Geoffrey Alleyne Edwin Reading (1912-1996) studied at the University of Tasmania from 1934 to 1938, with a break in 1936 working as a public servant in New Guinea. During 1938 he edited the student publications Cactus and Platypus. ;;Cactus promised to be "the organ for all who have distaste for umbilical morality, thaumaturgy, smutty respectability, theological mumbo-jumbo, bigotry, intolerance, and a diabetic status-quo". Its radical libertarian views saw it attacked by religious authorities, and the Legislative Council threaten to cut the University's funding.;;Reading left Tasmania in 1939 to work as a journalist in London. He returned to Australia after the outbreak of the Second World War, working for Truth (Sydney), as a war correspondent in New Guinea, and from 1965 to 1975 for New South Wales Premier R W Askin.