The Australian newspaper turns 50 next week, July 14 to be exact.
What an achievement for a national daily paper, that started because Mr Murdoch thought the country deserved a national daily newspaper. Up til then, the highest circulating papers were state based, and some might say parochial in their news coverage. He thought the COUNTRY deserved a newspaper that reported on National news, global affairs and that it would target the 'thinking Australian'
After being unjustly sacked from New Idea (a weekly magazine), I was introduced to the Advertising Sales Director at News (New Ideas parent company) by the General Manager as his way of an apology. I was offered a position of Junior sales rep on The Sunday Telegraph and took it - it was a job, and the rest would work itself out.
Well, some things take longer to work out than others, and ultimately I moved 'downstairs' to The Oz (the nickname given to the paper by people who worked on it) and my love of newspapers was born.
I was proud to be on the team to celebrate the papers 25th Anniversary and what a party it was. We knew how to work hard and play harder (sometimes)
All these years on, my memories of The Oz are still very vivid. Gosh, I'm still best friends with several people. It's one of the highlights of visits to Sydney, catching up for dinner and drinks. We've moved on from talking about The Oz, but it's where we met so it holds a very important part of our hearts. If it wasn't for The Oz, we'd not have met.
There was a time when I defined myself through my work. I never set out to have a 'career' in advertising, tho it was definitely my chosen industry. Working on The Oz was something I was incredibly proud to be part of - then and now.
A few of the sales reps thought it would be fun to have a reunion of the sales and production departments to coincide with Editorials 50th anniversary. Through the wonders of FB and Twitter, they have found a lot of people!
It's been a blast catching up with old friends, via FB chats these past few months. It's great seeing what they are doing now, finding out about their kids etc. We'll probably never speak again - and that's OK. We shared a moment in time that's passed but it's such a great memory.
The sad thing with a reunion of this nature is that several people have passed away over the years (50 is a very long time), and one or two have only just recently passed away showing you that age sometimes has nothing to do with anything. One was a few years younger than me; another only a few years older. Kinda hits home that we shouldn't take anything for granted.
62 people will be meeting up on July 12, at the 'old' local pub where we hung out every single Friday afternoon (journalists hung out every single day LOL), for a HUGE catch up.
It's a long way from Dublin (or Paris, or London as some others have said) so there's an expat contingency that won't be there.
Those who are going are sure to have one-hell of a time!
For those of us who are unable to make it to the reunion, we will be there in spirit of sure.
My thoughts will be with them,
You enjoy reunions?
What was the best one you attended?
How did it feel catching up with everyone after so long?
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