Australian Army veteran and Guitars For Vets Australia founder David Cox has released Sea Of Lies, a song reflecting on the 1975 murders of the Balibo Five and the unresolved questions surrounding their deaths.
by Paul Cashmere
David Cox has released Sea Of Lies, a new song inspired by the deaths of five journalists killed in Balibo, East Timor, on October 16, 1975. The song was released on Friday, August 21, 2026, and reflects Cox’s long-standing concern about the circumstances surrounding the deaths and the absence of criminal accountability more than five decades later.
Cox was a young Australian Army officer when news of the developing Timor conflict reached the barracks where he was stationed in October 1975. He followed the story as reports changed and public attention moved elsewhere.
“The horror of the murders and the subsequent cover-ups stayed with me for some time,” Cox says, recalling the period.
The Balibo Five were Greg Shackleton, Tony Stewart, Gary Cunningham, Malcolm Rennie and Brian Peters. The Australian-based journalists had travelled to Balibo to report on covert Indonesian military incursions into Portuguese Timor shortly before Indonesia’s full-scale invasion.
Their deaths have remained one of the most contentious chapters in the history of Australia’s relationship with Indonesia. Indonesia maintained that the journalists were killed accidentally in crossfire. A 2007 NSW Coronial Inquiry found that they had been deliberately killed by Indonesian Special Forces.
Cox says the 50th anniversary in 2025 brought the story back into focus and prompted him to channel his anger into songwriting. He conceived Sea Of Lies initially as a tribute to the five journalists and as an attempt to keep their story in public consciousness.
“Shamefully as a nation we failed to support these five journalists and bring truth to the murders,” Cox says. “We must never forget or stop pursuing the murders.”
The song also reflects Cox’s broader work with veterans through Guitars For Vets Australia, the not-for-profit organisation he founded in 2017. The program provides veterans with guitars and lessons, using music as a tool for connection and recovery.
Cox credits songwriter John Schumann with influencing his approach to writing about difficult subjects. Schumann’s work addressing war, conscription and the experiences of veterans demonstrated to Cox how songs could carry historical and emotional narratives.
Sea Of Lies was recorded and produced by Australian producer and classical composer Lee Bradshaw, who also created the string arrangement. Bradshaw selected the Budapest Scoring Orchestra for the orchestral passages, while Melbourne guitarist Troy Downward contributed a Fado-inspired guitar part.
The Portuguese folk style carries particular symbolism given East Timor’s history as a Portuguese colony and the territory’s struggle for independence. Lucca Franco provides backing vocals.
Cox has written, recorded and released more than 20 songs, frequently drawing on Australian life and veteran experiences. He also performs acoustically around Melbourne.
The Balibo Five remain closely connected to Australia’s music history through Tony Stewart, whose younger brother Paulie Stewart later became frontman of Melbourne punk band Painters & Dockers. Paulie Stewart has spent decades campaigning on human rights issues connected with East Timor and the legacy of his brother’s death.
For Cox, Sea Of Lies is intended to keep that history alive through a contemporary musical narrative. Its release does not resolve the questions surrounding the Balibo Five, but places their story once again in the hands of a songwriter who witnessed the events unfold as a young soldier.
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