Sunday, October 13, 2013

TOP JOURNALIST FOR CAIRNS POST CENTENARY SPECIAL

 Many  memories came  flooding  back   when  a  copy  of   the   1982  Cairns  Post     special centenary  publication    unexpectedly  surfaced .  It   was  edited   by   the  late ,  three  time Walkley  Award   winning   journalist,  Keith   Willey , who  spent  eight  years  in the  Northern Territory in  Alice  Springs   and   Darwin . I  worked  with  Keith  on  the  NT News  in  Darwin  from  l958-1962 ;  played  rugby  with  him ( he  and  I  were  the  only  two non-Catholics in the  Brothers  team )  and   he  was   best  man  at  my  wedding .  I  also worked  on  the   Cairns  Post  in  the  early  l960s  and  later on  The Sun, Sydney,  with  Willey .

 Part of  an article , above , with   biographical  details  of   Willey  in  the  publication, stating  he  was  then  51,  had  attended school  in  Innisfail,  and  been  acting  editor  of  the  Cairns   Post  from  1971-1973.   At  the  time  of  his special commission  he  was   a research scholar  at  the   Australian  National  University   where  he  also  lectured  and   tutored  part-time.  He  had  covered  wars  in  Vietnam,  Cambodia  and  the  Middle  East ,  racial  massacres  in  Cyprus and  Kuala Lumpur  and witnessed the  hanging of  Ronald Ryan in  Pentridge .  Other  assignments  had   been  the disappearance of  Prime  Minister Harold  Holt  at Portsea  and   raising  Captain Cook’s cannon  from Endeavour Reef . He  had  also  written  18  books.


Keith  travelled  to  Cooktown  to  gather material  for  the  special  edition  and  wrote  a  lengthy  article  about  author   Xavier  Herbert  who   wrote  Capricornia   and  Poor Fellow My  Country.


[There  will be more information  about  Willey in  the ongoing  biography  about NT Crusading  Editor, "Big Jim Bowditch".]    The   centenary  copy  belongs  to  veteran  house  painter  Danny  Houlihan  , once a  Cairns resident , who  now sports  new kneecaps   and   resides   on   Magnetic Island. -  (By  Peter  Simon )