Gary Hughes is an Australian journalist. [1]
In 2009, Hughes was awarded the Gold Walkley [2] and named Australian Journalist of the Year [3] for his coverage of Victoria's Black Saturday bushfires, of which he was a victim, for The Australian . [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
During the disaster Hughes and his wife almost died as their home burned around them. His first hand account gained global attention. Hughes later wrote an open letter to Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, detailing the distress Centrelink staff were causing to bushfire victims by telling them they needed identification to access emergency financial assistance despite their homes being completely destroyed by fire. [9] [10] This prompted Federal Government ministers Joe Ludwig and Jenny Macklin to advise Centrelink to treat bushfire victims more leniently. [11]
Hughes has spoken publicly of his experiences during the Black Saturday fires a number of times. [12] [13] [14] During one interview, Hughes admitted that when fellow bushfire victims were abusing and spitting at him and other members of the media as they passed them at a police roadblock while fleeing the bushfire ravaged area, he began to feel conflicted about the role journalists perform in relation to how they treat victims of trauma. [13]
As an investigative journalist, Hughes has won numerous awards, [15] including three previous Walkley Awards and two Melbourne Press Club Quills. [16]
The Australian, with its Saturday edition, The Weekend Australian, is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership as of September 2019 of both print and online editions was 2,394,000. Its editorial line has been self-described over time as centre-right
The Norm Smith Medal is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best on ground in the Grand Final of the Australian Football League (AFL). Prior to 1990 the competition was known as the Victorian Football League (VFL). It was first presented in the 1979 VFL Grand Final, and was won by Wayne Harmes, playing in Carlton's premiership victory against Collingwood. The award is named in honour of Norm Smith who won four VFL premierships as a player and six as coach for the Melbourne Football Club.
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Marysville is a small town, 34 kilometres north-east of Healesville and 41 kilometres south of Alexandra, in the Shire of Murrindindi in Victoria, Australia. The town, which previously had a population of over 500 people, was devastated by the Murrindindi Mill bushfire on 7 February 2009. On 19 February 2009 the official death toll was 45. Around 90% of the town's buildings were destroyed. Prior to the Black Saturday fire the population in 2006 was 519. At the 2011 Census, the population had reduced to 226, by the 2016 Census it had risen to 394.
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The Australian bushfire season ran from late December 2008 to April/May 2009. Above average rainfalls in December, particularly in Victoria, delayed the start of the season, but by January 2009, conditions throughout South eastern Australia worsened with the onset of one of the region's worst heat waves. On 7 February, extreme bushfire conditions precipitated major bushfires throughout Victoria, involving several large fire complexes, which continued to burn across the state for around one month. 173 people lost their lives in these fires and 414 were injured. 3,500+ buildings were destroyed, including 2,029 houses, and 7,562 people displaced.
The following lists events that happened during 2009 in Australia.
The Black Saturday bushfires were a series of bushfires that either ignited or were already burning across the Australian state of Victoria on and around Saturday, 7 February 2009, and were among Australia's all-time worst bushfire disasters. The fires occurred during extreme bushfire weather conditions and resulted in Australia's highest-ever loss of human life from a bushfire, with 173 fatalities. Many people were left homeless as a result.
The Black Saturday bushfires were a series of fires that ignited across the Australian state of Victoria during extreme weather conditions on 7 February 2009. Burning around 450,000 ha for over a month, the fires destroyed over 2,100 homes, destroyed several regional towns and were fought by over 5,000 firefighting personnel. The Fires devastated many.
The 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission is an Australian Royal Commission that concluded on 31 July 2010. It investigated the nature of circumstances surrounding the Black Saturday bushfires.
Nick McKenzie is an Australian investigative journalist. He has won ten Walkley Awards, been twice named the Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year and also received the Kennedy Award for Journalist of the Year. He is the president of the Melbourne Press Club.
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