Bernie’s Tales On Tour – Chapter 1. How It All Began … Part 1.

It has been mentioned often I should write a book.

Maybe I should, given I have been walking around with a media badge either around neck or pinned to my shirt since the early to mid 1980s.

I had been drawn into tournament golf by Australian great Greg Norman who, in the mid-70s to early ’80s, was seemingly winning everything.

Indeed, Norman won 13 of an eventual 32 Australasian Tour events from 1976 to end of 1984.  He returned home a year later and went on to win another 19 ‘home’ events up to a last at his own 1998 Greg Norman Holden International.

I began dabbling in some very part-time photo-journalist work but only on weekends and when Norman would be competing in Sydney.

The Right Honourable Neville Wran MP QC – Premier of New South Wales from 1976 – 1986

At the time my full-time job was working for the New South Wales (NSW) State Government Premier’s Department.  I must have been doing something right as in 1982 I was presented with the opportunity to work on the personal staff of the Premier of New South Wales, Neville Wran, MP QC.

Wran, or ‘Nifty Nev’ as he was affectionately known, was a QC – a Queen’s Counsel and later changed in 1993 to Senior Counsel.  Wran had been born in the tough inner-Sydney suburb of Balmain and he was Balmain to the core.   A very smart lawyer, very street-wise, loved the Balmain Tigers NFL team, was never one to take a backway step and he became very popular.

So popular, he led the NSW State Labor Party to a one-seat victory in 1976 and two years later a new word entered the political arena – ‘Wranslide’ – with Wran storming to a 13-seat majority.

In 1981 Wran led his party to a remarkable 69 of the 99 NSW seat victory that handed him a 70% majority in the lower house of the NSW Parliament.

I was employed as an assistant private secretary handling plenty of correspondence addressed directly to the Premier while also calling on those working within the Premier’s Department to source information in relation to answering the correspondence. Initially, there was no computers until, if my memory is correct, around 1985/86, and even then it took about huge space surrouned by noise deadening material.

The Premier received a lot of correspondence and also an awful gifts from visiting Kings, Queens, Princesses (Princess Diana), heads of government, various delegations, business leaders, celebrities, sports stars and so on.  Suffice to say, the staff shared many nice gifts.  The role also entailed sharing the duties working late when the NSW Parliament sat in session at Parlament House and just a short walk from our offices.  There was some long nights where for much of the time you just had to be there ‘on call’ but then we had taxi vouchers, so there was no concern in having to jump on a last bus or final train.

The Premier had one of the nicest and more spacious offices in a completely remodelled NSW Parliament, and I will put my hands-up now and reveal one or two really nice gold embossed NSW Parliament whisky glasses found their way back to the family home, and that I still have in my possession.  I must hand them back one day or maybe not!

I also have in storage boxes in Sydney folders full of various items such as election promo leaflets, badges and so, and also many signed photographs of Wran, and one particular letter I had prepared in writing to a member of a family known to the Premier, and on the passing of another in the family.  Wran did not sign the letter and instead wrote across the letter in a large black felt pen … ‘He’s still alive’. I still have that letter.  Funny, it would not be the first time an ‘editor’ needed to correct my work.

The Premier was a real people person and he did not take to kinly to any fools. Fortunately, I avoided any scaulding over the ‘letter’ incident as he always treated my kindly and was genuinely intersted in what I was doing.  The Christmas and New Year period was special as Wran and his wife, Jill would head to Lord Howe Island, a tiny volcanic crescent shaped island in the Tasman Sea and around 900 klms north-east of Sydney.

With the majority of staff on Christmas leave, I chose to ‘man the office’ and the Premier would phone-in often to check-up on matters.  He also loved fishing, big-game fishing and he would arrange for the swordfish he caught off the Lord Howe Island coast to be sent back to his offices in Sydney and stored in the large refrigerated cabinets on the very top floor of our offices that commanded panormaic views of Sydney Harbour and that were used official functions and staff gatherings.

Unlike the incompetence of Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison chose to remain in Hawaii at a time late last year (2019) when much of the east coast of Australia was ablaze, Lord Howe Island was deemed part of New South Wales so when Wran went away at Christmas he was still ‘at home’ and still in charge as Premier.

Neville Wran with two future Prime Ministers of Australia – Paul Keating and Bob Hawke

Clearly, one of the hardest roles in Wran’s still very new and young-look cabinet was being a Minister as there was more than a few times when I had to get on the phone to one of his Minister’s to say:  “Mr. So and so?  The Premier wants to see you on the double” or words to that effect.  One or two ministers were like school children being called by a school headmaster.  And some of them were the subject of a real verbal ‘roasting’ despite the doors of the Premier’s office being a couple of inches thick.

I was fortunate also I got the opportunity to travel with the Premier to a number locations within the state of NSW. I would join the Premier, his Press Secretary and Neville Ireland, a NSW Police Special Branch officer and with a revolver strapped to his ankle, travelling to Sydney Airport and then fly by private jet to locations around the State.  I cannot remember the towns but we would be greeted by the local Mayor along with the local TV stations and written media. Though there was one or two occasions when the Premier would be greeted by a group protesting about something or an other but no sooner had he walked-up to those demonstrating and his charm would take over and before long Wran would have them virtually in the palm of his hand.  Wran just had an awe about him.

Wran also was not liked on one occasion the NSW Police Bomb Squad came bursting into our officers calling for everyone to ‘get out’ over the threat of a bomb while there was other occasions when we were forced to vacate the offices for similar reasons.

In early 1986, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip visited Sydney.  The Premier hosted a State reception right across the road from our officers in the Sheraton Hotel.  Members of his personal staff stood in a group and with the Premier escorting the Queen to meet leading dignitaries and Mrs. Wran escorting Prince Phillip.  At the end of this part of the reception, the Premier brought the Queen over to meet his personal staff.  My first brush with Royalty with a second a few minutes later in shaking the hand of Prince Phillip.

Ken Booth, Treasurer of NSW from 1981 – 1988

After four years as Assistant Private Secretary to the Premier of NSW, I took-up the role of Chief Private Secretary to the Treasurer of NSW, Ken Booth.

Booth had been a politician practically all of his working life taking over the seat of Kurri Kurri (about a 90-mintue drive north of Sydney) in 1960 at the passing of his father.  He was appointed Treasurer in 1981 and a year later he remarried to a much younger woman.

Booth was good friend and confident of the Premier and it was a great pleasure working so closely with someone as approachable as Booth.  A cornerstone of his political make-up was the voters and just as much Wran was a Balmain boy through-and-through, Booth was Wallsend and Kurri Kurri supportive of his electorate and would spend as much time as possible in his rural electorate office.

There was one standout memory, and very sad, working on the Treasurer’s staff and that was one day when he was guest-of-honour at the annual NSW Police ‘passing out’ parade of new officers in the town of Goulburn and about a 30-minute helicopter flight from Sydney Airport.

It was NSW Police marked helicopter but no sooner had we got into the air and a message came over the walkie-talkie that a surfer was missing off the coast of Sydney, and immediately east of the airport.  The helicopter flew to the scene and here was the sight of a large group of surfers but around 100-yards away to the north was the sight of a surfer floating face down and with the leg rope of his board around his ankle.

The Police helicopter landed on the nearby beach and with the Treasurer, his wife, the press secretary and myself alighting from the aircraft as the police did what they are trained to do.  I can still remember standing on Cronulla Beach wearing a suit and then after about 30-minutes second Police helicopter touched down on the beach front to carry us onto Goulburn.

Sadly, the surfer had drowned and with the Treasurer making reference of the tragedy in addressing the latest batch of NSW Police officers.  The story of the drowned surfer had been reported largely in the next day newspapers though reporters unaware of the Treasurer’s part in the rescue.

Even more sadness with the Treasurer passing away of a heart attack in November, 1988 and aged just 62.

It would be a short newspaper article and photograph in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph earlier that year on Tuesday 22nd March, 1988 that would change my career.

By then I have been in attendance at around a dozen of Norman’s then 23 of his tally of 32 Australasian PGA Tour victories and was also already filing to Golf Illustrated in the UK.

Part 2 of ‘How and Where it Began’ next …………

 

NB – Writing this on Monday 13th April, 2020 while in Port St. Lucie, Florida and during #stayhome Coronavirus pandemic.  Travelled to US for 2020 Honda Classic and attended Arnold Palmer before the Players was cancelled.  Had hope to cover Valspar, Dell Match-Play and Valero Texas Open before returning to Scotland.

 



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