13 Facts About Creighton Burns

In 1941, Creighton Burns was named the Rhodes Scholar for Victoria.

At Oxford, Creighton Burns was granted scholarships to study at Nuffield and Balliol Colleges, where he gained first-class honours in philosophy, politics and economics, and a Master of Arts.

Creighton Burns published Parties and People: A Survey Based on the La Trobe Electorate in 1961.

For most of his tenure in Southeast Asia from 1964 to 1967, Creighton Burns was stationed in Saigon and Singapore, covering the Vietnam War.

Creighton Burns was one of the first journalists to be taken out on patrol with the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment.

Creighton Burns returned to Melbourne in 1967, as diplomatic and defence correspondent for The Age, later becoming the paper's assistant editor, then associate editor.

Creighton Burns's appointment was controversial amongst the media community, as the appointment of an editor from an academic background was unusual.

One of the biggest stories overseen by Creighton Burns was "The Age tapes" affair, a landmark in Australian judicial-political history.

In February 1984, The Age obtained a series of recordings made by the New South Wales Police Force and the Australian Federal Police, which Creighton Burns published as a three-part series entitled 'Network of Influence'.

Creighton Burns retired from The Age in 1989, but remained in public life as the chancellor of the Victoria University of Technology and president of the Melbourne Savage Club.

Creighton Burns was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in the 1991 Australia Day honours, in recognition of service to the media and to international relations.

Creighton Burns died at Cabrini Hospital in Malvern on 19 January 2008, after a long battle with cancer.

Creighton Burns was lauded by Premier of Victoria John Brumby as an "outstanding editor", a sentiment echoed by Brumby's predecessors, Jeff Kennett and Joan Kirner.