Graham Perkin memorial dinner

Graham Perkin was one of the finest Australian newspaper editors of the 20th Century. Under his leadership, The Age was transformed from a staid broadsheet into a paper rated among the top ten in the world.

Perkin championed great words, great pictures and great cartooning – and pioneered modern investigative journalism.

Perkin died suddenly in October 1975, at the age of 45.

His legacy in fostering excellent journalism, promoting young talent and defending press freedom is sustained through Australia’s most prestigious media prize – the Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year Award.

On Thursday 15 October we marked the 40th anniversary of his death at a special dinner with Corrie and Steve Perkin. The night featured tributes from some of the big names in Australian journalism who flourished during Perkin’s editorship. 


See photos from the night


Introduction by Michael Rowland (4:02)   Graham Perkin: A Tribute (5:31)   Neil Mitchell: Living in the 70s  (14:41)   Graham Perkin and The New Age (9:22)   A message from Sir Harold Evans (3:53) Download the text of Sir Harold Evans' message here.   Ben Hills: 'The Hope from Hopetoun' (14:28)   A message from Michelle Grattan (4:12)   'The Light Stuff' (08:15)   Address by 2014 Graham Perkin Award Winner Chris Reason (14:39)   Les Carlyon: The Era of Graham and Harry (9:56)   Ranald Macdonald: The two of us (11:08) Download the text of Ranald Macdonald's speech here.'The Big Issues' (6:32)   Michael Smith: Raking the Muck (14:50)   'The End' (5:00)   Steve & Corrie Perkin - Our father (21:10)

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