Rohan Rivett

Rohan Deakin Rivett (16 January 1917 – 5 October 1977) was an Australian journalist, author and influential editor of the Adelaide newspaper The News from 1951 to 1960. He is chiefly remembered for accounts of his experiences on the Burma Railway and his activism in the Max Stuart case.

Rohan was born in Melbourne, Victoria the elder son of Sir David Rivett and his wife Stella née Deakin. He was a grandson of the former Prime Minister of Australia Alfred Deakin.

He was educated at Wesley College and in 1935 went on to study history and politics at the University of Melbourne, earning a B.A. with first class honours in 1938. With classmate Manning Clark, he enrolled to study at Balliol College, Oxford, arriving in October 1938. When World War II began, he and Clark abandoned their studies and returned to Australia with the intention of joining the AIF.

Unable to enlist, he joined The Argus as a cadet journalist. He visited Moscow in 1939 and on return received his first byline. On 2 January 1940 he married Gwyneth Maude Terry, a student, at St John's Church of England, Camberwell. On 7 June he successfully enlisted in the AIF.

In August 1940 he was recruited by the Department of Information to read news bulletins for broadcast over Radio Australia. In December 1941 he volunteered to work for the Malayan Broadcasting Commission (or Corporation), which had been set up in Singapore to counter Japanese propaganda, and was discharged from the AIF. He also continued to write for The Argus.

On 9 February 1942 he broadcast the news that Japan had invaded the island, then escaped Singapore. The refugee ship was bombed, but he was one of those who survived. However, after several weeks of evasion, around 4 March 1942 he was captured by the Japanese on Java and sent to work on the Burma Railway.

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