Acclaimed Australian writer, journalist and war historian Les Carlyon dies aged 77 

Acclaimed Australian writer, journalist and war historian Les Carlyon has died.

The two time Walkley award winner died after a bout of pneumonia, aged 77. 

Carlyon had an illustrious career in the Australian media industry, revered for his coverage of historical events, including the Port Arthur massacre, Princess Diana’s death and the 50th anniversary of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. 

He famously authored Gallipoli, a detailed account of the Allied forces campaign during the First World War in 2001.

The book garnered critical and commercial success, and went on to be the basis of the Australian 2015 TV miniseries of the same name. 

He went on to write a second historical novel, The Great War, shining a light on the work of Australians on the Western Front in France and Belgium during the same war.  

Carlyon spent time as the editor of Australian media publication The Age, as well as the editor-in-chief of The Herald Sun. 

The two time Walkley award winner died after a bout of pneumonia, aged 77

Carlyon was born in rural Victoria in 1942, but moved into the city as a young man to pursue his career in the media at The Sun.

By age 21, the budding writer had been lured to an opposition paper and by 33 he was an editor. 

Due to ill health, he was forced to step away from the position.

Journalist Jennifer Byrne described him as a mentor who ‘showed by doing, by being the best writer on the paper.’  

‘[He was a] lean stripe of a man built like one of the racehorses he loved who took a bunch of know-nothing cadets and showed us how to become journalists. 

More to come.