Guide to the Papers of John Farquharson, 1956-2013

Summary

Creator:

Farquharson, John Mayo, 1929-2016

Extent:

1.50 metres and (9 ms boxes + 28 sound/av carriers)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of John Farquharson, National Library of Australia, MS 10254, [class/series/file/items number(s)]'

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Part available for research; part requires permission for research at the discretion of curatorial staff until 2037. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

Papers relating to Farquharson's long career as a journalist and also to his work as a parliamentary staffer, an oral history interviewer and a writer of obituaries. Included are copies of many of his newspaper articles; correspondence; research material on the history of The Canberra Times; papers and emphemera from official overseas visits; research for and drafts of obituaries on a number of notable public figures; research files for subjects of oral history interviews; papers relating to his employment with Liberal politician, Wal Fife; and a CD of an interview of Farqhuarson recorded in 2003.

Biographical / Historical:

Journalist John Farquharson joined Australian United Press in Sydney in 1951, covering state politics and industrial rounds, and then moved to Canberra in 1953 to work in the Press Gallery as a parliamentary reporter. Significant political events he covered include the Petrov Affair (1954), the Fitzpatrick and Browne corruption case (1955), and the HMAS Voyager disaster (1964). From 1965-1966 Farquharson edited the South Pacific Post in Port Moresby, PNG.

Farquharson moved to Canberra in 1966 where he held several positions with The Canberra Times including News Editor, Deputy Editor and Editorial Manager. He left journalism to work as a research officer from 1988-1992 for Liberal Party minister Wal Fife.

From the mid-1990s Farquharson wrote obituaries on many prominent Australians which were published in national newspapers including The Canberra Times, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. A collection of his obituaries was published by the National Centre of Biography as part of the pilot stage of the Obituaries Australia project. During the same period, he also conducted interviews for the National Library of Australia's oral history program, and wrote entries for the Australian Dictionary of Biography.

John Farquharson died on 29 June 2016.

Provenance:

The papers were acquired from John Farquharson in 2014.

Conditions Governing Access:

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions.

Conditions Governing Use:

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of John Farquharson, National Library of Australia, MS 10254, [class/series/file/items number(s)]'

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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