Backpacking in the outback: Uluru, Northern Territory, Australia

Few travellers are unaware of the spate of backpacker murders that occurred in the Australian Outback in the early 1990s. Between 1989 and 1993, Australian serial killer Ivan Milat murdered two men and five women. All of the victims were in their late teens and early twenties. In 1996 Milat was finally convicted and sentenced to life in prison for his crimes that spanned the breadth of New South Wales. The murders captured the public’s imagination, inspiring various films including Wolf Creek and Wolf Creek 2, which told the fictional story of serial killer and outback local Mick Taylor, who stalked, killed and tortured unsuspecting tourists from Europe and the US. Botterill and Jones argues that the crimes of Milat ‘occurred in remote areas where the likelihood of the killer being disturbed was minimal, coinciding with backpackers being outside of the routine policing arrangements (2010:41). The causes of such homicide will not be unpacked in this short chapter, the multitude and complex psychological, biological and social elements have been explored by more knowledgeable agents. Nonetheless, the case of the backpacker murderer serves as the ideal starting point for this piece that will highlight the impact of liminality that affect and construct the ‘backpacker’, informing new vulnerabilities. This chapter will look at the vulnerabilities of those backpacking across Australia as well as the harms they themselves often perpetuate.