Marr, David 1947-

PERSONAL:

Born 1947, in Sydney, Australia. Education: University of Sydney, degrees in arts and law.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Sydney Morning Herald, GPO Box 506, Sydney, New South Wales 2001, Australia.

CAREER:

Journalist and author. Has worked as reporter for Bulletin (Australia) and as reporter and editor, National Times (Australia); currently investigative reporter, Sydney Morning Herald, and presenter of Media Watch, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC-TV). Former television reporter, Four Corners, ABC-TV.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Walkley Award for television journalism.

WRITINGS:

The Invanov Trail, Nelson (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), 1984.

Barwick, Allen & Unwin (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia), 1990.

Patrick White: A Life, J. Cape (London, England), 1991.

(Editor) Patrick White, Letters: Patrick White, 1994.

(With Marian Wilkinson) Dark Victory, Allen & Unwin (Crow's Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS:

David Marr is an Australian journalist with positions in television and the print media. His book Dark Victory, written with Marian Wilkinson, details the means by which the Australian government denied asylum to refugees arriving by boat from Indonesia in the months preceding the 2001 presidential election. Marr and Wilkinson particularly focus on the actions of the captain of the Norwegian ship Tampa that saved more than 400 refugee passengers from an overcrowded, sinking boat, only to be turned away from Australian ports. In a piece on the work for Aussie Reviews, Sally Murphy noted: "Australian readers will squirm as they learn of the events of these weeks and the attitudes that allowed them to happen." A critic for Soul Pacific called the book "compulsory reading for all Australians."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

ONLINE

Arena Magazine, http://www.arena.org.au/archives/Mag_Archive/issue_66/ (October 16, 2003), Harry Throssell, "The Tampa Post-Mortem."

Aussie Reviews,http://www.aussiereviews.com/ (October 16, 2003), Sally Murpy, review of Dark Victory.

Green Left,http://www.greenleft.org.au/ (October 16, 2003), Sarah Stephen, "The ‘Inside Story’ of Howard's War on Refugees."

Soul Pacific,http://www.aussiereviews.com/ (October 16, 2003), review of Dark Victory.

Sydney Writers Festival,http://www.writersfestival.uts.edu.au/ (October 16, 2003), Timothy Elba, "In Conversation: David Marr."