The unsolved murders of three friends on an outback adventure almost five decades ago are being re-examined with information uncovered by cold case detectives.

Karen Edwards, 23, Tim Thomson, 31, and Gordon Twaddle, 21, disappeared on the trip of a lifetime in 1978 after leaving Alice Springs with their dog "Tristie".

Travelling on motorbikes, the three best friends planned to travel down Australia's east coast to spend Christmas with loved ones in Melbourne.

They never made it.

Their journey ended in tragedy with the gruesome discovery of their bodies near a dry waterway in remote bushland at Spear Creek, 12 kilometres north of Mount Isa in October, 1978.

After almost 47 years to the day, family and friends returned to the Brisbane Coroners Court hoping for answers.

An inquest in 19

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