Neighbours, the show that launched the Aussie soap genre in the UK, presents a curiously revealing image of Australia. It presents a world where nothing happens, nothing changes and nothing disturbs the surface even though it is full of the stock ingredients of any soap opera: broken relationships, conflict and betrayal. It is a world seen through Prozac-tinted spectacles. In one important respect it reinforces stereotypical images of down under: an unchanging world of sun, sea and surf that is insulated from the traumas of the rest of the world.
As you would expect from a book entitled Danger Down Under, it is the other Australia that crime writer Patrick Blackden explores. This is the Australia of machismo, violence, degradation and death - altogether a different continent to the one inhabited by the cosy inhabitants of Ramsey Street.
Given the convict origins of white Australia, the harshness of the interior landscape and the frontier mentality that these engendered, it is no surprise that there has been a dark strain running through Australian history. Blackden intelligently explores these themes, drawing out those elements in history and society that are especially pertinent to his discussion.
The book details a number of cases that are likely to be familiar to some extent. The case of the Kelly gang, for example, is part of Oz lore that many non-Australians will be familiar with, even if this familiarity is nothing more than a vague recollection of the film. Similarly the 'dingo baby' case was a world-wide news story and a film subject. Blackden does a good job in going into the background of these cases, examining in detail the events that transpired and the effects these had at the time.
The case of serial killer Ivan Milat, the notorious hitch-hiker killer, is perhaps not so well known and reading about it for the first time it is a chilling tale. And, with the disappearance of British tourist Peter Falconio still causing ripples, it rips through the lazy, laid-back myths that are perpetuated about Australia. Milat's is not the only case of serial killing, and Blackden explores a number of others in some detail.
The case of spree killer Martin Bryant, as featured in Lone Wolf, is also described, and the conspiracy theories that surround the story are examined in some detail. It remains a shocking set of crimes and the story is perplexing, and yet none of the motives suggest by conspiracy theorists seem to stack up.
It is not just the high-profile crimes that Blackden investigates, he also gives the low-down on biker gangs, fascist skinheads and other nasties.
In all this is an interesting and compelling read, and much more than a simple compendium of Australian criminals and monsters. If should shatter once and for all those Prozac lenses that mask the true vision of Australia's dark side.
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