NYE06

A year since we said goodbye...

We miss you Uncle Morgan

The 'Morgan Mellish'

The Morgan Mellish

Blueys Beach Saturday 15th December

The Morgan Mellish Memorial Fund smashed its target to raise funds for an Inflatable Rescue Boat which became a jet ski, the “Morgan Mellish” and the time has come to launch his Boat and celebrate his love for the surf.

“Morgs” will be launched at the Elizabeth Beach (Pacific Palms) Surf Club - Bluey’s Beach on Saturday 15 December 2007.

Life heals at gym like no other

Recovery means hour after aching hour in rehabilitation, a place of despair, generosity and triumph, writes Cynthia Banham.

SMH, 13/12/2007

The Morgs Cup

Ben and Ming decided to commemorate the friendship they had with Morgan by playing golf for The Morgs Cup.

Much thought went into what the cup should look like. An elephant pewter mug, bought at a market in Bangkok, was chosen.

Ben, Ming and any of Morgan's friends will continue to play golf against each other and hopefully they will all, at some stage, victoriously hold the cup aloft.

Ben also enthusiastically produced some Morgs Cup t-shirts, the first being worn by here Ming Wong and Ben Hunter.

For more photos of the handsome pair visit The Hunters.

BA plan puts QANTAS in a quandary

Kay O'Sullivan
SMH, December 1, 2007

Honour for journalist hostage

The Elizabeth O'Neill Journalism Award has been given to the Indonesian journalist Meutya Hafid. Hafid is the reporter and anchorwoman for the Jakarta-based Metro TV. The award honours O'Neill's efforts in building links between Australia and the Indonesian media.
Louise Williams
SMH, November 22, 2007

Coroner sees lessons in Garuda crash

Craig Skehan
SMH, November 8, 2007

Indonesia pledges to overhaul air safety

Jonathan Pearlman
SMH November 3, 2007

Safety woeful, admits air chief

SMH, November 2, 2007

British Airways bans surfboards

Eugen Tan of Aquabumps fame speaks HERE about how the ban will affect surfing around the world.

Arjun Ramachandran
SMH October 26, 2007

Pilots 'must be prosecuted'

Mark Forbes in Jakarta and Craig Skehan
SMH October 24, 2007

My blood boils: we knew we were going to crash

Cynthia Banham
SMH October 24, 2007

Anger as Garuda crash evidence kept secret

Mark Forbes Indonesia Correspondent in Jakarta
SMH October 23, 2007

Garuda crash: pilot erred

SMH: October 22, 2007

Final Report

The final report into the Garuda 200 crash will be released to the public by the Indonesian authorities on Monday 22 October 2007. There is to be a press conference at 11.30 am Indonesian time (which is about 1.30 pm AEST).

There's no need to stare at my wheelchair

The Herald's foreign affairs reporter, Cynthia Banham, writes the first in a series of articles on her road to recovery.
SMH October 9,2007.

They've finished...

Read all about it HERE.

turtles line up

And they're off...

Ian and Greg are competing in the Greenland Adventure Race from 5th - 12th September in memory of Morgan and to honour his love for all things wild and wonderful. They are seeking to raise enough money ($15,000) for an Inflatable Rescue Boat (IRB) to be donated to the Elizabeth Beach Surf Life Saving Club, near Bluey’s Beach on the NSW Central Coast. To read more about their adventure you can visit Greenland For Morgs. If you wish to donate please see details in right hand column of this blog.

Self portrait: Stonehenge

The Marlin Bar

This photo is quite close to my heart because it's our last and most memorable (quite ridiculous) time at sea. Sitting on the boom of the boat was known to be at the "Marlin Bar" - although I don't know where Morgs had hidden his beer in this shot.
Matt Prentice

Bondi Ice

Click for large image

Trivia Night Fundraiser

Click for large image

I miss you little brother

Journalism loses a rising star

Walkley Magazine Issue 44 April/May 2007

Morgan Mellish
1970-2007
A surfer, a sailor and a tenacious journalist, Morgan Mellish was also a good bloke. Sean Aylmer and Andrew Burrell remember a friend.
Beside the bed in Morgan Mellish’s house in Jakarta was a well-thumbed copy of a favourite novel, Christopher Koch’s Highways To A War, about the life of a photojournalist in Indochina, as well as tomes on Islam and philosophy.
He once told a colleague that he decided to become a journalist after reading that novel and Koch’s other compelling account of foreign newsmen, The Year of Living Dangerously.
As a foreign correspondent for The Australian Financial Review in Indonesia, Morgan was fulfilling that dream, as he told a former colleague, fund manager Matthew Kidman, four weeks ago.
Morgan had rung Kidman asking for some investment tips and in the course of a long chat said his Jakarta-based role for the AFR was the perfect job.
“I can do what I want, there’s lots going on over here and I can write what I want, no-one is telling me what to do and I go surfing when I want,” he joked to Kidman, an old mate from when they both worked in the business section of The Sydney Morning Herald in the late 1990s.
Morgan was one of the five Australians and 16 Indonesians who died in the tragic plane crash in Yogyakarta on the morning of March 7. The others were Australian Embassy spokeswoman Liz O’Neill, AusAID officer Allison Sudradjat and federal police officers Mark Scott and Brice Steele. Badly injured in the accident was Sydney Morning Herald journalist Cynthia Banham.
Morgan was among the most liked reporters at Fairfax.
While people remember his laid-back, relaxed attitude to life, he was also a tenacious reporter who refused to be intimidated.
At one lunchtime meeting in 2000 with Ray Williams, the former boss of HIH who eventually went to jail over accounting irregularities, Morgan decided to find out how the insurer’s accounts worked.
“Your treatment of goodwill just seems wrong,” he told Williams, his lunchtime host. “Explain how you can do that.”
Williams, who at the time was king of the insurance industry, said he could do it under current accounting standards. Morgan wasn’t satisfied and badgered Williams for 30 minutes. Eventually the HIH boss fobbed him off by promising to get one of his management team to explain the accounting standards at a later date.
As Morgan walked back to the Fairfax offices in Sussex Street, Sydney, explaining to a colleague why Williams was wrong, he said: “That guy’s a crook.” He was right.
Interviewing Rodney Adler, the former head of FAI Insurances, by phone from the AFR office, Morgan (feet on the table) told Adler he didn’t understand his explanation about buying HIH shares. On and on he probed. Eventually, Morgan’s notes and taped conversations were used as part of the case against Adler that landed the former FAI boss in prison. It is one of the few instances in Australian corporate history in which a journalist’s work has landed a chief executive in jail.
Morgan’s crowning journalistic achievement came in November 2005, when he wrote a series of articles that forced South Australian businessman Robert Gerard off the board of the Reserve Bank. It won him the 2006 Walkley Award for business journalism.
By combing through five court registries in Brisbane and Adelaide, Morgan discovered that Gerard was fighting the Australian Taxation Office over a Caribbean tax haven deal, labelled “tax evasion” by investigators, which led to a $150million settlement.
Gerard’s difficulties with the ATO were known previously, but no-one in the media or government had investigated properly. Morgan nailed the story but needed to speak to Gerard.
Having left a message with Gerard’s wife, Morgan headed to the beach with his surfboard and mobile. Gerard called back just as Morgan was fresh out of the waves. He didn’t have any paper handy, so he scrawled some notes in the margin of his copy of the SMH, including the killer quote from Gerard acknowledging he had told Peter Costello about his dispute with the ATO.
The Walkley Award judging committee called it the first breaking story that “seriously rocked the Howard government”.
“Mellish’s research was exceptional and continued to set the agenda on one of the biggest stories of the year – an outcome that ultimately resulted in Robert Gerard’s resignation.”
The AFR’s chief political correspondent, Laura Tingle, worked with Morgan during the Gerard story.
“I was repeatedly bowled over by the thoroughness of the work he had already done and the confidence that gave him, in his own very cool and detached way, that what we wrote was utterly accurate and beyond political attack,” she says.
Morgan was highly regarded outside the media community.
Treasurer Peter Costello extended his sympathies to the family, friends and colleagues of Morgan: “Morgan was a well-liked and respected journalist and I extend my sympathies to all those who knew and loved him.”
Westpac chief executive David Morgan, who dealt with Morgan over several years, thought he was a “good guy”. “A tenacious journalist is a fair description. If he was on to a story, he was like a dog with a bone. During interviews he was pretty tough-minded and quite probing. He was unfailingly professional,” Morgan said.
And Simon Mordant, joint chief executive of advisory firm Caliburn Partnership, said Morgan was a “star”.
“What he achieved was pretty impressive in any career,” Mordant says of Morgan, whom he met not long after Morgan joined the business section of The Sydney Morning Herald in September 1997.
On his first day at the Herald, Morgan was shown his desk and told to read the papers. After putting a few belongings in drawers, he decided to ring a few friends and provide them with his new phone number. That morphed into long discussions about his recent surfing trip to Indonesia, and by late afternoon on day one he was firmly ensconced, feet on desk, talking to his mates about surfing.
He wasn’t avoiding work – he just hadn’t been given any guidance on what to do. By Morgan’s reckoning, why waste time looking busy on day one when you could use the time better ringing friends.
It demonstrated a self-confidence that Morgan carried throughout his journalistic career. He knew what he was good at, but also his weaknesses. He was never afraid to ask questions, no matter how they sounded, and was happy to take advice.
Regularly he would ask his editors to read his stories in an effort to improve them. He explained once that he loved working with one AFR editor because “she makes me a better writer”.
Such self-assuredness made him a very good journalist. He had no qualms about approaching chief executives, government ministers, investment bankers or anyone who he needed to speak to.
He also had the knack of gaining people’s trust – another essential ingredient in a journalist’s make-up.
“He was someone you instantly trusted and that’s extremely important,” Mordant says. “Sometimes you would talk to him, and you weren’t quite sure whether he got it, but he always did.”
Morgan grew up on Sydney’s North Shore, attending Shore School and surfing the break off the northern beaches. He did an economics degree at the Australian National University in Canberra before becoming a journalist, working for the trade publication Foodweek.
After his stint at the SMH, Morgan shifted to The Australian Financial Review in early 2000, where he worked as financial services editor before becoming chief economics writer based in Canberra.
In 2004 he moved back to Sydney as a senior writer. His goal was always an overseas posting – preferably somewhere with surf. Twelve months ago he became this paper’s Indonesia correspondent and, as he explained to the newspaper’s editor, Glenn Burge, the surf was only “hours away” from Jakarta.
“Morgan was incredibly popular,” Burge says. “He had a dry sense of humour and a laid-back attitude to most things in life. Jakarta was to be the perfect posting for him – a fascinating country to develop his knowledge of Indonesia and, indeed, Asia as a reporter – but also pretty attractive for someone who loved surfing.”
“I always figured Morgan would go a long way in journalism – perhaps one day a senior political writer in Canberra, or serial foreign correspondent.”
Early in 2005, he somehow managed to convince Burge to give him several months of leave without pay to go surfing in Central and South America. Then the Indonesia correspondent’s position was advertised and he applied from somewhere in South America.
If it wasn’t surfing, it was sailing. Morgan sailed with retired insolvency expert Max Prentice and his son Matthew for 15 years.
“Morgs was emotionally capable in the line of fire,” Prentice says.
Morgan was sailing on Prentice’s boat, She’s Apple II, in the treacherous Sydney to Hobart race in 1998. After battling 40 to 50-knot winds for about 24 hours, they dashed for shelter in Eden. From there Morgan filed a first-person account of the storm for the SMH.
“Even at a time of great emotion Morgs could keep a cool head and do things like work,” says Prentice. “It’s a tragic loss of a true friend and a good sailor.”
Morgan died just a week before his 37th birthday.
He was farewelled in Sydney at a memorial service on March 21 at St Andrews Cathedral by hundreds of his colleagues and friends and his family – his mother Dawn, father Peter and sisters Lucy and Caroline. The service was attended by Fairfax Media chairman Ron Walker, News Limited Chief John Hartigan, federal MPs Joe Hockey, Bruce Baird and Julia Gillard as well as Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Kelty.
On Saturday March 24 at 11am a large group of Morgan’s surfing mates and some of his family paddled out on their boards off the south end of Sydney’s Bronte Beach to remember him.

Morgan was a character, a friend and a very good reporter.

He knew what he was good at, but also his weaknesses. He was never afraid to ask questions, no matter how they sounded, and was happy to take advice.

While people remember his laid-back, relaxed attitude to life, he was also a tenacious reporter who refused to be intimidated.

EU to ban all Indonesian airlines

SMH June 29, 2007

All 51 Indonesian airlines will be banned from flying to the European Union from next week after EU air safety experts deemed them to be unsafe, the European Commission said today.

Experts decided on the ban, which includes national flag carrier Garuda, after a series of recent crashes in the Asian archipelago and Indonesian authorities' failure to give adequate safety assurances, an EU official said.

The ban will become official on July 6, when the European Commission is due to update its list of airlines forbidden from entering EU skies in line with the air safety experts' recommendations.

Although no Indonesian airlines currently fly regularly to and from the EU, the ban could have a big impact on passengers travelling in Indonesia as the European summer holiday period gets underway.

Under European rules, passengers must be informed if an airline is on the list of banned carriers and can demand reimbursement or an alternative carrier for tickets bought in Europe for flights that do not enter EU skies.

"Once more, the EU black list will prove to be an essential tool ... to prevent unsafe airlines from flying to Europe and to inform passengers travelling worldwide," EU Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot said.

The European air safety experts deemed the ban to be necessary after finding "serious" failings in maintenance, operating, certification and administrative standards, an EU official said on condition of anonymity.

Indonesian authorities also left repeated European requests for information unanswered until just before the experts met yesterday, but even then they could not answer basic questions like how many aircraft Indonesian carriers had, another EU official said.

A series of deadly accidents have fuelled concerns about the country's rapidly growing airline industry, which suffers from old planes, poor standards and insufficient investment in infrastructure, according to Indonesian experts.

On Tuesday, Indonesian authorities grounded nine airlines which failed to improve their safety record.

Few Indonesian airlines have flown regular flights in the past to Europe and Garuda stopped flights to EU countries "three or four months ago," according to European Commission spokesman for transport issues, Michele Cercone.

The air safety experts also decided to include the Ukrainian freight carrier Volare and the Angolan company TAAG Angola Airlines on the list of carriers banned from plying European skies.

They increased however the number of aircraft in Pakistan International Airlines' fleet allowed to fly to Europe from seven to 19 of the carrier's 43 airplanes.

In addition, 10 Russian companies, six from Bulgaria and eight from Moldova will stop flying to the EU after authorities in those countries banned them from making EU flights, according to the Commission.

The EU started a safety ban list in March 2006 after a string of deadly accidents that highlighted the fragmented approach to air safety in the 25-nation bloc.

AFP

Their formal best

Morgs and Ben Dunstan wore their formal best to the John's B&S in 1988. I think that they were trying to look tough in this photo but they both ended up looking like the keyboard player from Human League. Ben Hunter

Picnic

Morgs and I had a picnic on the floor of my room at John's in 1989. Mmmm scrummy. Ben Hunter

Greenwood

On one of my visits back to Sydney in 1995 (I think), Morgs and I met up for a beer at the Greenwood in North Sydney. Morgs was relaxed and happily enjoying being back in Sydney after his Uni years in Canberra. Ben Hunter

Bow Tie

Back row: Ben Dunstan, Channa, Morgs
Front row: Dan Plunkett, James Dalton, Jen Donohue

Morgs was very proud of his ability to correctly tie a bow tie. This one must have slipped through the net. Ben Hunter

1988 Johns surf trip

Morgs, James Dalton, Sean Curtis and Chad Reed

This photo was taken in first year of college. One of the problems faced by serious ANU surfers was that the beach was about two hours drive away. The alternative backdrop for surfing photos was the recently deforested, but not yet cleaned up, B Block courtyard. Ben Hunter

Beauty and the Beast

Morgs and Angelique at the John XXIII College B&S Ball in 1988..."The Bicentennial B&S". Morgs decided to ditch the bow tie and opt for his favourite formal 'Madness' tie. Ben Hunter

Party pauses to remember accident victims

Cynthia Banham ... recovering.
Photo: Andrew Taylor

THE injured Herald reporter Cynthia Banham was a special absentee guest last night at the annual Press Gallery Ball in Canberra.

Banham, who for three months has been battling serious burns, sent a message to colleagues who gathered at Parliament House with the nation's political and business leaders.

"Greetings from Ward 6 at Royal Perth Rehabilitation Hospital," read the message signed by Banham and her partner, the Herald Sun journalist Michael Harvey.

"We wish so very much that we could be with you tonight. We know the Garuda plane crash of March 7 affected the Parliament House community deeply. This much was evident from the many messages of support that flooded in to us during the days, weeks and months that followed."

Banham wrote with Harvey that it would be "hard for anyone in this room to imagine just how devastating the experience has been".

"Even now, it seems beyond imagining. Not a day passes, however, when we don't think of the colleagues whose lives were lost that awful morning.

"We are fighting to reclaim as much of our old lives as we can. It is going to be a long and difficult road but, together, through love and support for each other, we are working hard and we will be back home one day."

Alan Oakley, the editor of the Herald, said Banham was approaching the rehabilitation process with "her customary energy". "She has a long way to go, but all of us are humbled by the courage she has shown so far, and the progress she has made," he said.

Morgan Mellish, the Australian Financial Review Jakarta correspondent killed in the crash, was also honoured at last night's event. Proceeds from the ball are to be donated to the Burn Foundation and to Surf Aid - in honour of Mellish, who was a committed surfer.

Annabel Crabb
June 21, 2007 SMH

Newseum

Newseum is a non-profit museum of news and journalism that will reopen this year in Washington, DC. They plan to include Morgan in the Journalists Memorial. The memorial honors reporters, editors, broadcasters, and photojournalists who lost their lives reporting the news. The Freedom Forum Journalists Memorial provides a preliminary list of journalists who died in 2007.

Tribes & Nations & XSProject

Tribes & Nations, a global store empowering lives, now sell XSProject bags in their online store.
You can read an article by Nila Tanzil on her blog or read the story of my XSProject bags here.

Remembering...

Morgan Mellish Memorial Fund

To honour Morgan’s sense of adventure two of his friends, Ian Prentice & Greg Beard, will be completing the Greenland Adventure Race in September this year.

The race features 40 kilometres of kayaking, 50 kilometres of mountain biking, and roughly 90 kilometres on foot and is ranked No.3 in the Lonely Planet’s Most Gruelling Events.
.
Five tough days of competing in the beautiful, wild and diverse terrain of Greenland.

Ian and Greg will be seeking sponsorship to raise $15,000 for an Inflatable Rescue Boat (IRB) to be donated to the Pacific Palms Surf Life Saving Club, at Elizabeth Beach near Blueys, on the NSW Central Coast. Blueys Beach was Morgan’s favourite surfing spot.

The IRB will be named "The Morgan Mellish".

All money raised will go to the Pacific Palms Surf Life Saving Club.

MORGAN MELLISH MEMORIAL FUND
BSB 032020 AC 207320

Thank you for your support.

Team Stupid

Looking at this photo takes me back to a classic tale which always reminds me of Morgs.
Simon, Morgs and I went to NZ for our first real taste of adventure together.
This is the trip we all learnt to rock climb on. None of us had yet amassed any adventure gear. We all borrowed or bought what we needed. Hiking boots were expensive, so I thought 'Why not buy a pair of boots I could also wear out to social events'.
Ah! Timberlands...stylish and yet practical...the perfect combination. Morgs and Simon were in awe of my wise thinking. I remember Simon remarking that I had made the right decision.
One of the many creeds of Team Stupid is...never wear-in or try out a pair of boots before attempting a five day trek in the alps of New Zealand.
Day one...dropped at the bottom of Cascade Saddle (one of the hardest treks in the South Island).
We scurry up the side of Cascade Saddle as quickly as possible to get stunning views of Mt. Aspiring.
Hmmm...
My feet don't feel so good, no worries...keep going...no, something's not right...get to the top...take the shoes off...don't really want to look...two blisters the size of eggs on each foot.
Morgan has never laughed so hard.
About a week later in Queenstown Morgan sees a guy with a Timberland baseball cap on.
He breaks out laughing and says "I wonder if he took it off he would have blisters on his forehead".

Juz

Juz,

I'm pretty sure that is the top of Cascade Saddle with Aspiring in the background. It was a good trip, we really packed a lot in.
A couple of
things come to mind with that trip...
- walking through the ice tunnels
- having a shower in a waterfall straight off a glacier
- having to keep walking while stopped for lunch because the sand flies were so bad
- Glenorchy Steamer (Morgs affectionate name for his bowel movements)
- 80 river crossings in one day
- the abandoned mining hut
- sliding down the grass hill
- climbing
- inventing the new climbing knot - the cluster f**k
- the hot tub
- arm wrestling strangers in a pub, with Morgan quick to volunteer me
- continually standing on Dave's climbing ropes (how many beers did we have to buy him?)

I liked your story, I remember those shoes and the blisters.

Simon

It's Raining Men

Morgan was nothing short of brilliant when it came to music selection in pubs.
Morgs and I went mountain bike riding at Wiseman Ferry which involves an over night stay at the local pub.
I'd buy the first round of beers and Morgs sets up the pool table and fires up the jukebox.
Normally the Wiseman's Ferry hotel is a favourite of hardcore motor bike riders who come up to enjoy the quite roads through the bush.
An eerie hush fell across the room when Morgan's first selection, 'It's Raining Men' came on ...
Luckily our lives were spared when Paradise by the Dashboard Light came on.
Few people can hit the high notes of Meatloaf whilst doing the most complex air guitar moves like Morgs.
Justin

Mark Forbes talks with Australian Story

Journalist Mark Forbes talks with Australian Story about the ministerial visit to Indonesia that ended in disaster with Garuda flight 200 crashing in a field and killing 21 people, including five Australians. Mark Forbes is based in Jakarta and works for the Fairfax newspaper group.

PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT

XSProject

When Nila came to Australia she brought us some wonderful bags. Morgan had seen them and wanted to give us some. They are made by XSProject from waste collected by Jakarta's trash pickers. Caroline brought back some more the second time she was there and now we have lots of different colours and shapes. I am hoping they will be available in Australia soon.

The More Things Change

Australian Story has screened a two-part documentary on Alexander Downer including his time in Indonesia before the Garuda 200 crash.

There are interviews with Morgan, Liz O'Neil and Cynthia Banham as well as Cindy Wockner, one of Morgans friends, and a couple of other journalists.

To prepare the two-part documentary, Australian Story filmed behind the scenes with Mr Downer, his family and his entourage during a tumultuous few weeks that ended in disaster in an Indonesian field when Garuda flight 200 crashed killing 21 people including five Australians. Some of those who died included journalists and officials who had been working closely with Mr Downer and who were well known to him.

You can view Part 2 HERE.

The Bard

I just thought I would let you know that I went to Mt Arapiles today on a pilgrimage to set Morgans ashes free from a ledge 80 meters up a climb called The Bard.
This was the first climb Morgan and I did at Arapiles over 10 years ago.
I went with a Melbourne buddy of mine, Campbell, who has climbed with Morgan, but didn't know him that well.

It was a great day, starting at 5 in the morning, I had my tea and Campbell his coffee for the long haul, four hour drive to Australia's sacred climbing area called Mt Arapiles. We got there at 9am, geared up and walked to the base of the climb.

Somehow we beat the hoards of campers to the base of what is Arapiles popular, jewel in the crown, climb. By 9am on most days, you would have normally queued 3 parties deep waiting to get onto 'The Bard'.
We were expecting to have to wait a couple of hours to get started, and to be honest I was hoping that this would be the case because it has been solong since we've been climbing.

The Bard is a 5 pitch (a pitch is a section of climbing restricted by the length of the climbing rope), 120 meter vertical climb on a butress that overlooks the campsite and the Wimmera all the way to the Grampians about 80 kms away.
It is an easy to moderate climb, but very steep and exposed, which makes it a really special climb. It has a run-out (difficult to place protection) toe, an awkward traverse under a roof
with what seems like nowhere to put your feet, a belay on a ledge so small you have to hang off the cliff and a long techincal section of beautiful climbing on solid rock up to a ledge big enough to camp on.

This climb has got it all.

Except, it had been over three years since either of us have put on our climbing shoes so we had a healthy dose of fear. As we were preparing the ropes some other guy came over and started chatting. It turns out that he had come to Arapiles because his friend had died there a year
before and was on a pilgrimage of his own.

Tied to the two ropes, half a tonne of metal around my waste and Morgan in my pocket I set off up the toe.
The climbing didn't seem as familiar as I remembered it, my breathing became heavy and erratic and I started to use all my body parts to help the climbing, including my knee on a
ledge (not a generally accepted technique).
I was very glad to get to the end of my pitch, because the next pitch looked ominously hard.
Campbell followed and got straight onto his pitch - the 10 meter traverse under the roof. About halfway across he started breathing loudly, rather like during our last 20 km run. A little bit further andhis breathing turned to grunting, then silence when he made it to the end.

It was about now, I was wishing that the pilgramage was to our localcoffee shop in Northcote, but we pushed on. I started to become more relaxed and about 2 hours after we started I got to the main ledge. I spent almost half an hour alone up there before Cambell clambered up behind me.

I brought the funeral service leaflet and a pen, wrote a few words and left it under a rock under cover on the ledge. You can only get to theledge by climbing. I let ashes blow out of the film container and off the cliff.

It was a day that I will remember.
It was a day to say good bye to my dear friend Morgan.

Simon Dale

Angus Morgan Hui

Born at 1 minute past midnight on 9 March 2007

Georgie and I were both friends of Morgan and we decided to name our son Angus Morgan Hui.

This is very much out of respect for Morgan - we would be extremely proud of our son if he displayed but a few of the qualities that made Morgan such a great friend.

We all miss him very much and will continue to do so for a long long time...

Gary

Can I have one? Can I?

Aunty Caroline is in Jakarta organising for Morgan's things to be shipped home. She is going to bring us home a new pet too. Don't tell Mummy!

Vice-Chancellor of The Australian National University

On a sombre note,
I was saddened to hear that two ANU alumni were among those who lost their lives in the Garuda Airlines crash at Jogjakarta Airport on 7 March.
On behalf of ANU, I extend my sympathy to the families of Allison Sudjarat and Morgan Mellish.
I also wish Cynthia Banham, another ANU graduate, well as she recovers after the incident.

Professor Ian Chubb AC,
Vice-Chancellor

On Campus. 2 April 2007

Planet Morgan

Laura Tingle ABC interview

Condolence Motion: Garuda Flight 200

House of Representatives
Date: 20 March 2007
I rise today to speak in support of the condolence motion moved by the Prime Minister and seconded by the Leader of the Opposition.
Today this parliament is honouring those five Australians whose lives were tragically lost when on 7 March Garuda flight 200 crashed.
Today we demonstrate our grief. Now and forever there is a bond between Liz O’Neill, Allison Sudradjat, Brice Steele, Mark Scott and Morgan Mellish. They lost their lives together far too soon when they had too much left to live for and with grieving families and grieving friends left behind.
But even as they stepped onto that Garuda flight they had something in common: they were going to work. And even though it was work in a far-flung destination they were doing what millions of Australians do every day. They said goodbye to their families and they went to work that day not knowing that it would be the last.
Many Australians have been touched by this tragedy and touched deeply by it particularly here in Canberra. I was particularly moved by an opinion piece written by Malcolm Farr in the Daily Telegraph on 9 March where he described a speech given by Laura Tingle about Morgan Mellish and this tragedy generally. He described the nature of the effect on Canberra in the following terms.
An unusual factor of the Garuda plane crash on Wednesday was that it struck to the core of three quite small communities, groups which are separate but interrelated in Canberra.
They were the communities of journalists, diplomats and federal police.
Each one of the groups is quite tiny and close-knit. Those in them know just about all the others personally or at a narrow remove. People retire but never really leave their community.
Members of each group spend much of their time tending to the tragedies of others, telling the stories of tragedy’s victims and easing the pain of those tragedy has left behind. In this case they were the ones left behind.
Let me echo those words.
Even Australians who did not know Liz or Allison or Brice or Mark or Morgan have been touched by this tragedy as well. Many Australians know what it is like to visit Indonesia, to jump on an internal flight, to run the gauntlet of the last-minute changes to flights and to nervously joke in a very Australian way about air safety even as you sit on the flight, and then behind the very Australian jokes to really be just that little bit nervous, to pay just that little bit more attention to the air safety demonstration, to strap that seatbelt on just that little bit tighter. But even as we do those things we never really think that it is going to happen to us. Then it does happen to five Australians and we are left with the shock of unexpected death, the grief and of course the unanswerable question—why? The randomness of this tragedy really does take your breath away. If only that last-minute ticket swap had not occurred; if only that other flight had not been missed—if only. They are all questions we will never know the answers to.
My condolences go out to the relatives and friends of those who have tragically lost their lives. These are the people who have lost so much. My thoughts go to all of those who were injured in this tragedy. But may I pause, Mr Speaker, to specifically offer my best wishes to Cynthia Banham and all those close to her and she fights to survive and come back from her own ordeal. We know she used her extraordinary physical fitness to help her survive when others did not and to escape the inferno which erupted when the plane skidded to a stop in those rice paddies. I know the thoughts of many are with her and with her partner and my friend, Michael Harvey. I trust that we will see her back in the press gallery, and though we will never see Morgan again I know he will be remembered.
Julia Gillard

Goodbye Brother Lawrence

The Last Wave

Bronte 11am Saturday 24th March 2007

Paradise by the Dashboard Lights

A few days ago I arrived in Sierra Leone...

I could think of nothing else as the engine roared and wheels skidded down the runway, but of Morgan.

In fact, he has consumed my every waking hour since the horrific crash.

I first met Morgan at my birthday party in 2005.
He arrived, early with a group of friends: white press button shirt, blue jeans, blond tossled hair, sideways grin.
I still remember our conversation vividly...as I had just returned to Australia from 10 months of travelling, particularly surfing in Mexico, France and Spain, where Morgan was about to take a holiday.
Morgan and his friends were moving on to another party...he took my number "to talk about surfing in Mexico".

The next day he called to catch up.
I told him to bring his Mexico Lonely Planet and I'd give him all my travel tips...I didn't realise it was meant to be a Date!

I was in awe of this amazing man. Smart, Funny, Ambitious, Athletic and Gorgeous.
Is he real?
We forgot food, we talked endlessly about our love for travelling, surfing, the ocean, sailing, sky diving, his passion for mountain climbing, cycling, camping, business, politics, Otis...and music - one of Morgan's greatest loves.

We had very similar taste in music, I couldn't believe there was someone else out there who is aware of, and loves Velvet Underground!

Then there is Wedding Present. I still don't understand his love for this band!
His Johny Cash collection that reminded him of his car trip with 2 American Surfers, the Chilean skiing experience assisted by AC/DC, Greenday, William Shatner, and his absolute adoration for K.D. Lang's Hymns of the 49th Parallel: A Case Of You and Hallelulljah.

Morgan called me after his first Wolfmother concert, he spoke with the excitement of a small child "It ripped! I danced (jumped) so much I had to ring my shirt out of sweat!"

We would do our own screaming rendition of Meatloaf's Paradise by the Dashboard Light and collapse breathless in laughter.

Our weekends were all about surfing and newspapers. After a marathon surf, he'd devour 2 meat pies washed down with a sausage roll, and critically review every news article in print.

So many memories with Morgan:
:: Local Bronte's Robbin Hood $5 steak and Stella please... Sorry Sir, No Havanas.
:: Bronte ocean swims, back arching out of the waves, the smile of exhilaration on his face
:: Being stranded on a tube in the middle of Pittwater for hours until dark, with a beer and bottle of champagne, thanks Greg!
:: Bungers surf with Morgan and Dom
:: Bali crowds of young surfers cheering as Morgan catches tubes
:: Easily pleased with a home cooked lasagna or a pomomdoro and tuna pasta
:: We had the same Ipod gift theory: Giving your partner an Ipod would result in the immediate demise of the relationship
:: Reading my first John Pilger book!...inspired by Morgan

Morgan worked tenaciously on the Robert Gerard story.
Fearlessly and passionately he wrote story by story.
Each daily issue of the AFR was Morgan Mellish's unrelenting pounding of Robert Gerard.
One night I turned to Morgan and said "Hey, go easy on him...".
He looked at me incredulously, "But he's a crook!" We always had the Capitalist v's Crook debate.
Morgan had always been honest with me. A Foreign Correspondent posting was his aim.
When he achieved his posting to Indonesia with the AFR I was so proud and so happy for him, and deeply saddened at the same time...I would miss him.

My job was very demanding on my time and Morgan, with the 'work-play' balance perfected, my constantly beeping blackberry would be confiscated and thrown in the top draw as soon as I walked through the door.

After announcing my dramatic career change, I received an email from Morgan that said:
"Let's see if I've got this straight - you went from being a property developer to a diamond trader. What's next, lead rider in Satan's army? Or maybe you'll become a journalist. m"

I was devastated when Morgan left for Indo.

But nothing compares to the feeling of loss I now feel.

My Ipod is full of Morgan's music, I can't bare to turn it on, then I can't bare to turn it off.

We will again, one day, sing Paradise by the Dashboard Light.

Tanti bacci bello.

Belindax

Blue Steel: Otis

Woody, Paris (now deceased) and I remember Mr O well.
We moved into Jo's flat - below Morgan and Otis - when Jo swanned off to London.
The 'man-cat' never showed the old lady cat any respect. As you can see in these pics a flimsy piece of glass was all there was between Paris and Blue Steel.
As for us humans, Otis was the only cat who left a full five-claw scratch - from elbow to wrist - as his calling card.
See you Morgan, travel well.

For more stories about a cat called Otis click here.

Morgan was the cute, smart little brother

The people you grow up with are seldom forgotten. Years go by and we lose touch and move on. But the memories of our childhoods and our friends remain, often dormant until triggered into our consciousness.

My good friend lived 'just down the street'. Lucy and I were mates and I was welcomed by her family. Morgan was the cute, smart little brother who sometimes played with us and sometimes annoyed us but who was always on our side. We would swim in our pool, ride bikes, climb trees and catch cicadas. There were sleep overs in the front room of number 13, and we would giggle, play games and create havoc. Morgan & Justin once did a great version of Zanadu!

I wish that these memories had not been triggered by such a tragic event. One we will never understand. My prayers go out to Lucy, Dawn, Peter and Caroline and to all who knew and loved Morgan. Although my memories are of childhood, I will always remember Morgan with warmth and affection.

Clare Griggs

Cold Play Fix You

Could it be worse?

When you try your best, but you don't succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse

And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home,
And ignite your bones,
And I will try to fix you,

High up above or down below
When you're too in love to let it go
But if you never try you'll never know
Just what you're worth

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Tears stream down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears stream down on your face
And I

Tears stream down your face
I promise you I will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down on your face
And I

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you.

When tears streak down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace.
When tears streak down your face and I
When tears streak down you face upon when I see you for my mistakes.
when tears streak down you face and i.

Lights will guide you home and ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Salutes to journo who thrived on the edge

Fairfax journalist Morgan Mellish was remembered as a "loving son, caring brother, fantastic uncle" by childhood friend Ben Hunter at a memorial service in Sydney today.

"The life of a foreign correspondent was full of excitement and adventure, and it was for Morgan," Mr Hunter said at St Andrew's Anglican Cathedral of the friend he called "Morgs".

"We will miss him as a mate, his smile and his determination to make the most of everything."

Reverend Dominic Steele, from Christians in the Media, spoke of the grief many were suffering when he spoke at the service at St Andrew's Anglican Cathedral in Sydney.

"He died doing what he loved,'' Rev Steele said of the journalist, who was covering an Australian ministerial visit to Indonesia when he was killed.

He recalled a remark Mr Mellish made to his mother when he was growing up.

"He said, `Mum, I want to live as close to the edge as I can without falling off'."

A series of photographs of Mr Mellish with family and friends was displayed on large screens as mourners entered the cathedral.

Mr Mellish's girlfriend, Nila Tanzil, sat with Mr Mellish's parents and sisters throughout the service.

Mourners included Federal Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Joe Hockey and Deputy Opposition Leader Julia Gillard, as well as representatives of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Australian Federal Police and Fairfax.

Mr Mellish, who was The Australian Financial Review's Jakarta bureau chief, was one of five Australians killed when a Garuda Airlines plane exploded on landing at Yogyakarta airport in Indonesia on March 7.

He was cremated in a private funeral yesterday.

AAP

Wave of sadness for reporter who lived the dream

Caroline Overington
March 22, 2007

A LITTLE over a year ago, the journalist and pleasure-seeker Morgan Mellish was living in a Bronte apartment overlooking one of Sydney's most tempting surf beaches.

He liked to tell friends: "I wake up, lift myself up on one elbow and look out the window. If the surf's up, I get straight out of bed. If not, I go back to sleep."

Yesterday, in Bronte, the surf was up.

By rights, Mellish should have been chest to the board, paddling out towards shafts of pink sunlight that broke through heavy cloud.

But Mellish - the Jakarta correspondent for Fairfax's The Australian Financial Review newspaper - was killed along with 20 others in the crash of Garuda flight 200 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, on March 7.

He was cremated at a private ceremony on Tuesday. Yesterday, there was a memorial service at St Andrew's Cathedral in central Sydney, attended by his family, surfer friends, colleagues, members of the Fairfax board, including chairman Ron Walker, and News Limited chief executive John Hartigan. It was a fortnight, almost to the minute, since Mellish - full name, Henry Morgan Saxon, or HMS Mellish - died. His funeral was the last for the five Australians who were killed in the crash, following services in the past week for federal police officers Mark Scott and Brice Steele, AusAID Indonesia chief Allison Sudradjat and foreign affairs official Liz O'Neill.

Mellish's family had hoped to bring some levity to the occasion, inviting mourners to wear Havaianas (a brand of colourful rubber thongs) with their suits. But only a few managed it; the mood was as gloomy as the sky overhead; the church was filled to overflowing; the white fans were mostly useless in the muggy heat.

Friends tried to put the emphasis on all Mellish had achieved: he was living his dream, working as a foreign correspondent in Jakarta; insisting that his glorious Indonesian girlfriend, Nila Tanzil, speak to him only in Bahasa Indonesian; surfing the globe; mountain climbing; cycling; last year winning a Walkley Award for excellence in journalism.

But how to escape the fact that he was also only 36, a sandy-haired, handsome man in extraordinary physical health, cut down in the prime of his life.

As Dominic Steele, of Christians in the Media (yes, even they joke that it's a small organisation) said: "There will be no children, no grandchildren."

An old friend, Ben Hunter, said Mellish had the "work-life balance" almost perfect.

AFR editor Glenn Burge said Mellish was hired as a cub reporter even though colleagues could tell, just from looking at all six laconic feet of him, they would have to "put a rocket up him occasionally".

Burge recalled the time Mellish took a long period of unpaid leave to surf South America. He carried with him five surfboards, all of which got lost. Exasperated, friends asked him why he needed five. He explained that different boards for different beaches were, to him, as necessary as different shoes for different terrain.

After the service yesterday, two of Mellish's surfboards were offered up to mourners to sign. Friends intend to paddle out with those boards this weekend.

The Australian

Morgan's rhythm: surfboard, laptop and smile

Neil McMahon
March 22, 2007

A GATHERING of mourners can be about many things, but is a ritual shorn of meaning if love isn't one of them. It can be grieved in gratitude or regret, but there seemed none of the latter where Morgan Mellish was concerned - he was a man well loved and who loved well; a buccaneer who romanced life. Life swooned.

It still does, even now he's gone, dead in the Garuda air crash that claimed 21 lives in Indonesia 15 days ago. At his memorial service in St Andrews Cathedral in Sydney yesterday, it was clear Mellish didn't die wondering about much. He once told his mother, Dawn: "I want to live as close to the edge as I can without falling off."

He did that, with a spirit that made it easier for grief to give way to a smile. Hundreds gathered to honour him a day after his cremation: his mother and his mates, his father, Peter, sisters Caroline and Lucy, a boy and girl who called him Uncle, his Indonesian girlfriend, Nila Tanzil, and important figures from Canberra - Joe Hockey, Julia Gillard, Mick Keelty - who called his name at press conferences.

Mellish was there, too, beaming down from giant screens - scaling a cliff, sailing a boat, swimming, always smiling. The politicians would have been hard pressed to miss him - he may have written for the dry Australian Financial Review, but the shock of hair and the smile told another story. He had a grin like a grand piano, tuned for honky-tonk and rock'n'roll. That, it seems, was how he lived his life, confident of his rhythm and keeping a sometimes frantic beat - Elvis with a surfboard and a laptop.

His editor, Glenn Burge, told that story, of the time Mellish, the AFR's man in Jakarta, turned up to cover political talks in Indonesia carrying both those things. "Morganesque moments", Burge said. He loved his work - a Walkley award tells us that - but a decent wave could mean as much. Maybe more.

A childhood friend, Simon Dale, said Mellish only had to be near a beach and he'd be smitten. "He'd see the waves and start running." When he lived in Bronte, said schoolfriend Ben Hunter, Mellish would prop himself up in bed to see if the morning was worth a proper greeting. The swell was outside, and that was the morning news the reporter tuned to first.

He was "the kind of guy who made you suck your stomach in", Burge said - athletic, a whirl of energy, smart but sometimes frustrating, because it could be hard to judge his focus. But you had to like him. "If he did have a temper, I never saw it."

That much was evident from the turnout of Mellish's colleagues yesterday, who came by foot from Fairfax headquarters and by plane from Jakarta. It's hard to get journos to cry, and perhaps harder to get them to swallow too much God. Good reporters take nothing on faith, but they had to yesterday.

This was a service heavy with prayer and religious imagery - God, like Mellish's parents, had lost his only son in his 30s, said Dominic Steele, of the group Christians in the Media. One of Mellish's sisters, Lucy Chik, chose a reading that said: "Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart."

Simon Dale spoke of what he'd lost, concluding: "I'm going to miss that smile." And there it was, larger than life on the screens above, tossing some honky-tonk and rock'n'roll among the hymns.

SMH

James aged 4

Lucy is my best friend because she is my [God]parent.
When Organ dies she crys a lot of long, long,long days.
So I pray for long, long, long days not to cry.
I draw a picture of Organ to make her happy and I
draw it green because green is my favorite.

James aged 4

Dominic Steele's address

Listen to Dominic's address at the Service of Thanksgiving for Morgan Mellish at Christians in the Media.

Order of Service

The house of mourning

It is better to go to a house of mourning

Than to a house of feasting,

For death is the destiny of every man;

The living should take this to heart.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 7:2

As of first importance

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.

1 Corinthians Chapter 15:3-5

"Huntsman, when the alarm goes at six..."

I, like everyone, never imagined that we would be here today to remember and celebrate Morgan's life.

To Peter, Dawn, Lucy, Caroline, Kathryn and Simon, please accept, on behalf of all of his friends, our sympathy for your great loss.

Morgan was many things but chiefly he was a loving son, a caring brother and fantastic uncle. He spoke often of you, always with love and affection, especially his niece and nephew, Kathryn and Simon, who he complained of not seeing enough.

To know Morgan was to know his family. Peter and Dawn are kind, generous and welcoming. And Morgan's good relationships with Lucy and Caroline helped him with his natural confidence around women. It was obvious when around them that they were all good friends as well as siblings.

My memories of Morgan stretch back to our high school years at Shore but we became really good mates at university in Canberra in 1988. We arrived at John XXIII College at the ANU on the same day; the first day of 'O' Week not knowing that we would be doing the same subjects and living five doors down from each other. Familiar faces were few so it was with great surprise and some relief when Morgan's wide friendly grin greeted me when I wandered out the back of the college and in the direction of the loud music.

Morgs fitted very easily into college life. He was quickly involved in a number of university activities and established a wide and diverse group of friends. I don't remember him missing many, if any, gigs, balls or other significant social activity over the course of the next few years (although he might have slowed down on the social activities a couple of weeks before exam time). All the time he stayed incredibly fit; he was always running, rowing, playing rugby, swimming, climbing, surfing or cycling off somewhere.

Some of us put it off longer than others but eventually university has to end and we head into the real world. But, Morgs had a plan from first year; the first I knew of it was when he came charging in to my room at college holding raised Tim Bowden's "One Crowded Hour", the story of Neil Davis, the Australian war cameraman and correspondent. Morgs had just finished reading the book, his voice was raised and he was gesticulating wildly. The life of a foreign correspondent was full of excitement and adventure, and it was for him.

As we all know Morgan's career flourished. Morgs moved to Fairfax in the mid to late 1990's working in Sydney and Canberra. After a four month surfing, skiing and general adventure through South and Central America, Morgs really did have the travel bug and he was ready to take his career overseas. Before he did, however, Morgs picked up a Walkley for a series of articles he wrote for the AFR.

Morgs and I had a swim at Bronte a couple of days after the first of the award winning articles was published and in typical Morgan fashion, he was totally unfazed by the attention that he was getting. He seemed more interested in discussing the merits of the Wolfmother gig we had recently seen, and the upcoming Kaiser Chiefs gig at the Metro; and his proposed move to Jakarta.

As you know, Morgs showed his enthusiasm in a very special way. He was loud and animated. The level of enthusiasm is directly proportional to his vocal volume. That day was particularly loud. But, that said, It was a tough call for Morgs.

For those of you who don't know, Morgan's Sydney pad was at Bronte. When he first described it to me he said:
"Huntsman, when the alarm goes at six, I lift myself up onto one elbow and look out the window. If the surf's up, I am straight out of bed, if it's flat, I go back to sleep".

Morgan got very close to perfecting the “work / life balance” that our employers talk of. He was successful at both; his phone calls, emails and photos from Indonesia, full of humour and adventure were proof of one; and his Walkley and the award winning respect of his peers were proof of the other.

Morgan was very relaxed with himself and the choices he made. He was a great listener and conversationalist. He had a conviction in his own beliefs that enabled him to make decisions and follow paths without a fear of how others may perceive his actions. The ethical responsibility that quality journalism demands was a perfect partner for this trait.

We will miss him as a mate, the energy of his presence, his smile, and his determination to make the most of every minute.

Ben Hunter

Wednesday 21st March 2007
St Andrew's Cathedral

Henry Morgan Saxon Mellish
1970 - 2007

Thank you to all those who joined with the Mellish family in giving thanks for the life of Morgan.

Thank you also to all those who have sent flowers and cards and for the many messages of love. We hope you will continue to share your memories with us.

Thank you to DFAT, EMA and AFP for all the help you have been to our family.

Thank you especially to the Lifeguards from Bronte and Bondi Beaches for their help on Saturday.

Video footage of the Service is available at SMH and a photo gallery at The Age. Photos by Ramon A Williams can be viewed here.

Dominic Steele's address can be downloaded at Christians in the Media together with an Order of Service.

A Service of Thanksgiving

Henry Morgan Saxon

Mellish

1970 - 2007

10am, 21st March 2007

St Andrew's Cathedral
Cnr George and Bathurst Streets, Sydney

Please join with Morgan's family, friends and colleagues afterwards in Chapter House, adjacent to the Cathedral, for refreshments

No floral tributes by request
Donations in Morgan's name to
Morgan Mellish Memorial Fund will be appreciated
Envelopes and information will be provided at the Service

Wear your best Havaianas