July 20, 2018
Journalist Evan Whitton – probably best remembered in Queensland for his daily coverage of the Fitzgerald Inquiry and the books that followed – died this week aged 90.
Whitton grew up in Murgon, where his father ran the local newsagency, and began his newspaper career at the Toowoomba Chronicle.
He went on to work at the Melbourne Truth where he won the first of his five Walkley awards during his long career.
Whitton’s work in Melbourne included investigation of police corruption and illegal abortion clinics, reports which earned him his second Walkley.
After the Truth, Whitton worked briefly at the Sunday Australian before joining the National Times as assistant editor and then editor.
At the National Times, he explored Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War including how Canberra lobbied Washington to get involved.
He joined the Sydney Morning Herald as chief reporter in 1981.
In 1983, he was named the Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year for his coverage of the Street Royal Commission in NSW.
During the Fitzgerald Inquiry, Whitton wrote daily reports which formed the basis for his controversial best-selling book about the inquiry and its aftermath, “The Hillbilly Dictator”.
He later became a Reader in Journalism at the University of Queensland and a columnist on the online legal journal, Justinian.
Whitton is survived by his second wife Noela – whom he first met in Murgon – seven children, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
