A first-hand account of the author's unexpected path from covering local tragedies to the thrill of national politics reporting. Starting as a young cadet journalist, she reflects on early assignments that led her to the Canberra bureau, where she experienced the vibrant and tumultuous world of Australian politics during the final years of the Whitlam government.
It was obvious I was never going to cut it as a police reporter. In 1969 I was still in my teens and employed as a cadet journalist on the local paper,, when the Southern Aurora passenger train crashed into a goods train at Violet Town in Victoria.Among those killed on that terrible day were Nora Newell and her daughter Lorna, who lived in Doveton, where I grew up. I had been at Doveton High not so long before the crash with Nora’s son John.
It was my one and only “death knock” – journo-speak for arriving at the home of someone who has just experienced the most devastating tragedy in the hope they will be prepared to speak about it. The men stood in a line in front of me, holding up their hands to show how well Dr Santamaria and his team had reattached their severed fingers. Some of them were not fully healed. Suddenly, overcome by the heat, I fled the room. The matron chased me out, worried I was going to faint, and gave me a glass of water to help cool me down.
Life as an entertainment reporter was also not on the cards. I was assigned to cover the one and only press conference with the Rolling Stones at the artists’ retreat Montsalvat during their tour in 1973, but at the last minute was told I had to interview actress Pat McDonald, who played the nosey parker Dorrie Evans inI was also sent to interviewmega-star Jack Lord. The bio said he was a keen gardener.
Journalism POLITICS JOURNALISM AUSTRALIA MEMORABILIA CANBERRA
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