Vale Mark Colvin

11 May 2017

I was saddened to hear of the passing of veteran Australian journalist and broadcaster Mark Colvin.

Mark was a calm, reassuring and natural voice and a fixed point of reference in a changing media landscape.

He dedicated his life to journalism, spending more than 40 years working on radio and television at the ABC, where he provided in-depth coverage of some of the world’s most significant events.

Mark was gifted in languages and spent time as a foreign correspondent and reporter in London, Europe and Africa, where he covered major stories such as the American hostage crisis in Tehran, the end of the Cold War and the conflict in Rwanda.

His film about the Ethiopian famine was internationally recognised with a Gold Medal at the New York Film Festival and was nominated for an International Emmy Award.

Mark battled ill health since 1994 when he became seriously ill with a rare auto immune disease while covering the Rwandan genocide.

For the last 20 years, Mark was known by many Australians as the voice of authority on ABC Radio's current affairs program PM and his insights and breadth of knowledge will be greatly missed.