Harry Gordon (journalist)

Henry Alfred 'Harry' Gordon, CMG, AM (9 November 1925 – 21 January 2015) was an Australian journalist, war correspondent, author, and historian of the Olympic Games. During his journalistic career, he served as editor of The Sun News-Pictorial, and editor-in-chief of The Herald and Weekly Times and the Queensland Newspapers. From 1992 to 2015, he was the official historian of the Australian Olympic Committee.

Early life

Gordon was born 9 November 1925 to Harry Gordon, a dockworker, and his wife, Marjorie.[1] As a child, he was taught to tap dance by his mother and to box by his father.[2] He was educated at Elwood Primary School and Melbourne High School, a selective all-boys school.[1][2] He was a high school middleweight boxing champion.[1]

Career

Journalism

Gordon began his journalistic career as a teenager, working as a copyboy for The Daily Telegraph when he was 16.[3][4]

He began working at the The Sun News-Pictorial in 1949 as a general reporter.[1][5] In 1950, at the age of 24, he was sent abroad to cover the Korean War from the front-line.[6] In addition to his own newspaper, his war reports were published in the Adelaide Advertiser, The West Australian and The Courier-Mail. Shocked by the edits made to his reports by the United States' censorship teams, he developed as system of flying to Japan when he had a particularly good story, and dictating his report to a friend who would take a copy to the AAP-Reuters office in Tokyo for direct transmission to Australia; this therefore avoided the reports being censored.[1]

In 1968, he was appointed Editor of The Sun News-Pictorial.[5] He used his newspaper to head a campaign titled 'Declare War on 1034' to reduce car-related fatalities;[1] the number is a reference to the number of road deaths in Victoria in 1969. The campaign was successful and in 1970 the state government introduced a mandatory seatbelt law requiring car users to wear seatbelts; this was the first such law in the world.[3]

He was Chairman of the Australian Associated Press in the 1980s.[7][8]

Olympic games

As a journalist, he covered every Olympic Games between 1952 and 2012: his first Olympics being the Helsinki Games, and his last the London Games.[2]

In 1992, he was appointed the official historian of the Australian Olympic Committee.[8] He wrote a history of Australia's participation in the Olympics. It was titled Australia and the Olympic Games and it was published in 1994.[4] In 2003, he authored The time of our lives : inside the Sydney Olympics : Australia and the Olympic Games 1994–2002 and in 2014 From Athens with pride : the official history of the Australian Olympic movement, 1894 to 2014.[9]

Gordon played a major role in the naming of streets around the 1956 Melbourne and 2000 Sydney Olympic precincts. The streets were named to honour significant Olympic athletes.[9]

Later life

He was a member of the Australian Football Hall of Fame selection committee from 1996 to 2008.[10]

He was hospitalised two weeks before his death because of respiratory issues.[5] He died in January 2015, aged 89.[6]

Personal life

Gordon married Dorothy Scott in 1951. Together, they had three children; Sally, Michael and John, who all followed Harry into the media (Michael into journalism, John as a news and sports cameraman and Sally as make-up artist for film and television). He later remarried in 1993 to Joy Milner. He is survived by his three children, seven grandchildren and second wife.

He was a supporter of Hawthorn Football Club. He wrote a history of the Aussie rules club which was published in 1990.[10]

Honours

Bibliography

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Evans, Louise (23 January 2015). "Journalist Harry Gordon's golden words shape a generation". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 Rule, Andrew (22 January 2015). "Harry Gordon dies aged 89". Herald Sun. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Journalist Harry Gordon dies, aged 89". The Age. 22 January 2015. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  4. 1 2 Lulham, Amanda (22 January 2015). "Harry Gordon, Olympic historian, war correspondent, editor and author has passed away at age 89". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 Smith, Wayne (22 January 2015). "Harry Gordon, giant of Australian journalism, dies aged 89". The Australian. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 Evans, Louise (22 January 2015). "Australian Olympic historian Harry Gordon dies". BBC News. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  7. ↑ "Veteran journalist Harry Gordon dies in Qld". Sky News Australia. 22 January 2015. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  8. 1 2 Trute, Peter (22 January 2015). "Olympic historian Harry Gordon dies at 89". The West Australian. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 "Vale – Harry Gordon – A great Australian". Australian Olympic Committee News, 22 January 2015. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  10. 1 2 "League pays tribute to Harry Gordon". News. Australian Football League. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  11. 1 2 Tancred, Mike (22 January 2015). "Harry Gordon – A great Australian". Australian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  12. 1 2 "Harry Gordon". Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  13. ↑ "ASC honours career of Harry Gordon". Australian Sports Commission News, 22 January 2015. Retrieved 25 January 2015.

External links

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