Police scour bush for body in cold case probe (mother of Australian VC recipient)

ABC News (Australia) ^ | 3rd November 2008

[naturalman1975]

Homicide detectives will today search bushland at Bellingen, on the New South Wales mid-north coast, as part of a cold case investigation into the suspicious death of a woman more than 10 years ago.

Police say Bernadette Donaldson, 46, had planned to fly to the Gold Coast in April of 1998.

But Ms Donaldson never made her flight and has not been seen since.

Today, officers will start clearing bushland at Bellingen looking for possible skeletal remains.

The search is expected to take about a week, and comes after a coronial investigation in 1999.

[naturalman1975]

Posting this because I've just discovered that this woman was the mother of Trooper Mark Donaldson, who has just received the Victoria Cross for his valour under fire in Afghanistan. The (presumed) murder of his mother left him an orphan at nineteen. I was an orphan myself (at a younger age) and fellowship, seeking connections, was part of the reason I joined the armed forces. I wonder about Donaldson, and if, perhaps, this gives insight into a man who fought to protect his comrades as fiercely as he did.

I don't want to overanalyse it - but it somehow all strikes me as poignant.

[Juan Medén]

Police scour Bush for body . . .

Now that is taking Bush derangement syndrome to its extremes.

[PotatoHeadMick]

Fascinating piece of information, I suspect you might be on to something about it having such a formative impact in moulding the young man’s character, after something like that in your youth there’s only two ways your life is going to turn and thankfully Donaldson chose the right path.