Sturgess Collection

The Sturgess Collection holds 108 oral history interviews recorded by Garry Sturgess, between 1976 and 1986, while writing his 2 books and working on various ABC productions.

Media

Key items in the collection

The Garry Sturgess Collection comprises 276 reels and 48 cassettes. They contain 108 interviews, recorded by Sturgess between 1976 and 1986.

Several interviews deal with the trial of Justice Lionel Murphy and the life of the historian Ian Turner.

The interviewees include:

Niall Brennan
Creighton Burns
Ita Buttrose
Jim Cairns
Lord Denning
Sir Harry Gibbs
Bill Hayden
Frank Huelin
Michael Kirby
Mungo McCallum
Alan Marshall
Sir Anthony Mason
Stephen Murray-Smith
Lionel Murphy
Paul Ormonde
Bruce Petty
Alan Reid
Ron Saw
Julius Stone
Glen Tomasetti
Ian Turner
Duncan Waterson.

There are speeches by:

Sir Daryl Dawson (Justice of the High Court of Australia from 1982 to 1997)
The Hon Peter Durack, QC
The Right Honourable Sir Ninian Stephen, QC
Sandra Day O’Connor (associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006)

There also some patriotic and political songs, that can be grouped into the following subjects:

Prime ministers
The Great Depression
Federation
Humour in journalism
Australian history themes
The judiciary.

About Garry Sturgess

Garry Ellis Sturgess grew up in Melbourne and is a graduate of Monash University.

Sturgess practised as a barrister in 1985 to 1989, but for most of his career he has worked in the media and publishing.

From 1977 to 1980 Sturgess was a freelance reporter and documentary-maker in Australia and the United States. He was the:

legal correspondent for The Age in 1980 to 1984
presenter of The Law Report on ABC Radio National in 1984 to 1985.

He worked as a freelance reporter and correspondent in Washington in 1989 to 1991.

Founder

In 1994 Sturgess founded the communications provider Global Vision Media Pty Ltd and, in 2000, he established Explore Australia Network Pty Ltd, an online travel and tourism publisher.

Publisher and author

Since 2003, Sturgess has been a consultant publisher at DigiTravel Publishing Pty Ltd.

Sturgess is the co-author of:

Producer

His radio and television productions include:

The Great Depression (1977)
Prime Minister (1980)
Judging the World (1986)
Labor in Power (1993).

Background to the collection

In 1989 the Library purchased from Sturgess his oral history collection. This collection was assembled while he was writing his 2 books as well as working on various ABC productions.

The Oral History Collection contains the Garry Sturgess Collection.