RUSSELL JONES, 1923-2013
Mentor: At the Newcastle Herald and The Ballarat Courier, Russell Jones helped guide many fledgling reporters. Photo: Supplied
Russell Jones was an accidental newspaperman who nevertheless rose to the most senior ranks in the business, including a long stint at the Newcastle Herald, where he was, at various times, features editor and chief subeditor. There, he helped guide the careers of many young reporters who later became senior journalists at leading newspapers.
James Edwin Russell Jones was born on June 9, 1923, at home on the family wheat property, Wattle Villa, at Warraderry near Grenfell. It was an occasion viewed, it was said, not only by his sisters, Marion and Betty, but also up to 27 relatives and hangers-on, testament to the size of his extended family. His grandfather, Charles Jones, and Charles' brother William had taken up land in the Grenfell area in 1876. Charles had 14 children with his wife, Elizabeth, including Russell's father James, who married Fanny Trethowen from Ballarat.
Russell went to Warraderry Public and Grenfell High schools. During the holidays he worked on the property and a future in farming looked certain. In 1940, he enrolled at Hawkesbury Agricultural College but the bombing of Pearl Harbour in 1941 meant an abrupt change to his plans. He promptly enlisted in the RAAF, but spent some time in the army before an RAAF intake. Even then, he was only able to transfer to the RAAF after considerable protest and intervention from politicians including Frank Forde, the then army minister.
After the war, Jones found work at The Ballarat Courier in 1947, not from any great desire to become a journalist but because he was intent on pursuing a young woman he had met when based in Ballarat with the RAAF and, also, he needed a job.
Once at the Courier, however, his talent for the business and commitment to it became apparent. This was important because - with his former flame now out of the picture - there he met his future wife. Mary Cameron had joined the Courier as a cadet reporter after being rebuffed in an interview with Keith Murdoch at the Melbourne Herald. Sir Keith offered her a place in the typing pool and told her she would never get out of it but she was determined to be a journalist. Russell and Mary married in 1948.
In 1963, Jones was appointed editor of The Ararat Advertiser and then returned to The Ballarat Courier as its editor. That led to a strong involvement in community life. He was on the founding committee that set the groundwork for Sovereign Hill - the popular recreation of Ballarat in the 1850s gold rush era - and played an important role in the development of the city's Begonia Festival, which still runs each year.
In 1968, he moved to the Newcastle Herald but retained his Ballarat links and, in 2007, was a special guest at the Courier's 140th anniversary celebrations.
Jones retired in 1988, when he turned 65, but he kept his hand in by doing casual subbing shifts, so he saw newspaper production evolve from hot metal to computerisation. He also wrote his family's history in a privately published book, The Way to Warraderry.
The family also loved travel and went to many parts of Australia as well as, in 1961, taking a six-month tour of Europe. After Mary's death in 2005, Jones continued to take pleasure in making travel plans, booking every aspect of adventurous solo international trips on the internet into his mid 80s.
One of Jones' sons, Quentin, became a photographer at the Newcastle Herald before having a long career with The Sydney Morning Herald, and his daughter Deborah was a writer and editor at The Australian for 25 years. Jones' eldest grandson, Benjamin Drzyzga, is a journalist at the Newcastle Herald.
Jones' final years were spent at Lymington Village in Warners Bay, where he was active and appreciated on the management committee and put his fine baritone to use as one of the Lymington Larrikins.
Russell Jones is survived by his children Linden, Susan, Deborah, Stephen, Quentin and Brendan, 11 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Deborah Jones
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