John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

In September 1921 a World War I veteran by the name of Charles Halliday Engisch, established an independent community newspaper. As a resident of the Bennelong suburb of Gladesville, Charles became a strong, passionate and vocal fighter for his local community and was enduringly proud of his paper, the Weekly Times. He was a foundation member of the Gladesville RSL sub-branch and served as its president and volunteered his time on numerous community organisations, including as first patron of the Gladesville and District Junior Cricket Association for an astonishing 47 years.

Charles worked tirelessly on his paper and every Thursday morning he would take the first tram to his brother Leslie's printing press in Bankstown and carry all 4,000 copies of the week's edition back to the Gladesville community for distribution. In 1971, just a few months short of the 50th anniversary of his paper, which remained fiercely independent and renowned for its impartiality, Charles Engisch passed away at the age of 77. Ownership remained with the family as his son-in-law Earl Ware took over the Weekly Times.

In 1979 a local champion, with a ceaseless grin and ink in his veins, by the name of John Francis Booth became the new owner and standard bearer of the Weekly Times. JB as he is known to all had served on the local council and launched an ombudsman campaign in 1964 with the strong support of Charles Engisch. JB said, 'Like the Remington man, I liked the product so much that I not only bought one issue of the paper but the whole company!'

Thirty years since this decision I am proud to call JB a friend and am delighted to next week join him in celebrating the 90th anniversary of the Weekly Times. Charles Engisch may have been TWT's founder and its reason for being, but after 32 years John Booth has cemented himself as the lifeblood and the heart and soul of this community paper. JB holds high the paper's traditions and values of independence and maintains a patriotic local focus, including a fearlessly one-eyed dedication to the mighty Wests Tigers. His achievement in keeping the TWT so successful is even more impressive when one considers the strength of his competition: the Murdoch and Fairfax empires. In this environment of big business, big money and the constant struggle for print advertising dollars in an increasing online world, the Weekly Times remains free with a circulation of 54,000 across the Bennelong region.

JB is ably helped by a team of dedicated workers and volunteers with Ulrike Eichmeyer, Greg Turner, Chris Karas and Ruth Lesslie to name a few. Their efforts and passion for their community and paper have led to the TWT being conferred a string of awards over the past decade. Every week, the editorial 'JB's World' lists the seemingly endless array of family members, friends and colleagues celebrating milestones on that particular week as well as paying tribute to community volunteers and heroes who have passed on.

JB is dedicated to his Scouts, the region's heritage and broader community issues, regularly hosting public forums in his offices. JB richly deserves the Order of Australia honour he received in 1976 in recognition of his service to the community and the Centenary Medal in 2001, which paid tribute to his contributions to Scouting and the media. Yet despite all the awards and the service and the great local paper that I look forward to receiving each Wednesday, the most enduring and enamouring aspect to JB is the enthusiasm with which he stays true to his editorial by-line, the simple philosophy: keep smiling. There is no doubt that next Friday night, as the local community gathers at TWT headquarters, JB will have a smile from ear to ear and from beer to beer. As the representative of the people of Bennelong, I thank and congratulate JB, Ulrike and all of the team for a wonderful achievement.

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