Mark Cornelius Whittaker (born 29 July 1965Newington College Register of Past Students 1863–1998 (Syd, 1999) pp 214) is an Australian journalist, non-fiction writer and writing coach. He lives in

Berry, New South Wales Berry is a small Australian village in the Shoalhaven region of the New South Wales South Coast, located south of the state capital, Sydney. It has many historical buildings which are listed on the New South Wales Heritage Register. Berry attrac ...

Early life

Whittaker was born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, the son of horse racing journalist Bill Whittaker, and attended

Newington College Newington College is a multi-campus Independent school, independent Uniting Church in Australia, Uniting Church Single-sex education, single-sex and Mixed-sex education, co-educational Pre-school education, early learning, Primary school, primar ...

(1978–1983).

Career

In 1985 Whittaker commenced as a copy boy with

News Limited News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of News Corp. The group's interests span newspaper and magazine publishing, Internet, market research, DVD and film distribution, and film and television pr ...

and became a staff writer on ''

The Weekend Australian Magazine ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of bot ...

'' in 1993. Seven years later he left the ''Magazine'' to travel around Australia and write. In 2005, his book ''Sins of the Brother'' was made into a television mini-series, ''

Catching Milat ''Catching Milat'' is a two-part Australian television miniseries that screened on the Seven Network, in collaboration with Screen Australia on 17 and 24 May 2015. It is based on the 1998 book ''Sins of the Brother'' by Mark Whittaker and Les K ...

''. He regularly writes for the ''

Good Weekend ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper in A ...

'' magazine and ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...

'' newspaper. In 2016, SBS Australia ran a 5-part podcast series called ''Out of Sight: The Untold Story of Adelaide’s Gay Hate Murders'' which was written and narrated by Whittaker. The series highlighted gay-hate crimes, including the

murder of George Duncan George Ian Ogilvie Duncan (20 July 1930 – 10 May 1972) was an Australian law lecturer at the University of Adelaide who drowned in 1972 after being thrown into the River Torrens by a group of men believed to be police officers. Public outrage ...

The Family Murders The Family Murders is the name given to a series of five murders in Australia, speculated to have been committed by a loosely connected group of individuals who came to be known as "The Family". This group was believed to be involved in the k ...

, and the deaths of David "John" Saint (d. April 1991), Robert Woodland (d. 2004), and Andrew Negre (d. April 2011). The series also connected to SBS's ''Deep Water'' (TV series) and its related documentary about other unsolved gay hate crimes in Sydney. In 2019, he investigated the death of Jimmy O'Connell to write and narrate a podcast about the murder, ''Blood Territory'', for

Audible Audible may refer to: * Audible (service), an online audiobook store * Audible (American football), a tactic used by quarterbacks * ''Audible'' (film), a short documentary film featuring a deaf high school football player * Audible finish or ru ...

Awards

*2002 – With wife and co-author, Amy Willesee, won the Asia-Pacific Travel Writing Award for their book on the

Kathmandu Kathmandu () is the capital and largest city of Nepal, situated in the central part of the country within the Kathmandu Valley. As per the 2021 Nepal census, it has a population of 845,767 residing in 105,649 households, with approximately 4 mi ...

royals murders *2005 – Walkley Award for Magazine Feature Writing for ''The Weekend Australian'' article "Ordinary Heroes" about the people who attempted to rescue Sophie Delezio and

Molly Wood Molly Wood is an American podcast host and journalist. Early life and education Molly Wood studied journalism at the University of Montana. During her senior year she was the editor of the weekly student newspaper, the ''Montana Kaimin.'' Care ...

from a burning childcare centre *2006 – News Ltd's News Award for Features Journalist of the Year *2012 – Kennedy Award for Newspaper Feature Writing for a story about false allegations of sexual assault made against rugby league player

Brett Stewart Brett Stewart (born 27 February 1985) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played fullback for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in the National Rugby League (NRL). An Australian international and New South Wales Stat ...

Books

* ''Granny Killer: The story of John Glover'', Mark Whittaker and Les Kennedy (Sydney, Collins/Angus & Robertson 1992) * ''Sins of the Brother: The definitive story of

Ivan Milat Ivan Robert Marko Milat (27 December 1944 – 27 October 2019), commonly referred to in media as the Backpacker Murderer, was an Australian serial killer who abducted, assaulted, robbed and murdered two men and five women in New South Wales bet ...

and the

Backpacker Murders The backpacker murders were a spate of serial killings that took place in New South Wales, Australia, between 1989 and 1993, committed by Ivan Milat. The bodies of seven missing young people aged 19 to 22 were discovered partially buried in t ...

'', Mark Whittaker and Les Kennedy (Sydney, Macmillan 1998) * ''The Road to Mount Buggery: A journey through the curiously named places of Australia'', Mark Whittaker and Amy Willesee (Sydney, Pan Macmillan 2001) * ''Walking to Victory'', Adam Gilchrist with Mark Whittaker (Sydney, Macmillan 2003 * ''Love & Death in Kathmandu: A strange tale of royal murder'', Mark Whittaker and Amy Willesee (Sydney, Macmillan 2003) * ''Ten Years'', Roseanne Catt with Mark Whittaker and Amy Willesee (Sydney, Pan Macmillan Australia 2005) * ''Bomber: From Vietnam to hell and back'', Mark Whittaker and Tony Bower-Miles (Sydney, Pan Macmillan Australia 2009) * ''Brave: Ordinary Australians and their extraordinary acts of courage'', Mark Whittaker (Sydney, Pan Macmillan Australia 2011) * ''Village Vets'', Anthony Bennett & James Carroll with Mark Whittaker (Sydney, ABC Books 2015)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Whittaker, Mark 1965 births Living people People educated at Newington College Australian journalists Australian non-fiction crime writers