Column brings together people and their history
by
There are few who know and understand the history of Gippsland more than John Wells.
Many readers of the Gazette would know him for his weekly “Gippsland History” column, which this month celebrated its 50th anniversary.
It’s covered all sorts of topics, from the original colonisation of the area, to the efforts of local citizens in war time, to more personal stories about John’s family and memories.
John’s start in writing came at age 27 when he was a primary school teacher, where he wrote for the West Gippslander.
According to John when he first began the editor wasn’t quite sure what to do with him, telling him to go write a history piece because “people love that sort of thing.”
Five decades later and John has, by his own estimation, now racked up roughly 2450 columns and more than 2.7 million words.
While he wrote for the Trader for the majority of that time, after it ceased publication in 2020 his column was moved to the Gazette.
The time has flown by, as John can “barely believe” it’s been so long.
The sheer amount of work behind him has made finding new topics to cover a little more challenging as time has gone on.
“You never know if what interests you is going to interest someone else,” he says.
However, John says it’s the lifeblood of his column, the people, that have kept it going as long as it has.
“When you’re writing it you try to think of the reader, because in a way the story’s not complete until someone reads it. And ideally responds to it,” he elaborates.
“I get letters correcting me and letters offering me more information and I rate that, I value that pretty highly.”
When asked if he has always had an interest in local history, John pauses before saying “yes and no.”
He explains that while he may not have necessarily sought out historical information as a child, his father would often tell him stories about the past as they worked together on their farm.
He’s certainly had a varied life since that point.
John grew up as one of nine boys, before later enlisting in the Vietnam War which he says had a profound impact on him.
His journalism career was hardly limited to his historical work, such as when he travelled to East Timor as a freelance journalist.
He’s also had 14 books published all over the world, with many compiling his various columns.
Now, over the years, John has amassed a collection of books and pieces about Gippsland’s vast history that would rival that of the most dedicated enthusiast, while confessing he’s not quite sure what to do with it now.
“I just collect information everywhere I can, it’s too good a collection to just give to the op shop.”
In terms of which parts of the area’s history interest him the most, John says he was particularly fascinated by the way people from around the globe up and left their lives behind to find a new life in Gippsland.
“There’s a lot of pride to be taken out it, a lot of satisfaction, a lot of recognition of heroism in the ordinary man, if you like,” he explains.
Outside of that, John takes particular gratification out of his pieces on topics like the ANZAC spirit and
Christmas, as those were the kinds of things that “really did bring people together.”
He also mentions enjoying more humorous personal columns regarding his family history, despite admitting that “my children have instructed me to stop writing (them).”
Once again, though, John comes back to the people he’s met and interviewed, saying they’ve always been a highlight.
“The ones I take the most pride in are the ones where I’ve captured the story from old folk who aren’t here anymore and I can say ‘I got that little piece of history and preserved it’,” he says.
“It’s always good to interview the oldies because you always get a cup of tea, you always get to sit around and get more scones than you could really want.”
On occasion John has maintained contact with those he’s talked to, helping them around the house with odd jobs they might not be able to do by themselves anymore while they tell him more of their stories.
“You get precious quotes from them all.”
Having ticked over 50 years of writing his column, John is now looking to the future, more specifically to the end of his tenure.
His original plan was to conclude his work as soon as he hit 50 years, but has since decided to continue just that little bit longer, in large part thanks to his appreciation of the Gazette.
“This is a really good newspaper, and one of the things about it is it’s been a good newspaper for a long time,” he says.
“Writing the column’s added a richness and a dimension to my life that wouldn’t have otherwise been there.”