It would be a mistake to assume that Thin Black Line – an investigative documentary into the death of 18-year-old dancer Daniel Yock in police custody in 1993 – is just a true crime podcast. Launched shortly after the Black Lives Matter protests, it’s clear the show aims to reckon with Australia’s issues regarding the treatment of Indigenous people within our criminal justice system. 

The six-episode series is hosted by Walkley-award winning investigative journalist Allan Clarke for the ABC. 

Clarke’s determination to tell this story is evident in the effort undertaken to further uncover the truth. In a long journey captured for listeners through an expansive silence to signify being on country, he drives many kilometres and in circles before securing the first interview in over twenty years from the sole eyewitness.

Thoughtful sound design features, such as the police sirens and the use of two-way radios, which takes listeners back to what it would have been like in Brisbane’s Musgrave Park in 1993. Thin Black Line shines a light on the stark realities that confronted indigenous Australians then, and how prejudices still exist today. It’s a powerful listen that reminds us that we still have a long way to go in how Indigenous people are treated in Australia.

Other members of the team include: producer Rudi Bremer, sound engineer Tim Jenkins, associate producer Jai McAllister, researchers Ellen Leabeater and Jake Morcom, digital producer Yale MacGillivray, lawyer Vanessa Bateup and executive producer Daniel Browning.