Gary Scully (1933–2011) was a

Walkley Walkley is a suburb of Sheffield, England, west of Burngreave, south of Hillsborough and north-east of Crookes. The area consists mainly of Victorian stone-fronted terraced housing and has a relatively high student population. It also has a ...

award-winning

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and foreign correspondent.

Early life

Born in Sydney on 7 September 1933, Gary Vincent Scully was the son of Doris (''née'' Bunyan) and Vincent Scully, a World War I Australian Army veteran working as a stock and station agent at

Coolah Coolah is a town in the central western part of New South Wales, Australia in Warrumbungle Shire. At the 2016 census, Coolah had a population of 1,290. Material was copied from this source, which is available under Creative Commons Attribution ...

, near

Mudgee Mudgee is a town in the Central West of New South Wales, Australia. It is in the broad fertile Cudgegong River valley north-west of Sydney and is the largest town in the Mid-Western Regional Council local government area as well as being th ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. The family moved to Bathurst when Vincent re-enlisted in the Army in 1938, with Doris moving to Sydney with Gary to live with relatives after Vincent was killed in World War II in 1944. Gary attended St Joseph's College in

Hunters Hill Hunters Hill is a suburb of the lower north shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Hunters Hill is located north-west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area ...

until graduating in 1949.

Career

Scully worked as a copy boy for Consolidated Press in 1950, obtaining a cadetship at ''

The Daily Mirror ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' the following year. He worked for the ''Richmond River Express'' in

Casino, New South Wales Casino is a town in the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales, Australia, with a population of 10,914 people at the . It lies on the banks of the Richmond River and is situated at the junction of the Bruxner Highway and the Summerland Way. ...

in 1951 and 1952 before moving to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

where he obtained a cadetship at the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

. He married bank officer Lorraine Smith in 1955 and in ensuing years the couple had four children, Michael, Catherine, Susan and Anne. The couple moved to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

soon after their wedding and Scully worked in general news at the ABC Sydney until appointed the ABC's national industrial reporter in 1958. Scully was national vice-president of the

Australian Journalists' Association The Australian Journalists Association (AJA) was an Australian trade union for journalists from 1910–1992. In 1913 the Australian Journalists' Association merged with the Australian Writers' and Artists' Union. This union had been formed in 19 ...

for 10 years. Scully was appointed ABC foreign correspondent in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

for two years in 1974 but fortunately was on leave in London at the time of the infamous Balibo killings in

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...

. In 1976 he returned to Australia where he worked as a senior television reporter in Sydney. His coverage of a siege in Rose Bay in 1979 earned him a coveted

Walkley Award The annual Walkley Awards are presented in Australia to recognise and reward excellence in journalism. They cover all media including print, television, documentary, radio, photographic and online media. The Gold Walkley is the highest prize and ...

and in 1980 a Thorn Award for the same story. In 1983 he was appointed head of the National Media Liaison Service in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

by the Hawke government. He retired in 1991, continuing to work as a freelance journalist until his death. He wrote his own obituary in the pages of ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

''.

References

* https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/3028/ * https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4317957 * https://asopa.typepad.com/asopa_people/2011/05/gary-scully-foreign-correspondent.html * http://www.abctvgorehill.com.au/assets/contributions/rugby_league_50s.htm Australian freelance journalists 2011 deaths 1933 births People from New South Wales {{australia-journalist-stub