Episode 53 | This Was Never His Story
Episode 53 | This Was Never His Story
Embedded Files
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are advised that these show notes contain images and names of people who have passed.
We share this with care, and with deep respect for the families and communities who continue to carry this loss.
Kens's Hut, Where Malcom was captured
Who gets remembered in a story… the one we talk about, or the ones we don’t?
In this episode of If These Trees Could Talk, we revisit one of Australia’s most widely known manhunts—but not in the way it’s usually told. While the name Malcolm Naden became synonymous with years on the run in the New South Wales bush, this story was never really about him.
It was always about the lives that were lost.
We center Lateesha Nolan and Kristy Scholes—two women, two mothers, deeply loved, whose names have too often been overshadowed by the narrative that followed.
Told in reverse, this episode moves from sentencing… to confession… to arrest… and back through the years of sightings and near misses… before returning to where it all began. Not to build suspense—but to remove it. To strip away the mythology and bring the focus back to what actually matters.
This is a story about memory, media, and the way narratives shift over time. It asks difficult questions about who gets remembered—and who gets left behind.
And ultimately… it brings the story back to where it always belonged.
With them.
Lateesha Nolan
Lateesha Nolan
Kristy Scholes
Kristy Scholes
Lateesha Nolan and Kristy Scholes were women whose lives mattered—far beyond the way their stories have been remembered.
They were mothers.
They were part of families.
They were part of communities.
They lived within the quiet, everyday moments that shape a life. Moments that were shared, relied upon, and deeply felt by the people around them.
And while we may never fully know the lives they were living or what was lost when they left… we can recognise that they were loved, that they were needed, and that their absence is still carried.
They are remembered not for the way their lives ended… but for the space they held, and the lives that continue on without them.
Virtual Tour
Virtual Tour
Go on a Google Earth Tour to visualise the locations spoken about in this episode of 'If these Trees Could Talk'. Hit the 'Slideshow' button to get it started.
Viewing Recommendations
Viewing Recommendations
Full ACA Program
Interview with Dimity Clancy
Title “Malcom Naden confession”
Publication A Current Affair Nine Network
Year 2017
Category Television/Video: Current Affairs Short (Less than 20 minutes)
Through hard work and carefully cultivated relationships with contacts, Dimity Clancey gained access to the handwritten confession of Malcolm Naden
Malcom was caught in 2012 after seven years on the run, and Clancey covered the search and capture for Nine News. Four years later she faced a challenge: Just how do you turn a handwritten, 25-page document into 20 minutes of television?
She had built relationships with the families of Naden’s victims – Lateesha Nolan and Kristy Scholes – and by giving them a voice made sure these women were not forgotten amid the sensationalism of Naden’s story. Clancey used the hallmarks of great tabloid TV current affairs to build an engrossing visual story, including great shooting and editing, a well-cast re-enactment, insights into the homicide detectives’ process, the manhunt and how the confession was extracted. It made for brilliant TV.
After cutting her teeth in regional television, Clancey moved to Sydney and the Nine Network in 2010. Thrown into the crime round, Clancey rapidly won respect for her determination and discretion and developed a strong list of police contacts. From the epic pursuit of Malcolm Naden, to countless natural disasters, Clancey has been on the Nine Network’s front line for major news coverage, both in Australia and around the world. In 2016, Clancey moved to A Current Affair. This is her first Walkley Award.
Source Information
Source Information
Psychology of Crime Case Study, Griffith University
https://www.studocu.com/en-au/document/griffith-university/psychology-of-crime/2000-ccj-assessment-2-case-study/22763393
Electric sensors revealed Naden’s final hiding place, Sydney Morning Herald (2012)
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/electric-sensors-revealed-nadens-final-hiding-place-20120322-1vmy3.html
Malcolm Naden, Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Naden
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). (2013). Malcolm Naden jailed for life for brutal murders
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). (2013). Naden gets life without parole
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). (2016). How police tracked down Malcolm Naden after seven years on the run
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). (2011–2012). Coverage of the Nowendoc police shooting and manhunt operations
Sydney Morning Herald. (2012). Malcolm Naden timeline: nearly seven years on the run
Sydney Morning Herald. (2012). Coverage of arrest at Ken’s Hut and Upper Hunter manhunt
9 News Australia. (2011–2012). Coverage of the Malcolm Naden manhunt, Nowendoc shooting, and arrest
Supreme Court of New South Wales. (2013). Court reporting and sentencing summaries
Supplementary insights drawn from long-form crime reporting and interviews, including True Crime Conversations (podcast)
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