Estelle Blackburn

Estelle Blackburn (born 1 March 1950) is an Australian journalist who has played a crucial role in the review of some controversial criminal cases in Western Australia.

Born in Perth, to Margaret Mercer Blackburn (1920–90) and George Everard Blackburn (1917–82), and younger sister to Dr Gregory Blackburn (born 30 May 1947), Estelle Blackburn spent her pre-school years in Northam, Western Australia.

In 1956 her father's employment as a Personnel Manager with AMP Limited required the family to return to Perth where she attended Floreat Primary School in 1956 and Presbyterian Ladies' College Primary School from 1957 to 1961.

She attended and completed high school at Methodist Ladies' College, Perth, from 1962 to 1967, obtaining a Western Australian High School Leaving Certificate with distinctions in the subjects English and Music.

When unsuccessful in her initial application for a journalism cadetship with West Australian Newspapers she was offered a position with the company as a clerk in the newspaper library which she occupied for three months. In 1968 she gained a Commonwealth government scholarship to attend the University of Western Australia as a full-time student. She succeeded in entering the journalism cadetship program in 1969. While working for WA Newspapers, she completed a Bachelor of Arts degree part-time with a double major in psychology and anthropology, progressing from general news and minor features to coverage of the proceedings of the WA state parliament. In 1974 she travelled to Europe contributing some articles to Western Australian journals as a freelance correspondent.

In 1980 she returned to Perth and joined the ABC as a radio and television reporter. In 1985 she was invited to apply for a position in the media office of the WA government as the media advisor to the minister for police and local government, Jeff Carr, and later Gordon Hill. In 1990 she became junior media advisor in the office of the premier of Western Australia, Carmen Lawrence, until the defeat of the Lawrence government in 1993.

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