Gavin Geoffrey Souter AO (born 2 May 1929)[1] is an Australian journalist and historian.
He was born in Sydney and educated at Kempsey High School, and Scots College[2] in Warwick, Queensland and then graduated BA from the University of Sydney. He joined The Sydney Morning Herald as a journalist in 1947 and worked there for the next 40 years, serving as a correspondent in New York and London [2] and later as an Assistant Editor of The Herald.
In 1960 Gavin Souter was awarded the W.G. Walkley National Award for Australian Journalism.
His books have included New Guinea: The Last Unknown (1963); A Peculiar People (1968), an account of the New Australia settlement in Paraguay; The Idle Hill of Summer: an Australian Childhood (1972); Lion & Kangaroo: The Initiation of Australia 1901-1919 (1976).
In 1983 he was commissioned to write a narrative history of the Parliament of Australia to commemorate the Bicentenary of European occupation of Australia in 1988. This was entitled Acts of Parliament.
He also wrote two histories of John Fairfax Limited - Company of Heralds (1981), which won the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies award;[2] and Heralds and Angels: the House of Fairfax 1841-1990 (1992), which won the Victorian Premier's Literary Award.[2]
He was Vice President of the Australian Society of Authors 1975-78 and Deputy Chairman of the Commonwealth Films Board of Review 1981-84.
Gavin Souter was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1988,[3] and raised to Officer level (AO) in 1995.[4] He was awarded the Centenary Medal in 2001.[5]