Kavanagh's Queensland

I'm just home from a literary lunch featuring Courier Mail journalist Lawrie Kavanagh.As my dad Peter Stephenson also worked for the Courier Mail in the art room starting in the 50s,they would have crossed paths there for some years. Interesting too that they both were born in Rockhampton. So I bought dad "Outback", Lawrie's Book which has illustrations by Hugh Sawrey in the same quick messy illustrator style that my dad used to do to go with articles in the Courier Mail all those years ago before computers and photographs came to dominate newspapers.

In those days being a press artist involved illustrations, some in color but most in ink line drawing, touch up work for photos and maps, and page layout - gluing the articles in place on a paper page not on a computer - before it was sent to the setup room for the presses.
Dad has fond memories of the Courier Mail, and it was nice to meet one of the men he talked a lot about.

For anyone else who remembers' "Kavanagh's Queensland" columns, he also has been persuaded to start up a blog for his memories and musings