Journalist Peter Morley has died aged 77

Tributes are pouring in for Peter Morley, a giant of Queensland journalism and former Courier-Mail political editor, who died in his home north of Brisbane on Wednesday aged 77.

Journalist Peter Morley has died, aged 77.

Journalist Peter Morley, former political editor at the Courier Mail, has died.

The award-winning journalist who began his career in 1962 on the Warwick Daily News, and who mentored scores of young journalists over a career spanning half a century, died at his Ferny Hills home on Wednesday.

He was 77.

Tributes to a man who was a prominent figure in Queensland media across two generations, and who was loved and respected by all who knew him, have poured in.

John Lehmann, managing director of The Australian, the News Prestige Network and NSW mastheads, was mentored in political journalism by Mr Morley in the 1990s.

Mr Lehmann remembers a tough, sometimes gruff journalist who was, at heart, a kind and gentle man, and whose guiding principle was not merely nailing a story, but bringing fairness and objectivity to the reporting of it.

“Peter was a brilliant mentor to many young journalists at The Courier-Mail, like me, teaching us the craft of political reporting,’’ Mr Lehmann said.

“I think I learned the most I have ever learned in journalism by watching him in that last half-hour before deadline, just trying to get the last bit of juice out of it, just trying to get the information which would get the story over the line.

“He didn’t suffer fools but was an utter professional, always drumming into us the importance of speaking to both sides of the political aisle and putting facts before opinion.

“We are in his debt.’’

Peter Morley is being remembered as a brilliant journalist and mentor.

The son of a journalist, Mr Morley grew up in Warwick and always remembered his first day at the Warwick Daily News in March 1962.

It was the days of molten lead typesetting and the chief means of transport was a push bike which he rode around town to police and ambulance stations to collect the news of the days.

He covered Warwick, Allora, Glengallan, Rosenthal and always expressed gratitude for his training in regional journalism.

“If you want to be a good reporter, you start in the bush,’’ he told the Warwick Daily News when he retired in 2009.

Mr Morley worked in Warwick for five years for his cadetship and was then offered a job at The Courier-Mail.

There he spent 38 years of a career interrupted by an overseas adventure.

In 1970 Mr Morley joined a generation of youthful Australians taking advantage of the new age of air travel to explore the world.

He worked for the Westminster Press in London then scored a job in the island paradise of Bermuda when he spent two years on the national paper, The Royal Gazette.

By 1974 he was back at the Courier Mail and from 1978 to 1998 was a senior political reporter and political editor, reporting on the Fitzgerald Inquiry and a succession of governments led by premiers from Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen to Peter Beattie.

He then transferred to The Sunday Mail for five years and then returned to The Courier-Mail before his retirement in 2009.

Peter Morley giving a tart to self confessed “media tart” Peter Beattie. Picture: Jamie Hanson

Greg Chamberlin, a former editor of The Courier-Mail, called Mr Morley an “outstanding journalist.’’

“He was a great political operator for many years and was well known to a range of Premiers,’’ Mr Chamberlin said.

In his later years, with political reporting behind him, Mr Morley enjoyed getting into a four- wheel-drive with a photographer and heading bush.

“He would go out west and would always find a good story,’ Mr Chamberlin said.

Former Labor Premier Peter Beattie remembers a tough, old school reporter whose focus was on the story and the facts, never on himself.

“Together with (former Courier Mail political reporter) Tony Koch, they were a forceful team covering Queensland politics at a time when the political climate actively suppressed accountability,’’ Mr Beattie said.

“Accountability in Queensland is always better when journalists like Morley and Koch are on the political round.

“They were both respected and feared by the politicians of the time.’’

“I pass on my condolences to his family.”

Peter Morley. Picture: Scott Radford-chisholm

Former National Party Premier Rob Borbidge remembers a reporter who was always decent and respectful in plying his trade.

“Mr Morley made a distinguished contribution to journalism in this state right through the 70s, 80s and 90s,’’ Mr Borbidge said.

Suncorp boss Steve Johnston, a long-time friend of Mr Morley, said he was an outstanding journalist whose byline sits alongside some of the biggest stories in Queensland’s political history.

“More importantly, he was a good friend and will be missed by all,” Mr Johnston said.

In 2006 Mr Morley’s work was recognised at the Queensland Media Awards when he received the highest honour of “Most Outstanding Contribution to Journalism.’’

He was also honoured by the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance for his life’s contribution to media in this state and was highly commended in the national Graham Perkin Award for Journalist of the Year.

Mr Morley was rarely sentimental.

When colleagues at the Queensland Press Gallery organised an elaborate send-off for him when he retired from political reporting he at first refused to turn up.

It was not so much churlishness as a genuine abhorrence at being the centre of attention.

Blunt speaking, sometimes even ill-tempered with public officials whom he believed were wasting his time, he was none-the-less a charming, trustworthy and often humorous man who drew people to him effortlessly.

He leaves behind two sons, a daughter and seven grandchildren along with a proud legacy in a job he always considered a trade rather than a profession.

Journalism’s best practitioners, Mr Morley always believed, never tainted their reporting with their own views, opinions and preconceptions, but simply reported the news.