THE AUSTRALIAN

AUGUST 23, 2011 David Nason, rugged individual and dynamic journalist, dies at 57

Steve Creedy Aviation Editor Sydney

NEITHER bullets nor bulldust could stop Dave Nason once he latched on to a good story, and he took on his diagnosis of a rare cancer with the same determination he applied to his journalism.

The square-jawed reporter, who left his mark across four Australian cities, lost a months-long battle with the disease in Adelaide yesterday, surrounded by friends and family.

It was the end of a colourful career spanning more than three decades that saw Nason, 57, wounded by Vietnamese troops in Cambodia, don a police uniform to infiltrate Darwin airport, and so incensed Kurt Vonnegut that the ageing author took to leaving obscene messages on the reporter's answering machine.

Nason's blunt approach masked a generous heart and a dry wit; he had a strong sense of fairness and was as fiercely loyal to his friends as he was implacable in chasing his journalistic targets.

An ardent punter, he was as at home in the pub having a beer with mates and talking about the fortunes of his beloved Collingwood as he was prowling the corridors of power or the financial bourses.

His penchant for battering keyboards with a unique style of two-fingered typing was as legendary among colleagues as his generosity in sharing leads, by-lines and advice with other reporters.

"If you were a friend of David's, you were a friend for life," said long-time mate Kevin Naughton.

"They don't come any bigger, better or bolder."

Nason worked in print, television and radio in his spiritual home of Darwin, where he set up a bureau for The Australian before heading to Sydney. He went on to run the paper's Brisbane, New York and Adelaide bureaus before retiring in June due to ill health.

"Nase" had shown a talent for writing as early as high school in South Australia's Murray Bridge, but began his professional career in Darwin. After studying at university, he was lured in 1978 to play Australian football for what was then North Darwin and began a newsletter called The Oracle.

"The whole town couldn't function until the next week's Oracle came out to see who had been caught doing what," said a Darwin friend of more than three decades, John Stokes.

Nason slotted in well in what was considered a strong team, even winning the goal kicking award one year, as his weekly newsletter came to the attention of fellow scribes.

He was offered a job on the Northern Territory News, and would later work at the now defunct Darwin Star. But his career in Darwin was not without controversy and he caused a furore when he came up with the idea of donning borrowed police uniforms to test the security at Darwin airport. The uniform he used belonged to an officer who was later charged and acquitted of murdering his former girlfriend's boyfriend and the ruse was not discovered by embarrassed police until Nason wandered across a runway and sat under the wing of a plane.

Nason's brushes with authority led to him being charged by police with indecent exposure for what friends described as "having a slash in his own front yard". He unsuccessfully represented himself in the Magistrates Court, but with typical doggedness, representing himself again, won on appeal.

In 1986, he was hit by an AK-47 bullet while on assignment in Cambodia for the NT News. Such was his popularity in Darwin that up to 80 people waited in the local club while phone calls were made to find out if he was alive.

Nason was a dynamic force in the coverage of NT politics in the 1980s and 90s, and was a Walkley finalist for his coverage of the territory's euthanasia debate.

His integrity and professionalism impressed even protagonists such as former NT chief minister Shane Stone. "We had a pretty sparky relationship, but he was what one would call a very dogged and determined investigative journalist," Stone said. "I liked him immensely, and I'm really, really sorry we've lost him."

A move to television on the then Channel Eight (now Nine) and his unorthodox style prompted jokes around Darwin, but Nason typically took the jibes in his stride. The early 90s saw him work for ABC radio and stringing for The Australian. He made a comeback to Darwin football in 1992 to mentor a young Southern Districts football club, where he played with future AFL stars Nathan Buckley, Allen Jakovich, Adrian McAdam and Fabian Francis.

He joined The Australian full-time in 1993 to establish the paper's one-man Darwin bureau. "David Nason was a journalist who could turn his hand to anything -- he could write sport or politics, cover a war or the economy or drive himself into a disaster zone to cover a hurricane," said The Australian's editor-in-chief, Chris Mitchell. "Almost nothing could stop David, as those of us who remember his stoical approach to being shot in Cambodia will attest."

A move to Sydney in 1995 saw Nason take on NSW state rounds and continue the hard-hitting approach he honed in the NT. Darwin TV anchor David Fidler was among those to feel the impact of this when he would be outed by Nason for continuing to falsely claim he was a part of the 1968 Olympics swimming team.

Yet it would sometimes land the reporter in trouble as it did when he provoked outrage at the Tamworth country music festival, where he was nearly run out of town for a humorous article that argued gaudy line dancers were changing the songfest into "a cheap Kentucky Fried imitation" of itself.

"As an editor, there was no bureau chief you would rather have in the chair when a big story was breaking," said former boss Paul Whittaker. "Nase had a big heart, a great sense of humour, and when he shook your hand, he'd not only crush it but you knew he was shaking on his bond."

When Mitchell needed someone to fix the paper's Brisbane bureau in 2002, he turned to Nason, who upped stumps and moved without a second thought. It was during this time that Nason produced what he considered his greatest achievement - his young daughter Emma.

"It's a testament to David that the Brisbane bureau has in the past few years bagged a gold Walkley (to Hedley Thomas for his reporting on Dr Mohamed Haneef) and a Graham Perkin Award (to Tony Koch for his reporting of Cameron Doomadgee's death at Palm Island)," Mitchell said.

It was while in the US that Nason upset the late Kurt Vonnegut with a review that criticised the literary icon for defending terrorists. Vonnegut was so upset he would ring in the middle of the night to leave obscene messages on Nason's answering machine.

In his most recent incarnation, Nason moved to Adelaide to lead the South Australian bureau. "I cannot emphasise how much The Australian owes David Nason, or how grateful I am personally to him for everything he has done these past two decades," Mitchell said.

Nason's life will be celebrated in both Adelaide and Darwin, where some of his ashes will be scattered on his favourite football field. He is survived by his daughter Emma, former wife Sandy, brothers Stephen and Robert, and sisters Helen and Jennifer.