A Whispering of Trees: A Family Tragedy and the Girl Who Survived.

Some stories are not forgotten — they wait hidden in the shadows, whispering to be told.

‘For Charlie, whose life lasted six years. For Susan, who learned to survive the rest.’

In the days leading up to the shooting, Ted Benedek told his children that to stay together, they would all need to ‘go to Heaven.’ Charlie, six, asked questions. Susan, four, clung to his words. Neither sensed the danger gathering behind their father’s calm.

As dawn washed over Victoria’s Otway Ranges on 23 June 1971, ...