Gavin Geoffrey Souter AO (born 2 May 1929) is an Australian journalist and historian. He was born in Sydney, the son of a bank manager, Archibald Souter and Roma Souter, wasPhilip O'Brien, "Spinning words of gold", ''The Canberra Times'', 26 February 2000, Panorama, p. 12 educated at Kempsey High School, and Scots College in

Warwick, Queensland Warwick ( ) is a town and locality in southeast Queensland, Australia, lying south-west of Brisbane. It is the administrative centre of the Southern Downs Region local government area. The surrounding Darling Downs have fostered a strong agr ...

and graduated BA from the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's ...

. He joined ''

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 ...

'' as a cadet journalist in 1947 and worked there for the next 40 years, serving as a correspondent in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and eventually as Assistant Editor of ''The Herald''. In 1960 Souter received the Walkley National Award for Australian Journalism. His books have included ''New Guinea: The Last Unknown'' (1963), a history of the exploration of all the territories of New Guinea, written after he had accompanied an initial penetration patrol making first contact with the Gants people of the Jimi Valley; ''A Peculiar People'' (1968), an account of the

New Australia New Australia was a utopian socialist settlement in Paraguay created by the New Australian Movement. The colony was officially founded on 28 September 1893 as Colonia Nueva Australia and comprised 238 people. History The New Australia ...

Utopian settlement in

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

; ''The Idle Hill of Summer: an Australian Childhood 1939-1945'' (1972); ''Lion & Kangaroo: The Initiation of Australia 1901-1919'' (1976). In 1981 he was commissioned by John Clunies-Ross, "King" of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, to research and write the history of that principality in the Indian Ocean. After completion, the manuscript was not published as the Commissioner felt that it differed from his own recollection of events during his rule. In 1983 the Federal Parliamentary Library commissioned him to write the narrative history of the

Parliament of Australia The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislature, legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the ...

. ''Acts of Parliament'' was published in 1988 as part of the Parliament's commemoration of the Bicentennial of European settlement in Australia. Among other books by Souter are two histories of John Fairfax Limited: ''Company of Heralds'' (1981), which won the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies award; and ''Heralds and Angels: the House of Fairfax 1841-1990'' (1992), which won the

Victorian Premier's Literary Award The Victorian Premier's Literary Awards were created by the Victorian Government with the aim of raising the profile of contemporary creative writing and Australia's publishing industry. As of 2013, it is reportedly Australia's richest literary p ...

. He was Vice President of the

Australian Society of Authors The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) was formed in 1963 as the organisation to promote and protect the rights of Australia's authors and illustrators. The Fellowship of Australian Writers played a key role it its establishment. The organisati ...

1975-78, Deputy Chairman of the Commonwealth Films Board of Review 1981-84, and is Patron of Mosman Historical Society. His wife of 62 years, Ngaire (née Avison), died on 26 July 2014. He has two daughters, Anne and Gretel, and one granddaughter, Rachel Blackburn. Souter was appointed a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gov ...

(AM) in 1988, and raised to Officer level (AO) in 1995. He was awarded the Centenary Medal in 2001.It's an Honour: Centenary Medal
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List of works

* ''New Guinea: the Last Unknown'', Angus and Robertson, 1963. * ''Sydney'', Angus & Robertson, 1965. * ''Sydney Observed'', Sydney, Angus & Robertson, 1968 Cat. Card No. 62-25528 Registry No. 68-1817, Brio Books, 2017, * ''A Peculiar People: the Australians in Paraguay''. Sydney, Angus and Robertson, 1968. , Brio Books, 2012, * ''The Idle Hill of Summer: an Australian Childhood 1939-1945'', Sydney, Angus and Robertson, 1972. * ''Lion and Kangaroo: the Initiation of Australia 1901-1919'', Collins, 1976. , Brio Books, 2017, * ''Company of Heralds: a Century and a Half of Australian Publishing by John Fairfax Limited and its Predecessors 1831-1981'', Melbourne University Press, 1981. * ''Acts of Parliament: A narrative history of Australia's Federal Legislature'', Melbourne University Press, 1988. * ''Heralds and Angels: the House of Fairfax 1841-1990'', Melbourne University Press, 1991. * ''Mosman: a History'', Melbourne University Press, 1994. , Brio Books, 2012, * ''A Torrent of Words: Leon Gellert: a Writer's Life'', Brindabella Press, 1996, Brio Books, 2012, * ''Lucinda: A memorial for the Centenary of Federation, The Spit, Mosman'', Mosman Municipal Council, 2001, * ''Times & Tides: a Middle Harbour Memoir'', Simon & Schuster, 2004. , Brio Books, 2012, * (Unpublished MS, held by the National Library of Australia: ''Cocos. A History of the Clunies-Ross Family''. Commissioned by John Clunies-Ross)

References

Citations

Sources

National Library of Australia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Souter, Gavin 1929 births Living people Australian historians Officers of the Order of Australia Recipients of the Centenary Medal Walkley Award winners