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Solved case · 2018

Death of Dolly Everett

Also known as Amy Jayne Everett · #DoItForDolly

SOLVED
Updated
Updated Jul 7, 2026
Katherine, Northern Territory, AustraliaView on the map

The short answer

Death of Dolly Everett in brief

Amy Jayne "Dolly" Everett, a 14-year-old Australian teenager from Katherine, Northern Territory, died by suicide on 3 January 2018 after being extensively bullied, prompting national debate on youth suicide, cyberbullying, and media reporting practices.

Key facts

Year
2018
Place
Katherine, Northern Territory, Australia
Status
SOLVEDSolved
Victim
Amy Jayne "Dolly" Everett
Outcome
No conviction on file

The coverage index

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The case file

What happened

Amy Jayne "Dolly" Everett was a 14-year-old Australian teenager who died by suicide on 3 January 2018 after experiencing extensive bullying. She was from Katherine in the Northern Territory and attended Scots PGC College in Warwick, Queensland. As a child, Everett had been a face in advertising campaigns for Akubra hats, which contributed to the public profile her death later attracted.

Following her death, memorial services were held in both Katherine and Warwick, with mourners encouraged to wear blue, reportedly Everett's favourite colour. Her parents launched a social media campaign under the hashtag #DoItForDolly to raise awareness about the effects of bullying, and established the Dolly's Dream Foundation, supported by the Alannah and Madeline Foundation. A GoFundMe campaign associated with the cause raised over $106,000 within three months. The family also shared a drawing by Everett depicting a figure beneath the words "stand up, speak even if your voice shakes," a phrase that has since been used to encourage bullying victims to speak out about their experiences.

Everett's death also had legislative consequences: the New South Wales Liberal/National Government passed legislation criminalising certain forms of cyberbullying, which came to be referred to publicly as Dolly's Law.

The case generated significant debate about media reporting practices around youth suicide. The Australian Government's media initiative "Mindframe" raised concerns about coverage of Everett's death, criticising media outlets for sharing a memorial video released by her family. Mindframe warned that promoting such public memorials could pose risks to people experiencing similar circumstances or suicidal thoughts, and it urged media to avoid implying that Everett's suicide was caused solely by cyberbullying.

In the aftermath, there were calls to ban or more closely regulate social media applications associated with cyberbullying, such as Sarahah. Some commentators, including Ginger Gorman, characterised these calls as reactive measures unlikely to be effective, and warned they could inadvertently remove online support resources for bullying victims. Other commentators noted that the scale of media interest and public reaction to Everett's death contrasted with what they described as comparative media indifference toward an ongoing youth suicide crisis among Aboriginal Australians.

3 dated entries · 2003–2018

Timeline

  1. Amy Jayne "Dolly" Everett is born.

  2. Everett dies by suicide after experiencing extensive bullying.

  3. Memorial services held in Katherine, Northern Territory, and Warwick, Queensland; mourners encouraged to wear blue.

1 named in this file

People

Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.

  • Amy Jayne "Dolly" Everett

    VICTIM

    14-year-old Australian teenager who died by suicide on 3 January 2018 after extensive bullying.[3]

3 cited

Sources

Coverage is not a source: every fact in this file rests on the records below.

  • 2 Press
  • 1 Encyclopedic
  1. Contemporaneous coverage — ABC News (Australia)

    PressABC News (Australia)Accessed Jul 7, 2026

  2. Contemporaneous coverage — news.com.au

    Pressnews.com.auAccessed Jul 7, 2026

  3. Suicide of Dolly Everett

    EncyclopedicWikipediaAccessed Jul 7, 2026

Trust

Record history

First published
Jul 7, 2026
Corrections
None

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