Peter Richardson, Queensland journalism icon dies, age 92 after seven decade career
When Steve Irwin died in 2006, his dad Bob said the animals lost the best friend they ever had. Well before then, Peter ‘Richo’ Richardson, was the same for young Queensland writers. SPECIAL TRIBUTE
Sunshine Coast
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When Steve Irwin died in 2006, his dad Bob said the animals lost the best friend they ever had.
Well before then, Peter ‘Richo’ Richardson, was one of the best friends journalism on the Sunshine Coast – and beyond – had.
The legendary editor, writer, columnist and author is being remembered as a giant of Coast newspaper history and a mentor to so many after his passing at the age of 92. (Funeral details below)
His career spanned almost seven decades from when he started at 16 to when he finally capped his pen at 85.
His weekly musings, And Another Thing, were a favourite for readers for 50 years.
Richo loved the written word, the power of the pen, was witty, humorous, a stickler for correct grammar and hated the cliche.
Even as I write this, I am wondering whether he is watching the words flow, gently reminding me to banish the boring and halt the hyperbole.
Born in 1929 in Brisbane, Peter began his schooling at Burleigh before finishing his primary schooling at Toowoomba South State School.
Daughter Laurel said her father credits his Yr 7 teacher Mr (Duck) Oehlmann with stimulating his interest and early skills in writing and in learning in general.
He was a voracious reader, remaining so all his life. He loved English and other languages.
Peter also loved the bush, enjoying long solitary walks, and riding his beloved horse with his dogs for company.
A favourite memory from this period was ranging all over the Toowoomba district on horseback, singing “ Don’t Fence Me In “
His passion for gardening, which he enjoyed at family homes in Nambour and Buderim, continued into his 90th year.
Peter’s long career started with a cadetship in 1945 at the Toowoomba Chronicle before his move to the Coast where he became the editor of the Nambour Chronicle, the forerunner to the Sunshine Coast Daily.
Long time Daily editor Peter Owen remembered ‘Richo’ fondly as the man who helped convince the board of Provincial Newspapers Queensland (PNQ), later Australian Provincial Newspapers (APN) to start the Daily in 1980.
Around that time, Richo’s first press pass was signed by former Queensland police commissioner Terry Lewis.
“The hard-nosed journo look, alone, is worth the admission. But the fact it is signed by Terry Lewis is priceless,’’ son Ross quipped.
Unlike the crooked cop of the Fitzgerald Inquiry era, Peter was as straight as they come, passionate about giving people a fair go, and hearing both sides of the story.
Always tolerant if not intrigued by the views of others, he enjoyed reading many letters to the Daily before selecting a good cross-section of the community for our opinion pages.
In our newsroom, he was the softly spoken gentleman young journalists would consult when seeking the turn of phrase that would turn their story into gold.
In his final years of work, he had cut back to a weekly commitment of editing the Daily’s letters and writing his column. But he also operated a writing consultancy and published a book of verse and short stories, Chapter and Verse.
He dedicated it to the memory of his father Albert Mead Richardson, who taught him to appreciate the beauty of nature and his mother, Mabel Annie Richardson, who showed him the beauty in people.
As the Daily’s editor at the time, I had the honour of launching Peter’s autobiography, Aged in Ink, in 2009.
Fascinated by new additions to the English language, Peter invented a few himself along the way, including ‘small L liberal’ to denote a person who thinks liberally on issues but does not necessarily have anything to do with, or in common with, the Liberal Party of Australia.
In one of his last online pieces, in 2012, he shared the frustration teachers must have in dealing with sloppy spelling and grammar spawned by texting and social media.
In June last year, the Sunshine Coast Daily family got back together at Alexandra Headland Surf Club.
When Peter walked into the club, with that beautiful twinkle in his eye, it was like your grandfather was visiting.
As well as being an incredible newspaper man, Peter Richardson was a devoted husband to wife Kath, who he married in 1953, and dearly loved by his three children, Neil, Laurel and Ross, as well 7 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren.
The long-timer local, who spent his final two years in care close to his daughter’s property on Tamborine Mountain, passed away on February 18.
At 92 years old, he was ready to lay his body down.
I‘m sure he’s still crafting beautiful words and telling stories somewhere.
FUNERAL DETAILS
Peter Richardson’s funeral will be on Thursday, March 3 at 1pm at Gregson & Weight 159 Wises Rd, Buderim. Please RSVP to mob 0417 623 023
MY DAD: SHOW US, DON’T TELL US’
Our Dad Peter Richardson was a writer. In personal and professional life, he espoused the common advice to writers: “Show us, don’t tell us.”
So, we don’t say Dad was a humble fellow with a wide general knowledge, and a broad interest in other peoples’ opinions.
Instead, we quote from his autobiography: “I have always regarded editing the letters [ to the Editor]as one of the great privileges of a career made remarkable only by its longevity. Reading a cross-section of passionately held or calmly considered views on just about any subject under the sun has broadened my outlook on life, widened my tolerance, and taught me more than I ever learned at school.’’
We don’t say he was a stickler for correct grammar and punctuation who chose his words carefully, making each count.
Instead, we enjoy the clarity, economy and flow in a description of a fearsome, but influential, Year 7 teacher at Toowoomba South State School: “ … But there was another side to him. We never knew when he would lead us on an expedition into an unexplored field of thought, or give us a rare and therefore highly prized word of praise for some apparently insignificant piece of work … ….an essay, a sentence, or even a neatly turned phrase which had shown him the glimmer of promise.”
We don’t say he was a voracious reader all his life. Instead, we remember his groaning bookshelves, and those of his descendants, for whom reading is a joy and a way of life. We peruse the lengthy booklist on his audio reader of recent years, when his eyesight cruelly failed him, and we know.
We don’t say he was an early adopter of environmental concern. Instead, we share the family photos and memories of a trip to the site of the Maroochydore Airport to gather armfuls of beautiful coastal wildflowers immediately prior to its clearing. We weep as we visit the Sunshine Coast and see each time a little more of Dad’s beloved pockets of remnant rainforest crunched to extend the road network.
We don’t say he was a passionate advocate for the Sunshine Coast Instead, we reflect on his judicious use of editorial influence to champion the name and identity of the beautiful region he adopted, after growing up in Stanthorpe and Toowoomba. We hang on our walls the exquisite watercolours, painted by his father and treasured by him, which illustrate the natural beauty of our beaches and forests that he loved.
We don’t say he was community minded. Instead, we pass Nambour’s Sundale Village remembering his involvement, through the Apex Club, in its establishment as a young man. We walk around Buderim Village Park and recall his advocacy, taking comfort that, as an old man, a great joy was to walk briskly around it every morning, giving thanks for the life he had.
We don’t say he adored horses all his capable life. We hear his granddaughters and great-granddaughter speak of the passion they shared.
We don’t say he loved and excelled in all forms of wordplay. Instead, we look at the old Scrabble scorecards, remembering the glee with which he flogged us comprehensively and mercilessly.
We don’t he was a passionate and successful lifelong gardener. We sit in his latest garden, as we have done in his past ones, absorbing the beauty and the bounty from his green thumbs.
We don’t say he was a great Dad, Grandad and Great Grandad. Instead, we hold our family gatherings, once with him, but now without.
We see the people his 7 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren have become, and we know that he didn’t say, he showed.
He showed his family how to be a decent, hardworking, community minded, ethical, joyful lover of words, nature, beauty and people. We don’t say he was a wonderful friend, an inspirational mentor, and a true gentleman. We don’t have to. Everyone else has.
– FROM DAUGHTER LAUREL SCHNEIDER
A LEGEND IN COMMUNITY JOURNALISM
WHEN I was editing the Daily 20 or more years ago, my favourite day of the week was Friday, and not just because it was the last day of the working week.
It was the day Peter Richardson came into the office to work – the one day of the week when he was prepared to abandon the freedom of retirement and renew his love affair with the newsroom.
Peter would fire up a computer terminal in the corner of the room, write his weekly column, compile the Saturday spread of letters to the editor and then, before he went home, write the Saturday editorial.
These were tasks I normally did myself – all except his column, of course – vitally important, but nevertheless something of a chore.
Never once did I doubt Peter’s judgment, his innate sense of fairness and objectivity, and his sublime knowledge, and use, of the English language.
He’d always flick me a copy of his draft editorial before he left, and never once did I feel the need to change a word of it.
Peter Richardson was an old pro – a man who exemplified the spirit of community journalism, who knew the power of the written word, and who never once did anything but support and enrich the adopted region that he came to love.
Peter was originally from Toowoomba, but relocated to the Sunshine Coast years before I first knew him. I knew who he was, though. I knew that he was the man who, as editor of the Nambour Chronicle, convinced the board of PNQ – the forerunner of APN – to start a daily newspaper on the Sunshine Coast.
And when I had the privilege of becoming editor of the Sunshine Coast Daily in 1990, I was delighted to find that Peter was still a member of its staff – though it wasn’t too many years before he chose early retirement and swapped full-time employment for the pleasure of living in, and enjoying, his Buderim home.
While he was at the Daily I often relied on his counsel, and benefited from his wisdom and generosity in sharing with me his expertise and knowledge. He was a true gentleman of the press, a man who never felt the need to raise his voice, but who nonetheless commanded the attention and respect of everybody he met.
Had he not suffered from diminishing eyesight in his later years, I’m convinced Peter would still have been writing his immensely popular weekly column, and still sharing his experience with those newsroom leaders who came after him. Peter was a legend in community journalism, and a giant in the history of newspapers on the Sunshine Coast.
– FROM PETER OWEN
THE YOUNG EDITOR IN HOT METAL DAYS
For me, Peter Richardson (PR to so many) was a man of courage and conviction, able to stand his ground and change things when change mattered.
Whether it was a group of angry cane truck drivers, a self-absorbed business owner or a bullying politician, Peter always held his ground and so often turned things around in a way that was simply the right way. And he did this from a very early age.
He was 28 when appointed the editor of the Nambour Chronicle in 1957 by the McFadden family.
This made him the youngest editor of a country newspaper at that time.
They were the days of hot metal with Linotypes, Ludlows, the compositor benches and an old Wharfdale flatbed press. Everyone and everything was older than Peter, including the all-important and seriously intimidating proof readers!
It was a time when there was an ‘out the front’ and an ‘out the back’, and out the back was a world ruled by the printers’ union. Typos could not be fixed with an ‘undo’ keystroke. A spelling error meant identifying the location in the story by being able to read upside down and back to front, recasting a new lead line of type, then lifting and replacing the offending line before locking up that particular page.
Errors cost time, and production time when there were deadlines to meet was always in short supply.
When the Dunn family acquired the Nambour Chronicle, Peter persuaded the company to invest in new plant, equipment and move the business from the lower end of Currie Street to new purpose-built premises in Price Street. Under Peter’s leadership, the Nambour Chronicle won the coveted Bowater award for best non-daily regional newspaper in Queensland in 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1974, and 1975.
In 1970 the newspaper received the Bank of New South Wales award for outstanding journalism. This track record of acknowledged performance year after year was testament to Peter’s absolute commitment to quality across every aspect of newspaper production.
During Peter’s Nambour Chronicle years, he became a change agent before that term became fashionable. He made the case for quality editorial being the key to loyal readership. He recruited and nurtured a great team of newspaper professionals, with many going on to shine brightly in new career orbits.
He set clear boundaries between editorial and advertising content. Stories stood on their merit. Arm twisting for a free plug never worked. Facts were always separated from opinion and adjectives were used sparingly.
Peter maintained a disposition of independence and unquestioned integrity. This was not always easy in a regional town with more than its fair share of ego and ambition.
While Peter was careful about his involvement in community organisations, he did become an early member of Nambour’s Apex Club, helping to get a much-needed aged care facility up and running. Sundale Garden Village now cares for more than 1000 people across multiple establishments on the Sunshine Coast and owes its existence to Peter and his fellow Apexians who saw a community need and put their heart and soul into fulfilling it.
THE LA BALSA COUP
Peter’s greatest news coup was probably the Chronicle’s involvement in the story of La Balsa, a raft that had drifted across the Pacific from Ecuador in 1970.
It drew international media attention and fierce competition to be the first to locate it. Peter commissioned a local mariner to set off from Mooloolaba with a cadet journalist and photographer Ted Robinson.
Search aircraft radio signals combined with deep knowledge of local weather, current and tide conditions led the Chronicle team to La Balsa and it was taken in tow to Mooloolaba which was swarming with media from around the world.
Ted’s photos and the story compiled while still at sea went all around the world. The La Balsa park at Point Cartwright is a permanent reminder of this historic event.
Peter’s line of sight through the decades and multiple local government administrations gave him a unique ability to pick apart and make sense of increasingly complex issues such as environmental protection, sustainable development, high rise buildings and the perpetual demand for infrastructure to serve the needs of a growing region.
In the mid 70s, at a time of acquisitions and mergers, Peter managed to relieve himself of management duties and return to the role of features editor, sub-editor and columnist at the newly configured Maroochydore based Sunshine Coast Newspaper Company.
A new era for Peter beckoned and a chance to be a trusted elder statesman of the newsroom, go-to expert and mentor to so many seeking to learn and grow in their roles.
– JOHN DEVERS, FORMER DAILY SALES MANAGER
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