Colin Blore Bednall (13 January 1913 – 26 April 1976) was an Australian journalist. He was born at

Balaklava, South Australia The town of Balaklava (population 2048, postcode 5461) is located in South Australia, 92 kilometres north of Adelaide in the Mid North region. It is on the south bank of the Wakefield River, east of Port Wakefield, South Australia, Port Wakefie ...

, to bank manager Edward Blore Bednall and Naomi Caroline Gertrude, ''née'' Ferry. He attended Pulteney Grammar School and the Collegiate School of St Peter, but left during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

following the death of his father. He became a journalist at the ''Adelaide News'' and then at the ''

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

'' and the ''

Herald A herald, or a herald of arms, is an officer of arms, ranking between pursuivant and king of arms. The title is commonly applied more broadly to all officers of arms. Heralds were originally messengers sent by monarchs or noblemen ...

''. From 1937 to 1938 he was a special correspondent in Darwin, where he met Hilda Marion Abbott, daughter of administrator

Aubrey Abbott Charles Lydiard Aubrey Abbott (4 May 1886 – 30 April 1975) was an Australian politician and public servant. He served as administrator of the Northern Territory from 1937 to 1946, a period encompassing the bombing of Darwin and other Japanese ...

, whom he married on 4 February 1939 in

Radlett Radlett is a large village in Hertfordshire, England, between Elstree and St Albans on Watling Street, with a population of 10,060. It is in the council district of Hertsmere in the south of the county, and forms part of the civil parish of A ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

. From 1938 Bednall worked for

Australian Associated Press Australian Associated Press Ltd (AAP) is an Australian news agency. It was founded in 1935 by Keith Murdoch. AAP employs around 90 journalists who work in bureaus in all states and territories of Australia except the Northern Territory. It al ...

in London, and from 1942 to 1944 was aviation correspondent for the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

''. His articles were informed by his flights as a qualified gunner over Germany. In 1945 he worked briefly as a correspondent for

Lord Louis Mountbatten Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (born Prince Louis of Battenberg; 25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979), commonly known as Lord Mountbatten, was a British statesman, Royal Navy off ...

's command in India, and was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

for his services to the war effort. Although he was an assistant editor at the ''Daily Mail'', he was persuaded to return to Australia by his mentor,

Keith Murdoch Sir Keith Arthur Murdoch (12 August 1885 – 4 October 1952) was an Australian journalist and media proprietor who was the founder of the Murdoch media empire. He amassed significant media holdings in Australia which after his death were expan ...

, who made him managing editor of Queensland Newspapers Pty Ltd, and therefore the ''

Courier-Mail ''The Courier-Mail'' is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner norther ...

''. In 1954 he succeeded Murdoch as managing editor of the '' Argus'' in Melbourne. Bednall was the first managing director of

GTV 9 GTV is a commercial television station in Melbourne, Australia, owned by the Nine Network. The station is currently based at studios at 717 Bourke Street, Docklands. GTV-9 is the home of the Australian Open tennis coverage. History GTV-9 was ...

, one of Melbourne's first two commercial television stations; this became the local station for Channel Nine, and Bednall cultivated a number of local television personalities, including

Graham Kennedy Graham Cyril Kennedy Order of Australia, AO (15 February 1934 – 25 May 2005) was an Australian entertainer, comedian and variety performer, radio and television host as well as a personality and actor of theatre, television and film. He wa ...

. In 1965, he left the channel after a disagreement over finances. He was then appointed to

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

's space communications committee, and from 1966 to 1969 he managed an English-Chinese television station

TVB Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB; zh, t=電視廣播有限公司) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Kong. The company operates five free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Hong Kong, with TVB Jade as its main Canton ...

in Hong Kong. His time in China saw his previously conservative political views shift to the left, and when he returned to Australia he joined the Labor Party, and ran unsuccessfully for the seat of

Flinders Flinders may refer to: Places Antarctica * Flinders Peak, near the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula Australia New South Wales * Flinders County, New South Wales * Shellharbour Junction railway station, Shellharbour * Flinders, New South Wa ...

in the federal elections of

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

and

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

. From 1973 to 1975, he also worked as a part-time media consultant for

Gough Whitlam Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from December 1972 to November 1975. To date the longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), he was notable for being ...

. In 1976 he died suddenly of

hypertensive heart disease Hypertensive heart disease includes a number of complications of high blood pressure that affect the heart. While there are several definitions of hypertensive heart disease in the medical literature, the term is most widely used in the context of ...

at the age of 63. He is commemorated with the Colin Bednall Award, presented annually for services to television.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bednall, Colin 1913 births 1976 deaths Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century Australian journalists The Argus (Melbourne) people