In September 1992, human remains were found in Belanglo State Forest, south-west of Sydney.
The first two victims identified were Caroline Clarke and Joanne Walters, young British travellers who had disappeared earlier that year. Their families had already been searching for them from overseas.
The discovery did not end the uncertainty. It widened it.
By November 1993, five more bodies had been found in later searches and discoveries. They were Deborah Everist, James Gibson, Simone Schmidl, Gabor Neugebauer, and Anja Habschied. The victims were young travellers from Australia, Britain, and Germany. All had disappeared while moving through New South Wales.
The case became known as the Backpacker Murders.
At the centre of the investigation was a question that took years to answer: who was responsible for the young travellers found in Belanglo?
One of the most important pieces of the case came from a man who survived. In January 1990, British traveller Paul Onions accepted a lift while hitchhiking. He later reported that the driver gave the name Bill, threatened him with a gun, and tried to restrain him. Onions escaped and reported the attack to police.
At first, the incident was treated as an isolated roadside attack. After the bodies were found in Belanglo, that report looked different.
Investigators worked through travel plans, missing person reports, vehicle information, property, geography, and witness evidence. Clive Small, the officer in charge of the backpacker investigation, later said investigators believed the offender was likely familiar with firearms and with the area between Liverpool and Goulburn.
Ivan Milat fit parts of that profile. He lived in south-western Sydney, had worked on roads, knew highway corridors and bushland, and was familiar with firearms.
In early 1994, Onions contacted police from Britain. He later identified Milat as the man who had attacked him. That identification changed the investigation.
In late May 1994, police raided Milat family homes. During those searches, police found weapons, clothing, camping equipment, and other items belonging to victims in homes connected to Milat and some relatives.
Those searches turned suspicion into physical evidence. The victim property could be tested, photographed, catalogued, and presented in court.
Milat's trial began in March 1996 and ran for months. In July, the jury found him guilty on all seven murder counts. He was sentenced to seven life sentences with no possibility of parole. He was also sentenced for the robbery, attempted kidnapping, and attempted murder of Paul Onions.
Milat denied guilt. His defence disputed the prosecution case and attempted to point suspicion elsewhere, including toward a member of his own family. Questions about whether anyone else was involved have continued, but no other person was convicted of the seven murders.
Milat was also discussed in relation to other disappearances. In 2002, he was called to give evidence at a coronial inquiry into the disappearances of three women who had gone missing near Newcastle in 1978 and 1979. No charges were laid against him in relation to those disappearances.
That distinction matters. Milat was convicted of the seven Backpacker Murders. Other suspicions remain suspicions unless they are proved.
Milat died in custody in 2019, aged seventy-four. His death closed the chance of any direct admission. There was no final confession that answered why these seven people were chosen, whether another person was involved, or whether he knew anything about other unresolved disappearances.
What remains is the court record, and the lives behind it.
Deborah Everist. James Gibson. Simone Schmidl. Gabor Neugebauer. Anja Habschied. Caroline Clarke. Joanne Walters.
They were not just names in a sequence. They were young people travelling through Australia. Their plans were ordinary. Their families expected them to keep living.
Belanglo State Forest is still a real place, not just a symbol. People know its name because seven young travellers were found there, and because one man was convicted of taking their lives.