Denis Warner

Denis Ashton Warner (12 December 1917 – 12 July 2012) was an Australian journalist, war correspondent and historian.

Warner was born in New Norfolk in Tasmania's Derwent Valley. He attended The Hutchins School, where he was school captain, before embarking on a career in journalism. He began working for the '' Mercury'' as a copy boy in the late 1930s before being shifted to Melbourne to work for the ''Herald''. After his return from war service in the Middle East (1941–43), he came to the attention of Sir Keith Murdoch, who dispatched him to Asia with the directive to "tell us how it is". On 4 May 1945, Warner was on board the aircraft carrier HMS ''Formidable'' near the island of Okinawa when it was hit by a Japanese Kamikaze aircraft, the suicide plane striking the deck only 30 ft from where he stood. Later that year he married ''Herald'' reporter Peggy Hick. Following the war's end, he worked for Reuters and the Australian Associated Press as head of the Tokyo bureau, from whence he reported on Japan's post-war experience and interviewed General Douglas MacArthur. In 1949, Warner was instrumental in publicising the case of Lorenzo Gamboa, a Filipino man targeted by the White Australia policy, after a chance encounter in a Tokyo post office.

In 1949 he was appointed Far Eastern Correspondent for the ''Herald'' and the London ''Daily Telegraph'', becoming a freelancer in 1955. He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in 1956 and an Associate Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University in 1957. He wrote for a number of international news magazines, including the ''Reporter'', '' Look'' and the ''Atlantic''. He was a correspondent for the ''Telegraph'' on the Korean War, which he described as a "tragic accident". It was during Korea that he developed a bitter rivalry with Wilfred Burchett, whom he considered a traitor for his support of the Chinese.

Warner was a significant correspondent from the Vietnam War, where he was critical of the American conduct of a war he nevertheless supported. He continued to write on Asian affairs until 1983, also serving as a member of the Victorian State Advisory Committee of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from 1979 to 1981. From 1981 to 1995 he was editor of the ''Asia-Pacific Defence Reporter''. His hawkish foreign policy views distinguished him from many of his more liberal contemporaries.

Warner was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1971 and Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1982. He was a foundation patron of the Australia Defence Association in 1981, remaining involved with the organisation until his death. He continued writing into his later life, until ill health and his wife's death in 2010 led to a decline. Warner died in Melbourne in 2012.

Bibliography

Warner published a number of books on Asian affairs:

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*''Australia's Northern Neighbours'' (1957–63)
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Warner, Denis
1917 births
2012 deaths
Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Australian Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George
20th-century Australian journalists
Australian war correspondents
The Herald (Melbourne) people
The Mercury (Hobart) people
War correspondents of World War II
Australian Army personnel of World War II
Australian Army soldiers
People educated at The Hutchins School