As The Australian nears its 60th anniversary, readers tell their own stories of the paper
‘I made it my business to get the first edition back in 1964 and I’ve been getting it every day, ever since,’ says the 87-year-old retired accountant | Watch him speak to his ‘romance’ with the paper.
Don Piper has been with us from the start.
The retired accountant, 87, purchased the inaugural edition of The Australian newspaper on July 15, 1964, and six decades on he says his “romance” with the national broadsheet is undimmed.
“The Australian newspaper has become part of my education … it’s an integral part of my life,” says Mr Piper, who lives near Tweed Heads, in the Northern Rivers region of NSW.
“I made it my business to get the first edition back in 1964 and I was very impressed with what I saw.
“I’ve been getting it every day, ever since.”
Today, The Australian begins its 60th anniversary celebrations by revisiting stories from the 1960s.
The paper will cover one decade a week for the next six weeks ahead of the July 15 birthday.
Mr Piper, a father of three, grandfather of seven, and great-grandfather of one, enjoys a strict morning routine, with The Australian holding a dedicated time slot.
“My wife, Joy, and I normally get up around 6am. Our first two or three hours of the morning consist of a few regular light exercises, walking around the block and that sort of stuff,” he says.
“Joy normally pinches the front of the paper, so I start with the business section at the rear, and that suits me fine.”
Mr Piper is a devotee of the print edition, but in recent years has found himself enjoying the masthead’s digital offerings as well.
“Then we boil up the billy and sit down and have a look at The Australian to see what’s going on.
“I must admit, I cheat a bit sometimes, and have a look at the news on the computer the night before the newspaper arrives… especially if I hear of a big news story that might be of interest to me.
“But really, there’s nothing like sitting out at the kitchen table with a cup of tea and a biscuit, or a slice of toast, and opening the pages of the newspaper.”
Mr Piper’s love of newspapers began as a 10-year-old when he had a paper round in his hometown of Murwillumbah, on the Tweed River.
“That just created an interest in my mind. I remember thinking, ‘Why are people wanting to read all this stuff for’,” he recalls.
“Some years later, in 1964 – I’d been married just a bit over 12 months at the time – I became aware that there was a new national paper coming out and my ears pricked up a bit, being the sticky beak I am.
“I thought it was the kind of thing that was missing from Australia.
“It was savvy, in a way. There had not been anything like it before in this country
“That started my ‘romance’, if you like, with The Australian.”
Mr Piper – a self-described “numbers man” – says he devours the masthead’s daily business coverage without fail, but he also values the masthead’s commitment to “go deeper than just the face value of the story, to look behind the scenes and to gather more information”.
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