Peter Michael St Clair Harvey (16 September 19442 March 2013) was an Australian journalist and broadcaster.
Harvey was a long-serving correspondent and contributor with the
Nine Network from 1975 to 2013.
Career
Harvey studied his journalism cadetship with the Sydney newspaper ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'' and won a
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 ...
in 1964. He worked at radio stations
2UE
2UE is an all-music radio station in Sydney owned by Nine Entertainment Co and run under a lease agreement by Ace Radio. It currently broadcasts from its studios in Pyrmont, New South Wales.
History 1920s 2EU
Electrical Utilities applied to the ...
and
2GB before moving to London and working for
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...
.
He then went on to ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' (where he received the British Reporter of the Year Award for a series of articles about the sale of confidential information) and the American ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...
'' magazine as a reporter in
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
during the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
.
Harvey changed to television when he joined the Nine Network in 1973 and served as its news director in the network's
Canberra bureau for many years. One of his first major stories was the
dismissal of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam in November 1975.
It was from this work, and his regular political reporting on Nine's flagship nightly news bulletins, that his sonorous closing line of "Peter Harvey, Canberra" and deep
baritone voice became something of a catchphrase and was lampooned by numerous comedians, including Australian television's ''
Full Frontal'' and ''
The Late Show The Late Show may refer to:
Books
* ''The Late Show'' (book), a 2017 book by Michael Connelly
Film
* ''The Late Show'' (film), a 1977 film
* ''Late Show'', a 1999 German film by director Helmut Dietl
Music
* ''The Late Show'' (Eddie "Loc ...
''.
Harvey also reported for the network from numerous international trips by
Australian prime minister
The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister heads the executive branch of the federal government of Australia and is also accountable to federal parliament under the principl ...
s and was based in
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
in 1990 with American forces at the commencement of the first
Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...
.
He transferred from Canberra to the network's Sydney headquarters in February 1997. In later years he contributed to ''
Today
Today (archaically to-day) may refer to:
* Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now''
* Current era, present
* The current calendar date
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...
'' and ''
60 Minutes'', where he presented a weekly viewers' feedback segment.
Harvey was awarded a
Centenary Medal in 2001, for service to Australian society in journalism.
[HARVEY, Peter Michael (Centenary Medal)]
''It's an Honour'', 1 January 2001. He was posthumously inducted into the
Logie Hall of Fame
The Logie Hall of Fame is a specialised industry-voted award presented annually at the Australian TV Week Logie Awards. It was first awarded at the 26th Annual TV Week Logie Awards held in 1984. The award is given to recognise the outstanding c ...
on 27 April 2014.
Illness and death
On 11 October 2012, Harvey announced that he had been diagnosed with
pancreatic cancer. He stated that he had found out about his illness three weeks earlier when he was holidaying in
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
with his wife.
On 2 March 2013, Harvey died at North Shore Private Hospital in Sydney at the age of 68.
Personal life
Harvey was born and raised in
Bellevue Hill near
Bondi in Sydney. He was married to Anne and had two children, Claire and Adam, who both went into careers in journalism. Claire is deputy editor of ''The Sunday Telegraph'' newspaper and Adam is a reporter for the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...
in Sydney. Adam's wife Eliza is a daughter of journalist
Geraldine Doogue
Geraldine Frances Doogue (born 29 April 1952) is an Australian journalist and radio and television presenter.
Career
After graduating from the University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Arts degree, Doogue intended to train as a scho ...
, from her first marriage with Tim Blue.
Waltzing More Than Matilda
Retrieved 26 March 2015
In a 2008 interview, Harvey stated, "I believe very strongly in God and Jesus Christ, but not so much on organised religion. I had a boarding school knock that out of me."
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harvey, Peter
1944 births
2013 deaths
60 Minutes (Australian TV program) correspondents
Australian political journalists
Australian radio journalists
Australian television journalists
Australian war correspondents
Deaths from cancer in New South Wales
Deaths from pancreatic cancer
Logie Award winners
Newsweek people
Nine News presenters
Recipients of the Centenary Medal
The Guardian journalists
Walkley Award winners
War correspondents of the Vietnam War