AUSTRALIAN agriculture lost a great advocate with the recent passing of rural award-winning journalist Blair Chadwick who died in Brisbane on Sunday, October 28, aged 72.
Blair’s 36-year rural journalism career spanned 23 years with Queensland Country Life/Rural Press and a further 13 years with the Department of Primary Industries Public Affairs Unit – all the time promoting and protecting primary producers and seeking ‘stories under every gum leaf’.
Journalism was in his blood as his father Don Chadwick read national news for ABC radio. Consequently, having completed a Diploma of Animal Husbandry at Queensland Agricultural College near Gatton, Blair joined Queensland Country Life as a cadet journalist in 1966 and completed a four year cadetship in two years.
Based at Toowoomba, Blair was appointed QCL manager for Darling Downs and south-west Queensland in 1968. Ten years later he transferred to Brisbane in 1978 and subsequently filled numerous editorial and management positions with QCL/Rural Press including features editor, news editor, chief of staff, deputy editor, acting editor, acting general manager and national editorial marketing assistant to the general manager.
In 1981 Blair won the prestigious national Walkley Award for rural journalism with an article on dumping of ham imports from Romania and Yugoslavia. Other highlights included being one of two journalists who travelled on a live sheep export ship to Iran in 1978 and representing Rural Press on news assignments in all Australian states, the Middle East, United States of America, Canada, Hong Kong and Europe.
Realising the importance of country shows in forging stronger links between country and city people, Blair in 1983 – in conjunction with Queensland Chamber of Agricultural Societies – helped found the Queensland Miss Showgirl competition and served on the executive committee from 1983 to 1988. The Miss Showgirl Competition still involves more than 120 show societies throughout Queensland and continues to be one of the most successful events of its type held in the State.
Blair was also elected sole staff member representative Rural Press Superannuation Board of Trustees in 1986. At the time of his election, the $30 million investment portfolio was providing a poor 4 per cent return. A year later he was appointed Superannuation Board of Trustees chairman and by adopting more aggressive investment strategies, the board doubled returns to members to more than 9pc in 1987 and 1988 and increased the value of fund investments by more than 30pc.
In 1989, Blair was recruited to head a new Department of Primary Industries Public Affairs Unit to provide wide ranging strategic and operational public relations/communications services to all areas of the department and maintain a critical issues management liaison role with the Office of the Minister for Primary Industries and the Office of the Director-General.
During the next 13 years until his retirement in 2002, Blair worked under four Ministers – Neville Harper, Ed Casey, Trevor Perrett and Henry Palaszczuk. During this time he was a leader in emergency disease communications. With the unit winning awards for successful campaigns involving Morbillivirus Horse Disease Emergency (Hendra virus) and the Papaya Fruit Fly Program, Blair served as a member of the National Disease Emergency Network and the Queensland Government Communications Coordination Committee. The unit also established successful internal and external newsletters, developed a new departmental corporate identity and supporting policy and operated effective media monitoring news release production systems.
Blair’s contribution to primary industries led to his inclusion in Queensland Country Life’s list of "Movers and Shakers" in 1999 – something he was very proud of – and he remained civically minded after his retirement. This was best illustrated in 2009 when he donated an early 1900s horse-drawn ambulance sulky to the Queensland Ambulance Society, which has since been restored and is on display in the Highfields Pioneer Village outside Toowoomba. Blair was also a keen observer of public policy and actively lobbied for change where he felt it would benefit the people of the state of Queensland.
Blair is survived by wife Desley, daughter Sam, son Nathan and their respective families.
