Past Presidents

A number of distinguished political journalists have headed up the Press Gallery beginning sometime around the year 1914, although it appears from records that the formality of the early Press Gallery committees varied from time to time up until the early 1920’s.

Although not an exhaustive list, past presidents have included:

Victorian Parliament House, Melbourne

H.W. Peters

W.A. Brennan

Old Parliament House, Canberra

Toney Innes

William Farmer Whyte

Otto Olsen

R.B. Leonard

Allan Fraser

Ray Maley

L.F. McDonnell

Norman Kearsley

S.W. Stephens

K. Schapel

John Bennetts

Jonathan Gaul

Stan Hutchinson

Gay Davidson – 1st female president

David Solomon

Barrie Cassidy

Ken Randall

Ken Begg

Peter Costigan

Anne Summers

David Barnett

Gary O’Neal

Parliament House, Canberra

Tom Burton

Paul Kelly

Michelle Grattan

Don Woolford

Graham World

Julie Flynn

Paul Bongiorno

Malcolm Farr

Karen Middleton

Phillip Hudson

David Speers

Andrew Meares – 1st non-reporter president

David Crowe