Looking back at my career in news
NEWS – north, east, west and south – has been my working life for 40 years, starting in New Zealand, then the Gold Coast and finally Cairns.
But after 32 years with News Corp, first at the Gold Coast Bulletin, and for more than 25 years at the Cairns Post, I am moving on.
I’ve never sought the limelight, nor the awards. I have been a grassroots journo, with a nose, eye and ear for news.
I started as a cadet reporter with the Flaxmere and Western Suburbs Gazette, a weekly newspaper in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand, then went on to edit the Central Hawke’s Bay Mail, a twiceweekly country town paper in Waipukurau, before joining daily journalism at the Hawke’s Bay Herald-Tribune (now Hawke’s Bay Today) in Hastings and Napier.
I made the move to Australia in 1989 and joined the Gold Coast Bulletin. It was a busy newsroom with a heavy drinking culture but there were stories galore, from high-rise developments to rowdy city council debates.
I bungy jumped with Sean Lennon, son of John, for a pic story, and covered several fundraising Variety bashes in the Outback. One story I broke was about autistic kids swimming with dolphins at Sea World. It was amazing to watch the interaction between the kids and animals and the joy on their faces and those of their parents. I didn’t win an award for that but a TV network did after they followed up my yarn. Never mind.
Another time I was with a group of journalists at a surfing carnival at Burleigh Heads when we heard gunfire. We hid behind concrete walls watching a gunman, wielding a semiautomatic rifle and a pumpaction shotgun, opening fire on the Gold Coast Highway, killing a woman and wounding six others, including a bride on the way to her wedding. Heroic policeman Sergeant Robert Baker, with no protective clothing and just a standard pistol, called out for the man to surrender and then fired and shot him after five attempts.
Rising through the ranks to acting chief of staff, I accepted a transfer to Cairns as chief of staff.
I planned to stay two years but never left this slice of paradise. My roles have included Cairns Sun editor, real estate and motoring editor, business editor and finally deputy editor.
The most exciting story I covered in Cairns was the Aquis multibillion-dollar casino and integrated resort proposed for Yorkeys Knob. Yes, I know it never happened (much to the delight of the naysayers), but good on the Fungs for daring to dream. We broke many stories about the development and we even hitched a ride on the family corporate jet to Macau to visit several casinos and resorts in the enclave with Tony and Justin Fung.
Plus, I have been lucky to review motor vehicles, a passion of mine. News is changing rapidly and, while the print product is still relevant, it is online that is the focus now and our talented journalists are grasping that quickly. I am proud to have been part of the team which delivers the best news service in the Far North.
I love Cairns and have no intention of leaving. It has a great future despite the Covid pandemic ripping the tourism industry to shreds. But the region will fight back. The lockdowns will ease, the borders will reopen, the jets from Asia and beyond will return, along with our Aussie holiday-makers, and we will celebrate again this wonderful place to live.
Haere ra from the pages of the Cairns Post.