Harold ("Harry") Gemmell Kippax AO, better known as H. G. Kippax (6 October 192012 August 1999)austlit
Retrieved 12 August 2013 was an Australian print journalist. He was known as a foreign correspondent, war correspondent and theatre and music critic for ''

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 ...

'' for over four decades (1945–89). He was also a leader writer. Between 1958 and 1983 he produced 3,456 editorials for the ''Herald''. Kippax also wrote for the independent fortnightly journal ''

Nation A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective identity of a group of people understood as defined by th ...

'' 1958–66, under the pseudonym Brek.State Library New South Wales
Retriever 12 August 2013

Career

Kippax was born in Sydney in 1920. He failed to complete an Arts degree at 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 si ...

and became a cadet journalist with ''

'' before the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. He served overseas in the 2nd AIF in the Signals Corps 1942–45. On return to Australia, he rejoined the ''Herald'' as a war and foreign correspondent, serving in London, Germany, Greece, Spain and Portugal. He was News Editor in Sydney from 1950 to 1954. For the next three years he worked overseas again, reporting from London, France, Russia, and the Middle East, where he covered the 1956

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...

. He was in Sydney from 1958 for the rest of his career, where he became renowned as a theatre and literary critic while holding more senior editorial roles. Kippax was an early champion of the plays of

Patrick White Patrick Victor Martindale White (28 May 1912 – 30 September 1990) was a British-born Australian writer who published 12 novels, three short-story collections, and eight plays, from 1935 to 1987. White's fiction employs humour, florid prose, ...

, being one of the few critics who wrote favourably of '' The Ham Funeral''. Of its 1961 Adelaide premiere, he wrote that the play ''... brilliantly suggests a way out of the impasse in which the Australian drama finds itself''. After the 1962 Sydney premiere, he wrote: ''I am not going to mince words or hedge against the future. I believe the professional performance of ''The Ham Funeral'' at the Palace ... is an epoch-making event''. But he and White fell out over more negative critiques of some later White plays. David Marr writes "he had come to think all White's later plays were trash". They also had diametrically opposing views of the plays of

Louis Nowra Mark Doyle, better known by his stage name Louis Nowra, (born 12 December 1950) is an Australian writer, playwright, screenwriter and librettist. He is best known as one of Australia's leading playwrights. His works have been performed by all o ...

– what Kippax loved in Nowra, White was sure to hate; and vice versa. He was said to have "spotted the talent" of the actors John Bell,

Robyn Nevin Robyn Anne Nevin (25 September 1942) is an Australian actress, director, and stage producer, recognised with the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards and the JC Williamson Award at the Helpmann Awards for her outstanding contributions to Austra ...

Mel Gibson Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor, film director, and producer. He is best known for his action hero roles, particularly his breakout role as Max Rockatansky in the first three films of the post-apoca ...

and

Judy Davis Judith Davis (born 23 April 1955) is an Australian actress in film, television, and on stage. With a career spanning over 40 years, she has been commended for her versatility and regarded as one of the finest actresses of her generation. Frequen ...

; and the playwright

David Williamson David Keith Williamson AO (born 24 February 1942) is an Australian dramatist and playwright. He has also written screenplays and teleplays. Early life David Williamson was born in Melbourne, Victoria, on 24 February 1942, and was brought ...

. Harry Kippax was appointed an Officer 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 Go ...

in the Australia Day Honours 1988, for services to the theatre and media. Kippax died in 1999, aged 78. Selections from his critical writings were edited by Harry Payne Heseltine and published as: * ''A Leader of His Craft: Theatre Reviews by H. G. Kippax'' (2004) * ''The Voice of the Thunderer: Journalism of H. G. Kippax'' (2006). He was a nephew of the Test cricketer Alan Kippax.Valerie Lawson, "A student of life's drama", ''Sydney Morning Herald'', 21 October 2006
Retrieved 12 August 2013

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kippax, H G 1920 births 1999 deaths Australian war correspondents Australian theatre critics Australian literary critics Australian music critics Classical music critics Australian music journalists Australian newspaper editors Officers of the Order of Australia 20th-century Australian journalists The Sydney Morning Herald people