Hi,
I have Vikki Petrakis’ & Paul Daley’s book, it’s a good read, though very limited in information. It leaves you questioning why the murder was so easily dismissed as the scenario commonly accepted, when there were at least a couple of feasible alternatives. I’m only guessing here, but the authors would probably have been heavily impeded by the, ‘No one talks about that’ attitude towards it that the long-time locals of Phillip Island have, (I lived there for a couple of years, and like you I was curious). Though the authors remain impartial in their presentation of the information they managed to gather, reading between the lines leaves you with the feeling they felt there was a lot more to the story, but that anyone who might know the truth wouldn’t be sharing it in this lifetime.
To me the idea of Vivienne jumping off the San Remo bridge is, whilst not impossible, a bit too simplistic and convenient, and probably not what happened. I say ‘probably’ because there are a lot of variables which would suggest that, even in a post-psychotic state, it’s unlikely a person would have chosen this place to suicide. Kids jump off, (or used to), the San Remo bridge in hot weather. It’s not a suicide leap. There are far more suitable places on Phillip Island to commit certain suicide. I think it’s more likely that someone picked Vivienne up in the early hours of the morning, at the point where the Cameron’s ute was found parked on the Newhaven side of the bridge. She had made a ‘phone call to her brother early on the day of the murder, arranging to stay with him, arriving the following day. There used to be a ‘phone box near where the ute was found, but nothing mentioned in the book about call records for the relevant date being investigated by police, or of any other telephone calls made from the various locations involved. Could just be an author’s oversight, restriction of information, or maybe it just wasn’t considered necessary to the investigation. But it does beg the question, was this thoroughly investigated?
The other potential scenario that’s logistically possible, (according to the book only), would involve Fergus Cameron doing something horrendous, but I just don’t see it. I think he was just a dumb-
philanderer, maybe even a covert narcissist, (which would explain Vivienne’s pent-up rage), with no insight into his own behaviour. I don’t think for a minute that he murdered anyone. If he was a murderer he would have got rid of Vivienne much earlier than this, because his behaviour during events leading up to the murder suggested that, despite his friendly, calm exterior, he had little regard or consideration for other people.
