Australian Singles

Lot 2426    SESSION 16 (9.30AM FRIDAY 25TH NOV)    Australian Singles

Estimate $600
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $1,000

ROYAL VICTORIAN ORDER, Commander (C.V.O.), neck badge, in case of issue; together with a cigarette case in silvered with a plate affixed to the inside and this inscribed, 'Oliver/from the/Royal Tour Press Party/1954'. Good very fine; the last toned and with some staining otherwise fine. (2)

Attributed to Oliver Alfred John Hogue. Awarded 27 April 1954 for service as Public Relations Officer during the 1954 Royal Visit.

Prior to the Royal Tour it was reported in The Sun, Sydney newspaper on Wednesday 15 April 1953, page 4 as follows.

'Sunday Sun man Royal Tour official
CANBERRA Wednesday. - Mr Oliver Hogue, Canberra representative of The Sunday Sun, has been appointed Public Relations Officer for the Royal Tour in 1954. Mr. Hogue has been given special leave of absence by Associated Newspapers Ltd. Minister-in-Charge of the Royal Tour, Mr. Harrison, said that Mr. Hogue had already begun duty on the staff of the Director-General of the Royal Tour, Lieut-General F.H. Berryman, at Victoria Barracks, Sydney. One Of Australia's best-known political commentators, Mr. Hogue has had wide experience, and is highly regarded as an organiser. He was appointed by the Chifley Labor Government to a similar post for the tour which had to be cancelled because of the late King's illness.'

The following year it was reported in The Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate newspaper on Friday 2 April 1954, page 1 as follows.

'HONOUR FOR FORMER NEWCASTLE MAN
By Ian Healy
Mr. Oliver Hogue, whom the Queen honoured at Government House, Perth, yesterday afternoon, is said to have lived "in a pressure cooker" for the past two months. He was Public Relations Officer for the Commonwealth Royal Tour. Behind every story of the tour, every newsreel, every photo that was taken by Pressmen of the Queen, was his helping hand. For months before the Queen arrived, as he had for two earlier tours that were postponed, he worked to prepare the way for reporters to file their stories to journals throughout the world.

For 58 days and 14,000 miles he led the Press party covering the tour. Whenever the Queen appeared in public, he was there, not far from her, seeing that reporters got where they had to go, that photographers were in the best positions to get their pictures. He conducted daily briefings, solved individual problems all of them had, and supervised their accommodation, luggage and travel arrangements. Not one piece of luggage was lost. It was "the biggest public relations task in Australia's history," and "Olly," as every one knew him, carried it out with efficiency and amazing patience.

The Queen made him a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order. Mr. Hogue began his career as a "Newcastle Morning Herald" journalist. He was educated at Newcastle Boys' High School. He left the "Herald" to become a Sydney newspaper's special writer in Canberra, and before his appointment for the Royal Tour was President of the Press Gallery in Parliament House. Although his home is in Canberra, he moved temporarily to Sydney before the tour began so that he could have his wife and four sons near him while he worked.

Mrs. Hogue was formerly Miss Molly May, who was also a member of the "Herald" reporting staff. Mrs. H. C. Wells, of Speers Point, is Mr. Hogue's sister. Mr. Hogue's assistant on the tour was Major Gordon S. Osborne, a Regular Army officer, also adept at the art of "smoothing the way." At the same investiture yesterday, the Queen made Major Osborne a Member of the Victorian Order (5th class).'