Rohan Rivett

Rohan Deakin Rivett (16 January 1917 – 5 October 1977) was an Australian journalist and author, and influential editor of the Adelaide newspaper '' The News'' from 1951 to 1960. He is chiefly remembered for accounts of his experiences on the Burma Railway and his activism in the Max Stuart case.

Early years

Rivett was born in Melbourne, Victoria, the elder son of Sir David Rivett and his wife Stella née Deakin. He was a grandson of the former Prime Minister of Australia Alfred Deakin and of the Rev. Albert Rivett (pastor), Albert Rivett (1855–1934), a noted pacifist.

He was educated at Wesley College (Victoria), Wesley College and, in 1935, went on to study history and politics at the University of Melbourne, earning a B.A. with first-class honours in 1938. With classmate Manning Clark, he enrolled to study at Balliol College, Oxford, arriving in October 1938. When World War II began, he and Clark abandoned their studies and returned to Australia with the intention of joining the AIF.Inglis, K. S.
'Rivett, Rohan Deakin (1917–1977)'
Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, accessed 2 June 2012.

World War II

Unable to enlist, he joined '' The Argus'' as a cadet journalist. He visited Moscow in 1939 and, on his return, received his first byline. On 2 January 1940, he married Gwyneth Maude Terry, a student, at St John's Church of England, Camberwell. On 7 June, he successfully enlisted in the AIF.

In August 1940, Rivett was recruited by the Department of Information to read news bulletins for broadcast over ''Radio Australia''. In December 1941, he volunteered to work for the Malayan Broadcasting Commission (or Corporation), which had been set up in Singapore to counter Japanese propaganda, and was discharged from the AIF. He also continued to write for ''The Argus''.

Burma Railway

On 9 February 1942, he broadcast the news that Japan had invaded the island, and he then escaped Singapore. The refugee ship was bombed, but he was one of those who survived. However, on about 4 March 1942, after several weeks of evasion, he was captured by the Japanese on Java and sent to work on the Burma Railway.

He returned to Australia in 1945 and a series of articles on his experiences were published in the ''Argus'' and elsewhere. In October and November 1945 he "vividly" described his experiences in ''Behind Bamboo'' – the book was first published in Sydney in 1946, and was subsequently reprinted eight times, selling more than 100,000 copies.

Post-war career

In January 1946, he joined the Melbourne newspaper '' The Herald''. He was sent to China in July 1947 to report on the Civil War, then to London for the Herald-owned ''Adelaide Advertiser'' and the Brisbane '' Courier Mail'' in 1948, from where he reported on French, German and English post-war reconstruction, the lifting of the Berlin blockade, and also cricket, for which Rivett had a life-long love (he and Sir Donald Bradman kept up a regular correspondence from 1953 to 1977). He returned to Australia in 1951 to take up an appointment as editor-in-chief of the Adelaide paper '' The News'', Sir Keith Murdoch's evening tabloid newspaper, and the founding publication of what was to become News Limited.

Rivett was a popular commentator on radio, and once had the distinction of having a scheduled broadcast on the Suez Crisiscensored. He was a regular commentator on the ABC's ''Notes on the News'' programme.

One campaign for which Rivett is particularly remembered was the "Stuart Case". Max Stuart

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