The Balibo Five – reporters Greg Shackleton and Malcolm Rennie, camera operators Gary Cunningham and Brian Peters and sound recordist Tony Stewart - were killed as they witnessed an Indonesian incursion in Balibo on 16 October 1975.

The ceremony also remembered Roger East, another Australian journalist working with Australian Associated Press and Reuters who lost his life in Timor-Leste on 8 December in Dili, reporting on the turbulent events at the time.

Australia’s Chargé d'affaires Bryce Hutchesson and New Zealand’s Ambassador Philip Hewitt jointly laid wreaths to commemorate the anniversary, in a ceremony at the New Zealand Embassy in Dili.

“We acknowledge the close connections, shared history and strong partnership of the Australian, New Zealand and Timor-Leste people,” said an Australian government statement.

Indonesia maintains the Five were killed in crossfire, despite a 2007 NSW Australian Coroner's Inquest finding the journalists were murdered by Indonesian forces in what constituted a war crime

Family members of the deceased continue to call for answers.