Cover image for Helene Chung Martin
Agency:
Helene Chung Martin
Agency Number:
Start Date:
20 Jan 1945
Description:
Helene Chung is a Tasmanian-born Chinese Australian journalist and author. ;;A fourth-generation Tasmanian, Helene Chung (He-LANE CHUNG as in HUNG) grew up in 1950s Hobart, where she and her sister, Lehene (Lay-HEEN), were the only Chinese Australians for almost all their years at St Mary's College. ;;Chung is an Honours graduate and Master of Arts in history of the University of Tasmania.;;As an undergraduate she was active in campus theatre through the Old Nick Company. In 1968 as a postgraduate student she recorded her first interview - with a butcher who claimed to have sighted the extinct Tasmanian tiger - and it was broadcast on ABC radio's national flagship, AM.;;Rejected as an ABC trainee because she was 'a girl', she freelanced in Hong Kong, Britain and Egypt and in 1971 at Buckingham Palace scooped the first radio interview granted by Princess Anne.;;Back in Australia, she joined ABC Sydney's AM/PM team. In 1974 she returned to Tasmania to join 'This Day Tonight' as the first non-white reporter on Australian television. ;;She transferred to Melbourne to be with her partner, history lecturer John Martin and, much later, his death would be the subject of her book, 'Gentle John: My Love My Loss'.;;As Beijing correspondent 1983-86 Chung was the first female posted abroad by the ABC. In this capacity she also freelanced for BBC, CBS, NPR, NZBC and Hong Kong radio.;;Her first book, 'Shouting from China', was written as Edward Wilson Fellow in Journalism at Deakin University, Geelong, where she would later teach journalism while a specialist reporter on North Asian affairs at the Overseas Service, Radio Australia, Melbourne. She also presented the daily International Report on Radio National.;;In 1998 she began fifteen years as an adjunct research fellow at Melbourne's Monash Asia Institute, which assisted her in writing 'Lazy Man in China' and her autobiography, 'Ching Chong China Girl: From fruitshop to foreign correspondent'.
Information Sources:
Helene Chung
Functions Performed:
Arts and culture
Stanley Martin (Photographer) (NG2239)01 Jan 1904
Series Created By Agency:
NS4820 Dorothy Henry Greener Diaries, Note Books and Certificates.01 Oct 193731 Dec 2013

NS4784 Personal Papers - School and University01 Jan 194021 Feb 1998

NS4826 Dorothy Henry Greener Collection - Artists, Correspondence and Other17 Dec 194130 Aug 2014

NS4831 Paintings and Photographs Etc from Dorothy Henry Greener Collection and Lehene Chung Goodenday Collection01 Sep 194401 Jun 2013

NS4821 Dorothy Henry Greener - Correspondence and Memorabilia16 Apr 195101 Jul 2014

NS4828 Lehene Chung Goodenday Correspondence, Clippings, Documents and Other Records.01 Dec 195501 Aug 2014

NS4824 Dorothy Henry Greener Note Books and Clippings19 Dec 196401 Jun 2014

NS4825 Lehene Chung Goodenday Collection - Leslie Greener01 Nov 197011 Jun 1989

NS4827 Dorothy Henry Greener Cassette Tapes Mostly recorded Off Air.22 Aug 197501 Dec 1989

NS4776 Manuscript and Research Notes - Lazy Man in China30 Aug 197617 Jan 2004

NS5057 Health Files01 Jan 197831 Dec 1998

NS4779 John Martin M.a. Research Cards14 Feb 197830 Dec 1983

NS4818 Lehene Chung Goodenday Essays12 May 197901 Sep 1981

NS4777 John Martin - Correspondence with Family, Friends and Colleagues01 Nov 197905 Aug 1996

NS4781 Correspondence Australia - Japan Foundation Journalist Award07 Oct 198206 Jul 1983

NS4778 Notebooks - including China 1983-86 and Reporters Paraphernalia01 Jan 198331 Dec 1993

NS4774 Manuscript and Research Notes - Shouting from China01 Feb 198606 May 1988

NS4771 Correspondence re Purchase and Renovations - Chung Martin House.27 Nov 198619 Feb 1993

NS4770 Architect Plans - Chung Martin House01 Dec 198601 Mar 1988

NS4773 Manuscript and Research Notes - Gentle John27 Oct 199311 Apr 1997

NS4772 Estate of Lehene Dorothy Goodenday01 Jan 200129 May 2002

NS4775 Manuscript and Research Notes - Ching Chong China Girl19 Jan 200310 Apr 2008

NS4780 Study at Rmit21 Feb 200514 Nov 2005

NS4832 Inventory - Compiled by Helene Chung Martin, August 201401 Aug 2014