Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 18, 2020 22:25:45 GMT 12
DEATH OF WAR CORRESPONDENT
FORMER JOURNALIST IN CHRISTCHURCH
KILLED IN ACTION ON BOUGAINVILLE
(N.Z. Press Association— Copyright) (Rec 10 30 p.m.) MELBOURNE, Nov. 11.
Royden Keith Palmer, a New Zealander, who was the “Melbourne Herald’s” war correspondent in the south Pacific area, was killed in action during a Japanese bombing attack last Sunday. He was covering American operations on Bougainville as a front line correspondent. He was 37 years of age, and leaves a widow and two young children.
Mr Palmer was regarded as the outstanding writer in Australia on aviation. The Australian Newspaper Proprietors’ Association conference, paying a tribute to Mr Palmer’s work, said his articles had added to the faithful and vivid battle reporting of a great group of war correspondents.
Mr Palmer was born in Nelson and educated at Nelson College and Canterbury University College. He joined the “Sun,” Christchurch, in 1927, and his versatility and the enthusiasm he brought to his work rapidly won him promotion and a high reputation as a journalist.
From boyhood he was greatly interested in aviation, and acquired great knowledge of it by reading all technical and other publications on the subject. It was largely through his efforts that the Canterbury Aero Club was founded.
Because of his knowledge of aviation he was sent by the “Sun” to cover many notable events, such as the arrival and departure of Kingsford-Smith in the Southern Cross on the first Tasman flight. Through this special knowledge he also came to know, and be friends with, such famous men as Rear-Admiral R. E. Byrd, Lincoln Ellsworth, and Sir Hubert Wilkins.
As an example of his enterprise as a journalist, it may be mentioned that when the radio telephone service to Britain was first opened in 1931, it was he who conceived the idea of making the first call. He made the necessary arrangements and spoke to the foreign editor of the “Daily Mail,” London, and the article he subsequently wrote won the good journalism competition conducted by the New Zealand Journalists’ Association.
Mr Palmer left the “Sun” early in 1933, and joined “The Press” as cable sub-editor. After a disastrous hurricane in the Cook Islands the Government steamer Matai was sent as a relief ship and visited nearly every island in the group. Mr Palmer accompanied the official party, and later contributed a notable series of articles to “The Press” and other newspapers.
One of the last tasks he performed in New Zealand was to broadcast from an air-liner a running commentary on the first flight of Union Airways service from Dunedin to Palmerston North.
Early in 1936 Mr Palmer left “The Press” and joined the “Herald," Melbourne. In Australia his abilities were at once recognised, and again he won rapid promotion and was most favourably regarded by his employers, both as a reporter and a writer of articles on aviation and other special subjects.
He once flew round Australia by commercial airlines to establish how quickly and comfortably this could be done. He was also one of two journalists from Australia who were invited by Pan American Airways to fly from Australia to San Francisco and back when the company began its Clipper service on that route.
Mr Palmer’s early death will be regretted by many friends both inside and outside the ranks of journalists in all parts of New Zealand and Australia. His widow, formerly Miss Edith McKee, is a niece of Mrs T. Edridge, Cheviot.
PRESS, 12 NOVEMBER 1943
FORMER JOURNALIST IN CHRISTCHURCH
KILLED IN ACTION ON BOUGAINVILLE
(N.Z. Press Association— Copyright) (Rec 10 30 p.m.) MELBOURNE, Nov. 11.
Royden Keith Palmer, a New Zealander, who was the “Melbourne Herald’s” war correspondent in the south Pacific area, was killed in action during a Japanese bombing attack last Sunday. He was covering American operations on Bougainville as a front line correspondent. He was 37 years of age, and leaves a widow and two young children.
Mr Palmer was regarded as the outstanding writer in Australia on aviation. The Australian Newspaper Proprietors’ Association conference, paying a tribute to Mr Palmer’s work, said his articles had added to the faithful and vivid battle reporting of a great group of war correspondents.
Mr Palmer was born in Nelson and educated at Nelson College and Canterbury University College. He joined the “Sun,” Christchurch, in 1927, and his versatility and the enthusiasm he brought to his work rapidly won him promotion and a high reputation as a journalist.
From boyhood he was greatly interested in aviation, and acquired great knowledge of it by reading all technical and other publications on the subject. It was largely through his efforts that the Canterbury Aero Club was founded.
Because of his knowledge of aviation he was sent by the “Sun” to cover many notable events, such as the arrival and departure of Kingsford-Smith in the Southern Cross on the first Tasman flight. Through this special knowledge he also came to know, and be friends with, such famous men as Rear-Admiral R. E. Byrd, Lincoln Ellsworth, and Sir Hubert Wilkins.
As an example of his enterprise as a journalist, it may be mentioned that when the radio telephone service to Britain was first opened in 1931, it was he who conceived the idea of making the first call. He made the necessary arrangements and spoke to the foreign editor of the “Daily Mail,” London, and the article he subsequently wrote won the good journalism competition conducted by the New Zealand Journalists’ Association.
Mr Palmer left the “Sun” early in 1933, and joined “The Press” as cable sub-editor. After a disastrous hurricane in the Cook Islands the Government steamer Matai was sent as a relief ship and visited nearly every island in the group. Mr Palmer accompanied the official party, and later contributed a notable series of articles to “The Press” and other newspapers.
One of the last tasks he performed in New Zealand was to broadcast from an air-liner a running commentary on the first flight of Union Airways service from Dunedin to Palmerston North.
Early in 1936 Mr Palmer left “The Press” and joined the “Herald," Melbourne. In Australia his abilities were at once recognised, and again he won rapid promotion and was most favourably regarded by his employers, both as a reporter and a writer of articles on aviation and other special subjects.
He once flew round Australia by commercial airlines to establish how quickly and comfortably this could be done. He was also one of two journalists from Australia who were invited by Pan American Airways to fly from Australia to San Francisco and back when the company began its Clipper service on that route.
Mr Palmer’s early death will be regretted by many friends both inside and outside the ranks of journalists in all parts of New Zealand and Australia. His widow, formerly Miss Edith McKee, is a niece of Mrs T. Edridge, Cheviot.
PRESS, 12 NOVEMBER 1943
