divorce custody case, through the eyes of a court-appointed psychologist. [12]

In 2014, Overington's book Last Woman Hanged was released, documenting the results of her five-year investigation into the conviction and execution of Louisa Collins in New South Wales in 1889. In the book, Overington claims that Collins, who was tried four times for murder, suffered a miscarriage of justice and may well have been innocent. [13] Overington linked the trial to Australian colonial history and to the early suffragette movement in Australia.

In 2017, an article that Overington had written about Rebel Wilson for Woman's Day was found to be libellous. [14]

Her book, Missing William Tyrrell (2020), concerns the real-life case of William Tyrrell, who disappeared from Kendall on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales in 2014. Overington has said she wrote the book because "now is not the time to give up" looking for him. [15] The book was inspired by a 9-part Australian crime podcast called Nowhere Child she hosted on the Tyrrell case, produced by The Australian, that aired from July to September 2019. [16]

In 2021, she was appointed literary editor at The Australian newspaper. [17]

Personal life

Overington has homes in Bondi, Australia and Santa Monica, California. [18]

Awards and prizes

Works

Non-fiction

Fiction

Related Research Articles

<i>The Australian</i> Daily newspaper in Australia

The Australian, with its Saturday edition The Weekend Australian, is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership as of September 2019 of both print and online editions was 2,394,000. Its editorial line has been self-described over time as centre-right.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marian Wilkinson</span> Australian journalist and author

Marian Wilkinson is an Australian journalist and author. She has won two Walkley Awards, and was the first female executive producer of Four Corners. She has been a deputy editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, a Washington correspondent for The National Times, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, as well as a senior reporter for The Australian.As of April 2017, she is a senior reporter at Four Corners.

Forbidden Love is a 2003 book written by Norma Khouri, purporting to tell a true story about her best friend in Jordan, Dalia. The story describes Dalia's love for a Christian soldier, Michael, which is kept secret from her Muslim father due to conflicts in religion. Her father eventually finds out, and stabs Dalia to death in a so-called honor killing. A year after publication, it was discovered that the story was entirely fabricated by Khouri.

AWB Limited was a major grain marketing organisation based in Australia. Founded in 1939 by the Government of Australia as the Australian Wheat Board, in 1999 it became a private company, owned by wheat growers. It was acquired by Agrium in 2010.

Virginia Frances Trioli is an Australian journalist, author, radio and television presenter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margo Lanagan</span> Australian writer

Margo Lanagan is an Australian writer of short stories and young adult fiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tracey Spicer</span> Australian journalist

Tracey Leigh Spicer is an Australian newsreader, Walkley Award-winning journalist and social justice advocate. She is known for her association with Network Ten as a newsreader in the 1990s and 2000s when she co-hosted Ten Eyewitness News in Brisbane, Queensland. She later went on to work with Sky News Australia as a reporter and presenter from 2007 to 2015. In May 2017 Spicer released her autobiography, The Good Girl Stripped Bare. She was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia "For significant service to the broadcast media as a journalist and television presenter, and as an ambassador for social welfare and charitable groups".

Forbidden Lie$ is an Australian documentary released in September 2007. It was directed by Anna Broinowski.

Colleen Egan was an Assistant Editor at The West Australian newspaper. She played a role in obtaining the acquittal of Andrew Mallard, a Western Australian man who had been wrongfully convicted of murder. She also unwittingly contributed to the political downfall of Western Australian Liberal powerbroker Noel Crichton-Browne when he made inappropriate sexual comments to her at a Liberal Party conference.

The AWB oil-for-wheat scandal refers to the payment of kickbacks to the regime of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in contravention of the United Nations Oil-for-Food Humanitarian Programme. AWB Limited is a major grain marketing organisation based in Australia. For much of the 20th and early 21st century, it was an Australian Government entity operating a single desk regime over Australian wheat, meaning it had the sold ability to export Australian wheat, which it paid a single, fixed price for. In the mid-2000s, it was found to have been, through middlemen, paying kickbacks to the regime of Saddam Hussein, in exchange for lucrative wheat contracts. This was in direct contradiction of United Nations Sanctions, and of Australian law.

Malcolm Knox, is an Australian journalist and author.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Caro</span> Australian feminist writer

Catherine Jane Caro is a feminist social commentator, writer and lecturer based in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hedley Thomas</span> Australian journalist

Hedley Thomas is an Australian investigative journalist and author, who has won seven Walkley Awards, two of which are Gold Walkleys.

Annika Smethurst is an Australian journalist. She is the state political editor for The Age newspaper in Melbourne.

Latika Bourke is an Australian author and journalist. She writes for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, and in the past has worked for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and 2UE. Her book From India with Love was published in 2015.

Ian McPhedran is an Australian author and retired journalist. Having begun his journalism career at The Canberra Times, from 1998 he worked as a defence writer for the News Corp Australia mastheads, including the Herald Sun, The Daily Telegraph and Northern Territory News, before announcing his retirement in January 2016. HarperCollins has published eight books by McPhedran, who won a Walkley Award in 1999.

Brianna "Bri" Lee is an Australian author, journalist, and activist, known for her 2018 memoir Eggshell Skull.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adele Ferguson</span> Australian investigative journalist

Adele Ferguson is an Australian investigative journalist, best known for her series of exposés of malfeasance in the franchising, aged care, and financial services sectors in Australia which have resulted in major inquiries including the Hayne Royal Commission.

Jess Hill is an Australian investigative journalist. In 2020, she won the Stella Prize for her non-fiction work See What You Made Me Do: Power, Control and Domestic Abuse.

Louise Milligan is an Australian investigative reporter for the ABC TV 7.30 and Four Corners programs. As of March 2021, she is the author of two award-winning non-fiction books.

References

  1. ↑ Harrison, Penny (4 April 2012). "Inside story with Caroline Overington". Herald Sun . Melbourne.
  2. ↑ Gambotto-Burke, Antonella (11 November 2006). "Baby love in the Big Apple". The Weekend Australian . p. 10.
  3. ↑ List of 2004 Walkley winners from official Walkleys website Archived 12 May 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ "Forbidden Lie$ wins two AFI Awards". Macquarie University. 27 November 2007. Archived from the original on 14 May 2016.
  5. ↑ Davidson, Darren (4 March 2016). "Caroline Overington to rejoin The Australian". The Australian .
  6. ↑ Cica, Natasha (18 May 2007). "Kickback". The Sydney Morning Herald . Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 14 May 2016.
  7. ↑ Danielle Hoare (13 November 2007). "Wentworth independent claims journalist offered inducements for preferences". ABC NewsRadio . Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  8. ↑ "Apology to George Newhouse". The Australian . 4 December 2007. p. 2. On Saturday morning, 24 November 2007, Caroline Overington had an encounter with the Labor candidate for Wentworth, Mr George Newhouse, in circumstances that she sincerely regrets. She hopes that she and Mr Newhouse can put this incident behind them and she wishes him all the best.
  9. ↑ "Journo Sorry for striking candidate". Brisbane Times . Fairfax Media. 4 December 2007. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  10. ↑ Simons, Margaret (4 December 2007). "First jokes now apologies". Crikey.com.au. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
  11. 1 2 "AustLit: Caroline Overington (69 works by)". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  12. ↑ Clark, Blanche (28 October 2011). "Divorce and all its pain". news.com.au . Archived from the original on 14 May 2016.
  13. ↑ Kingston, Beverley (5 December 2014). "Review: Story of last woman hanged in NSW a grim indictment". The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  14. ↑ Davidson, Helen (13 September 2017). "Rebel Wilson wins $4.56m damages from Bauer in record libel settlement". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 1 February 2024.
  15. ↑ Overington, Caroline (24 February 2020). ""Why I Can't Rest Until I Find William Tyrrell"". whimn.com.au. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  16. ↑ "Nowhere Child". The Australian . 13 September 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  17. ↑ "Overington appointed literary editor at The Australian". Books+Publishing . 2 July 2021. Archived from the original on 2 July 2021. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  18. ↑ "Kevin's Comeback". Q&A. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 10 October 2011. Archived from the original on 12 October 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
  19. 1 2 Walkley Winners Archive, The Walkley Foundation
  20. ↑ "The Australian's team snares four News Awards". The Australian . 18 November 2006.
  21. ↑ Wilson, Lauren (11 April 2008). "Overington receives top honour for book on AWB scandal". The Australian . p. 5.
  22. ↑ Ashurst business literature prize: Past winner and nominees, archived from the original on 22 March 2016
  23. ↑ Savage, Angela (9 September 2015). "Davitt Awards 2015". Angela Savage. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  24. ↑ Overington, Caroline. "One Chance". Audible Originals. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.