Sunshine Coast Daily family reunited after 40 years

When Peter Richardson walked in the room, it was like the grandfather of the Sunshine Coast Daily family had arrived. Stories of four decades of print came flooding back as Daily staff gathered.

When Peter Richardson walked in the room, it was like the grandfather of the Sunshine Coast Daily family had arrived.

The long-time columnist and former features editor was immediately swamped with affection, with talented writer Janine Hill bowing in adoration of the master craftsman of the written word.

When you have been part of the Daily for more than 30 years, a staff reunion is like catching up with family at Christmas, made even more special when you have not seen some of them in more than 20 years.

As you grow older and see your kids grow up and experience the pain of losing a parent, moments like these are more than just nostalgic. They are a reminder that people matter more than anything.

Advertising manager Murray Jones, who put Don Hunt in charge of organising the reunion, told those gathered how special it was to see so many friendly faces from the teams who together put out an award-winning paper which served the region for almost 40 years.

Advertising, editorial, print, production, finance, marketing, technology and administration staff from the Sunshine Coast Daily and weekly publications from Noosa to Caboolture gathered at Alex Surf Club.

And as you can imagine as the beer, wine and champagne flowed, so did the stories.

Peter Richardson, who is turning 92, still had that twinkle in the eyes and smile that so encouraged so many young journalists along the way. In an envelope he had a collection of treasured words, while the walls were adorned with pages from anniversary editions.

As the Daily’s editor at the time, I had the honour of launching Peter’s book, Aged in Ink, in 2009 after he had been working in newspapers for 64 years.

Peter was always a stickler for detail and passionate about crafting every word. He learnt from a tough master in the reading room of the Toowoomba Chronicle where he started as a cadet in 1945.

He hated cliches but loved creating beautiful turns of phrases, and even invented a few along the way, including ‘small L liberal’ to denote a person who thinks liberally on issues but does not necessary have anything to do with, or in common with, the Liberal Party of Australia.

The Sunshine Coast Daily, which started on July 7, 1980 under general manager John Jones and editor David Lonsdale, came after the Nambour Chronicle, which Peter edited, and the Maroochydore Advertiser, which was owned by the Whittle family. Buderim community champion Simon Whittle was among those at the reunion.

The Daily’s first issue first talked of major welfare issues, and the lack of public transport on the Coast.

Fast forward 40 years, and both remain key issues as housing affordability reaches a crisis point and the idea of getting a bus, tram or train somewhere quickly is still something for the future.

Former APN CEO and now Sunshine Coast mayor Mark Jamieson made a guest appearance, greeting staff throughout the room as he did in the offices of the Daily during his tenure.

The mayor talked about the importance of the Daily as a promoter of the region, a huge supporter of big events, and conduit for important stories before launching into what became almost a campaign speech highlighting the importance of public transport on the Coast. He quickly pulled himself up with a smile.

The gathering brought together so many faces who became well known to people who visited our offices.

Joy Prowd was the face of the Daily for years at the front reception, as was Anne Panchaud in Caloundra, while Roz Hoolihan, who served in editorial, knew more about the history of Sunshine Coast stories than many journalists because of her long tenure.

Property and entertainment writer Erle Levey was in fine form, as usual, catching up with colleagues and taking photos wherever he went, while former features editor and travel writer Shirley Sinclair was her bubbly self, reminiscing about staff and stories.

Photographer extraordinaire Lou O’Brien was as vivacious as ever and had the awful job of trying to round us all up the obligatory group photo.

Tenacious news and sports editor Bill Hoffman was there along with former chief of staff and fellow surfer, now travel PR supremo Sean Waddington. Marketing whiz Robyn Bannister-Tyrrell, who drove many big promotions for the Daily and Coast events, was as elegant as ever, while tech stalwart Dan Wright remembered the days of the green Atex screens with journalists.

Belinda Warren, who now has a senior role in council’s communications team enjoyed catching up with colleagues as did Terry Walsh who heads up comms at the University of the Sunshine Coast.

Advertising and management staff including Bruce Broadfoot, former sales manager John Devers, Ken Hills, Geoff Mazlin, Tim Abbott, Bob Collins, Nelson Costa, Paul Murphy, Ian Brittain, Lindsay Earl, Murray McGregor and many others enjoyed catching up as did bookings supremo Donna Christiansen.

The press gang and compositors were also well represented including Gary Osborne, whose newspaper printing career spanned 47 years, Cliff Flavell, Bruce Finch, Craig Hapgood, Doug Ripper, Mark ‘Ossie’ Osbourne and ever joyful Sheldon Smith while numbers whiz David Fawkes-Jones kept a close tally on proceedings.

The Daily has produced some of the best writers and editors in the country with former staff including Christine Middap, who is the editor of the The Weekend Australian magazine and political reporter Amy Remeikis, who is a regular on television.

Daily Walkley Award winner Tenille Bonoguore is now a city councillor in Canada, while Samantha Cohen, who was the Queen‘s assistant private secretary before being entrusted by the Monarch to prepare Meghan for life in the Royal Family, used to work at the Noosa News.

Ken Steinke, a popular editor at the paper, went onto become APN News and Media CEO.

While the printed paper closed amid the covid-19 madness, many Coast newspaper readers are excited to know the Daily is returning as a weekly publication in August.

The Yandina press operation, already remains as busy as ever, now handling publications from across Queensland.

In digital form, the Daily is one of the fastest growing in the country with a dedicated news team providing breaking news as it happens as well as diving into key council, business, development and social issues.

Mark Furler, who started as cadet reporter at the Daily in 1986, is group digital editor for News Regional Media overseeing more than 25 digital news sites. He continues to be based on the Sunshine Coast.