Columnist Keith Dunstan has passed away, aged 88, after an almost year-long battle with cancer.
The master of words wrote his own obituary.
“It was something that was on the computer,” said his son David.
“It was a typical self-effacing obituary.”
David Dunstan says his father always wanted to be a journalist, much to the dismay of his own father, William Dunstan VC, who was the General Manager of the Herald and Weekly Times.
“My grandfather thought journalists were riff raff, he thought they were all drunks,” he said.
“He thought my father would never make any money and end up miserable, drunk and broke.”
Mr Dunstan says his father was born into an “interesting and privileged family”, but he was determined to become a journalist.
“His father, my grandfather, wanted him to be an engineer,” he said.
Mr Dunstan said his father was plucked from a pool of cadets by Sir Keith Murdoch, and became what he described as his private secretary for about six months.
“Sir Keith encouraged him, and he ensured all the young men had an overseas posting,” Mr Dunstan said.
“But the men had to be married.
“That’s how I came about, I was born in New York after my father married my mother.”
Mr Dunstan said his father’s early years in the media was to work as a foreign correspondent.
“He had a varied career,” he said.
“He was a sports writer, and covered the 1953 Australian Cricket Tour of England. He also covered disasters and was interested in becoming a political journalist.”
“It was in Brisbane when he worked for the Courier Mail where he found his niche as a columnist.
“In Melbourne, in the 1950′s and 60s, he was really a celebrity, basically because of the power of the press.”
In his own obituary, Keith Dunstan briefly wrote about his service with the RAAF.
He served during World War II, and wrote he was one of the RAAF’s least successful pilots.
“He ended up in the Pacific working on aerodromes and preparing for the invasion of Japan,” said David Dunstan.
Keith Dunstan started with The Sun News Pictorial in 1946.
“He had his finger on the pulse, there wasn’t a PR event, and odd ball scheme, there wasn’t a stunt he wasn’t in on.
“He formed a number of societies.
“The Ugh Society, the ‘ungodly horror,’ that was given to particular examples of horrific architecture.
“There was the Exit Club. It was when you got turfed out of a restaurant for inappropriate dress.”
Keith Dunstan was the author of more than 25 books.
His autobiography, No Brains At All, was titled after a comment by his science teacher on his academic skills.
“But he did say he had guts,” said David Dunstan.
“He was an odd-ball at school.
“But he had a wicked and gentle sense of humour,” he said.
David Dunstan says his father spent about 10 years making wine.
“We’ve still got a few bottles of his wine left, and of course we’ll be drinking them at his wake.”
But he says one of the most serious things his father had done was to become the President of Bicycle Victoria.
“He was the first businessman in Melbourne to regularly commute in a suit and bow tie,” he said.
Keith Dunstan’s daughter Kate, says her father was a wonderful role model.
“He was something to be proud of always”, she said.
“He was always a wonderful role model.
He managed to say strong things without ever being nasty, without ever putting anyone down.
He had an opinion on everything and always in the most constructive way.
If he were here today, remember the funny things, remember the happy things.”
In an interview on the ABC’s 7:30 Report in 1989, Keith Dunstan spoke about his marriage, career, the Murdochs’, Fairfax and his books.
His sense of humour was evident, making fun mostly at his own expense.
When asked about his decision to marry, he agreed laughingly with host John Jost, that it was an ‘arranged marriage’ by Sir Keith Murdoch.
He also spoke about his writing and said when he ran out of ideas he would send out may day messages to his friends in Brisbane and Melbourne.
“Other times, I’d pray.”
Keith Dunstan was born in East Malvern in 1925.
He studied at Melbourne Grammar and Geelong Grammar.
He worked as a foreign correspondent in New York, London and Los Angeles.
In Australia he worked for the Courier-Mail, The Sun News-Pictorial, the Bulletin and the Age.
He received an OA (Order of Australia) award in 2002.
He is survived by his wife, Marie, four children, 13 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren with a third on its way.
His funeral will be held next week.
