Robert Peach; Actor, Broadcaster
Hyfler/Rosner
January 24, 2004 Saturday
HEADLINE: Distinguished Radio Actor And The First Presenter
Of AM
BYLINE: Rodney Wetherell
ROBERT PEACH - ACTOR - BROADCASTER - 16-9-1923 - 3-1-2004
Robert Peach, who has died at the age of 80, was a man who
excelled in whatever he did. As an actor from the age of
six, radio announcer and presenter, RAAF pilot, writer,
documentary maker, mature-age student - he reached high
achievements in all except his schoolwork at University High
and Melbourne Grammar, in which his results were mediocre.
It may well have been these that drove him to high
achievement in adult life. He had a strong Catholic faith
and very high standards in both work and life. He also
laughed a lot, with a stock of funny stories to keep others
laughing, even during his many bouts of illness in later
years.
With typical thoroughness, Robert, or Bob, Peach supplied
material for his own obituary, about nine months before he
died: "One report card shows that a long-suffering, and
charitable, mathematics master at University High gave me 50
per cent in each of the three maths subjects. In 1937, I won
a choir scholarship to Melbourne Grammar, and my parents
thought I would do better there. I did not. It is not
surprising. I was six when I made my first appearance in the
theatre, and was now spending less time at school and more
in radio studios acting in plays and serials."
Having failed to matriculate, Bob got his first full-time
job as a junior announcer at 3SR Shepparton in July 1940,
joining the ABC later that year as a permanent staff
announcer. "My salary was four pounds eighteen and ninepence
a fortnight . . . One also received fifteen pence a week
laundry money, so that one could sit all alone in the studio
at night in a dinner suit with a freshly laundered stiff
white shirt."
Just before his 18th birthday in 1941, Bob enlisted in the
RAAF, and hearing nothing, put his name down for the army as
well, in which he spent almost a year before being
transferred to the RAAF. After training at Somers, he did
further training in Canada, then was commissioned as a pilot
officer and posted to an RAF Transport Command squadron in
England. The squadron's job was to provide support for the
British Liberation Army, flying ammunition into Europe and
bringing the wounded out. Later his crew was one of a
handful delivering "King's Couriers" - spies dealing with
resistance movements in Europe.
After the war, now 22, Bob Peach found he no longer needed
his full-time job with the ABC. His work in radio drama
between the ages of six and 17 had equipped him well to take
advantage of the boom in radio plays and serials, in which
Australia was a world leader. "I was soon busy recording six
to 12 serial episodes a day, and either acting in or
producing major plays for Caltex Radio Theatre, the General
Motors Hour, or the Lux Radio Theatre." A notable figure in
Melbourne radio drama then was Morris West, and Bob had
leading roles in two serials written and produced by him,
The Mask of Marius Melville, and The Burtons of Banner
Street.
And there was marriage: "I met Helen Ryan, reference
librarian and public relations officer for the ABC, and we
were married in 1949. In January 2003 we celebrated our 54th
wedding anniversary."
In the early 1950s, Bob Peach had his own production house,
producing serials and music programs, and later moved into
the advertising industry, managing radio and TV production
for USP. In the early 1960s, he was appointed to the firm's
Sydney office, and the family moved north. Unhappy with the
way advertising was going, Bob left it to resume freelance
work as an actor and writer. He wrote for the ABC's Delta
and Contrabandits series, and produced TV drama for NLT
Productions. While a significant figure in the Australian
media, his name was not well known to the general public.
This was to change in 1967 when Bob was appointed first
presenter of the ABC radio current affairs program AM. Every
politician and public figure soon discovered the importance
of being on AM. Bob Peach's intelligence and authority as
presenter was one of the keys to its enormous success. He
hosted the program for six years.
In October 1969 Bob and Helen Peach were knocked down by a
speeding car near their home. Helen was not seriously hurt,
but Bob had a badly shattered shoulder, comminuted fractures
of both legs, and internal injuries. The massive injuries
affected his health for the rest of his life.
In 1974 Bob joined the staff of radio drama and features,
the ABC department for which he had worked as actor and
writer for many years. One of the first programs he produced
on staff was The World of JK, which was not only beautifully
shaped but broke new ground in radio - it recreated the
world as heard by an 11-year-old deaf boy. The documentary
won the Prix Italia (Radio Documentary section) that year.
This was only the third Prix Italia in ABC history, and loud
was the rejoicing. However, there was also sadness for the
Peach family that same year, when younger son Damian was
killed in a car accident.
Winning an international award opened many doors for Bob
Peach, and for the next 20 years he and Helen went to Europe
every year. Having learnt to speak German , he was able to
accept an invitation to produce German-language radio drama
in Cologne. Over the years, Bob had made several attempts to
matriculate for university study, but via provisional
matriculation at the University of New England, went on to
obtain two degrees.
Speaking at the requiem mass for her old friend, actor
Beverley Dunn spoke for many as she recalled his "love of
words, literature, jokes, his pursuit of excellence,
thoroughness, heroic courage, compassion, anger at anything
second-rate, optimism, delight in whatever one is doing".
Bob Peach is survived by his wife Helen, son Tim, and
daughters Mary and Emma.
Rodney Wetherell is a former ABC colleague of Bob Peach.