Ian Mathews - newspaper editor and community activist
Abstract
Ian Mathews is not strictly a past member of ANU staff, though he is happily embraced within the collegial fellowship ofANU’s Emeritus Faculty; he is the editor of the Faculty’s regular newsletter, Emeritus. Ian was previously Editor and Editor-in-Chief of the Canberra Times, serving with the newspaper from 1963 to 1988. He had previously worked with the Adelaide News, and with several provincial newspapers in the UK. For his contributions to journalism he was awarded an Order of Australia in 1988.
Since leaving the Canberra Times in 1988, Ian has edited Stand To, for the Returned Services League of Australia, UNity, the journal of the United Nations’ Association of Australia, and The Order, for the Order of Australia Association. He has also served on national and local organisations supporting education, health, literature, foreign affairs, peace and disarmament, and the arts.
Ian co-authored with Russell Fox (previously Chief Justice of the ACT Supreme Court) the book Drug Policy – Fact, Fiction and the Future, a proposal for alternative approaches to national and community drugs policy.
Apart from his editorial and community activities, Ian is currently studying English literature at ANU.