Kathleen Vellacott-Jones

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Kathleen Vellacott-Jones (1907–1972) was a British-Canadian journalist and photographer who reported for British and Australian news services and published articles and photographs on behalf of the Territory of Papua New Guinea.

Early life[edit]

Kathleen Emma Jones, (usually known as Kathleen or Kate Vellacott-Jones), was born in Frome, Somerset, England on September 21, 1907,[1] the daughter of Philip Jones and his second wife Ellen. The family emigrated to Canada in 1921–22 to improve her father's health with the intention of farming land in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan.[2][3] Kathleen spent her vacations in the nearby Canadian Rockies, using these experiences as sources for her newspaper articles. She returned to England in the late 1920s to attend university and pursue journalism as a career.

Move to Australia and wartime service[edit]

Vellacott-Jones travelled to Australia in 1937 and worked as a journalist for many Queensland newspapers as well as doing radio work for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). Many of her articles and talks for radio described the differences between Canada and Australia.[4][5][6] Following the declaration of war in 1939, Vellacott-Jones returned to London where she continued to submit articles for Australian newspapers detailing the war effort and wrote for a number of British daily newspapers.[7][8] She returned to Australia after 1940, volunteering as a fruit picker during vacation[9] and was a regular contributor to Australian radio programs.[10][11][12] In 1945 she joined the British Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service (WAS) as a second lieutenant and worked extensively in Burma and Japan until 1946.[13] She published a book, Ticket to Burma in 1952, detailing her experiences as part of the WAS during the latter part of World War II.[14]

Work in Papua New Guinea[edit]

Vellacott-Jones took up a position with the ABC's Papua New Guinea office in 1949.[15] She was one of the first women to hike the Kokoda Track following the end of World War II.[16] She was on site to report the news when Mt Lamington in PNG erupted in 1951.[17] From 1953-1965 she was in charge of Public Relations for the Territory of Papua New Guinea as it moved towards independence.[18] In this role she published news for the Australian and British press and took extensive photographs of the region, in particular the highlands of the Tari community.[19][20][21]

Legacy[edit]

Kathleen Vellacott-Jones returned to England to live. She died in Nottingham, England on November 5, 1972.[22][3][23] She did not marry and was survived by a number of siblings and her extended family. Vellacott-Jones’ extensive photographic collection and some films from her time reporting for the PNG government are lodged in the University of Queensland Library in the manuscript collection of Fryer Library.[24]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "FreeBMD Entry Info". www.freebmd.org.uk. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  2. ^ "Tourists And Australia's National Income". Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 - 1954). 26 November 1938. p. 11. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  3. ^ a b "Kathleen Vellacott Jones - Ancestry.com". www.ancestry.com.au. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  4. ^ "A Farewell Criticism". Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939). 8 February 1939. p. 9. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  5. ^ "NICE MORNING WHEN IT'S 20 DEGS. BELOW ZERO". Sunday Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1926 - 1954). 19 June 1938. p. 6. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  6. ^ "A Canadian's Impressions In Queensland". Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939). 8 June 1938. p. 23. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  7. ^ "What A Canadian Thinks of Us". Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954). 9 February 1939. p. 4. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  8. ^ "BRITAIN PREPARES FOR THE WORST". Queensland Country Life (Qld. : 1900 - 1954). 27 July 1939. p. 5. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  9. ^ Commission, Australian Broadcasting (22 April 1944). "City girls go bush to pick grapes (22 April 1944)". ABC Weekly. 6 (17).
  10. ^ "Facts From Fiji, The One-Time Cannibal Islands Of The Pacific". Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 - 1954). 17 May 1941. p. 11. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  11. ^ "BROADCASTING". Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957). 26 December 1944. p. 4. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  12. ^ Crook, Tim (1997). International radio journalism. Routledge. pp. 215. ISBN 9780415096737.
  13. ^ "Journalist Takes To Air For Army History". Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954). 15 July 1946. p. 8. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  14. ^ "Fun in Burma". Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1931 - 1954). 15 December 1951. p. 14. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  15. ^ Mackay, Ian K. (1976). Broadcasting in Papua New Guinea. Melbourne University Press. ISBN 9780522840988.
  16. ^ "Walked Kokeds Trail". Cairns Post (Qld. : 1909 - 1954). 7 March 1952. p. 5. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  17. ^ "EARLY DAYS OF BROADCASTING IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA". Papua New Guinea Post-Courier (Port Moresby : 1969 - 1981). 17 May 1974. p. 17. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  18. ^ "P-NG TO HAVE PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER (1 July 1953)". Pacific Islands Monthly. XXIII (12). 1 July 1953.
  19. ^ "WHILE AUSTRALIA LOOKS ANXIOUSLY AT NEW GUINEA, THE NATIVES HAVE AN AGE-OLD PROBLEM OF THEIR OWN". Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954). 19 August 1950. p. 2. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  20. ^ Vellacott-Jones, K (10 July 1954). "Tari people of New Guinea". Illustrated London News.
  21. ^ Vellacott-Jones, K (4 September 1954). "The "Shangri-La" of the New Guinea highlands". Illustrated London News.
  22. ^ "Family Notices". Papua New Guinea Post-Courier (Port Moresby : 1969 - 1981). 24 November 1972. p. 43. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  23. ^ "Our own goods cost more here". Papua New Guinea Post-Courier (Port Moresby : 1969 - 1981). 8 December 1972. p. 26. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  24. ^ "Kathleen Vellacott-Jones Photographs - Fryer Manuscripts". manuscripts.library.uq.edu.au. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
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