Through the years, staff have worked for both The Journal and Star, including recently retired Star advertising manager Rhonda Welsh, who recalls some of the highlights of her newspaper career for this first edition of the revitalised Journal.
CAN you talk to people? Tick.
Can you type 50 words a minute? Tick.
Do you have a pleasant personality? Tick.
Although I had no newspaper experience, I thought I had what Classifieds Manager Barbara Haw was looking for when I applied for a position with Syme Community Newspapers in 1983.
I had worked as a ladies hairdresser and been in business with my husband John and had reached the stage of my life where the kids were a bit older and a needed a new career.
I asked, maybe almost begged, Barbara to give me an opportunity to show her that I could do anything anybody required me to do.
She gave me that chance and I took to it like a duck to water.
I loved the work, the people around me and the drive the newspaper environment gave me.
In no time I became a supervisor and was provided with training courses, which was all satisfying, but after three years I wanted to progress as an advertising consultant out on the road.
At the time there were no opportunities at The Journal, so I forced to look elsewhere.
When I left Syme I had a great send off and to this day still have close friend in Anne Taylor.
We first started to work together and also worked with each other at Star.
The wonderful Journal editor John Woods gave me a card with the words “In case I can’t make it tonight, all the best up the bush.”
I was moving to Pakenham to work – back then they thought it was the bush!
I accepted a position with the wonderful Pakenham-Berwick Gazette, being interviewed by Ian Thomas.
It has proved to be a long-lasting, wonderful friendship with Ian and his wife Dorothy, who was the editor.
They would later be joined by their son Paul, the current managing director.
Working at the Gazette was totally different to Syme. You were – and today still are – part of the wonderful Thomas family.
It was prestigious to work for the Gazette, a well-respected paper.
I found it hard out on the road, I felt I was maybe not good enough and placed my resignation with Ian, who was upset.
At this moment I changed my mind about newspapers and decided to join Peter Bowman Real Estate.
I was soon to realise this was not the career I was cut out for, I still really loved the newspaper career.
On my last day in real estate I received a call from Jim Walker, the then advertising manager at Syme.
He said: “Rhonnie, I have a really great job for you, one of our well respected reps John Smith is retiring, will you come and look after some real estate clients and Gleeson and Tonta.”
I was out of a job, so it sounded like a good idea and I stayed there for six years.
During this time I went head-to-head walking the streets in competition for real estate advertising with a young Paul Thomas.
The return to the Gazette was another amazing adventure and I was appointed advertising manager, replacing Sue Vautin, who only recently passed away. She and I had worked together at The Journal.
I worked at Star as advertising manager for the south east titles up until November 2012.
I trained many staff, organised many functions, attended many meetings and just loved what I was doing and was always so proud to introduce myself as “Rhonda Welsh, advertising manager for Star.”
I was able to repay Barbara Haw for giving me that first opportunity by inviting her to work for the Gazette a few years back.
Her daughter Julie Timms, another former Journal employee, is currently team leader in classifieds at Star.
Over the years there have been a number of staff that worked for both Star and The Journal.
These have included Anne Taylor, Sue Vautin, Brendan Miney, Steve Robertson, Georgie McLeod (nee Abela), Amanda Tarley, Ian Adams, Ron Tocknell, Sandra Evans (nee Tucker), Jim Mynard, Don Reeves, Stewart Chambers, Emily Broadbent, Mona Esmaty, Melinda Cranston and Colleen Poole.
Amanda is now working in classifieds for the New York Post.
I now have retired and love living in Torquay.
Just the other day we had an electrician in who said he knew a real estate agent who is also retired and was from that area.
As it turned out the person was an excellent client of ours and I enjoyed working with him, I said to the electrician say hi from me.
That was the relationship that all Star staff have with their clients that even after 20 years they are still happy and proud to have been part of Star.
Congratulations to the company on obtaining The Dandenong Journal and the best of luck with it.
