GARRICK RODNEY MEADOWS 
1938-2024
PUBLISHER and editor of the former Boort and Quambatook Standard, Gary Meadows, has been remembered as a journalist who had the newspaper as part of its community.
Garrick Rodney Meadows, known as The Country Editor after a 1979 short documentary on his newspaper, died on January 6, aged 85, at Kialla.
Trevor Forbes, who served as Gordon Shire secretary from 1977 until local government amalgamations in 1994, said: “Gary took on the role of the local newspaper as part of the community, not to separate it.
“In the same way, council was part of the local community and it was beneficial for both of us to work in close co-operation,” Trevor said.
“The press plays a very important role in informing the community of council matters and Gary’s reporting was always accurate as debates at council and any other meetings were reported verbatim in his own style of reporting.
“He always adopted a positive attitude, taking the approach of the best interests of the community. He always supported change for the better in matters such as a community centre and a hostel plus lake developments and other proposals.
“To edit and publish a weekly newspaper is a very difficult job with a deadline every week no matter what.”
Trevor recalled a close professional and personal association with Gary.
“In fact, I last spoke with him about two weeks before his passing when he told me he was not going too well. I sent him the Loddon Herald in recent years since it started publication - he valued this and often rang to later comment on various matters,” Trevor said.
Gary’s renown across country Victoria was secured with the release of a Film Australia documentary with the opening song composed and performed by popular folk group The Cobbers.
The Country Editor looked at life running a country newspaper, one that would win Victorian Country Press Association’s John and James Cook awards 10 years out of 11 when the association had a special category for the best newspaper in towns with a population of less than 1500, recalled former business partner Len Davis.
“Gary lived and breathed the Boort Standard,” Len said. “It broke his heart when he sold the newspaper.”
Gary followed in the footsteps of his father Lawrie as owner of the newspaper. “My work started in 1954 when apprenticed to my father Lawrie Meadows at the Boort Standard, setting eight-point type by hand out of upper and lower cases, and concluded in 1996 when we (with “and Quambatook Times” added to the masthead) had just spent the last four or five  years learning the art of offset printing and computer typesetting – even if it was only a basic set-up, all we could afford,” he wrote to the Loddon Herald in 2022.
“But in the intervening years, especially after 1973 when I assumed father’s mantle, much time, effort and money was put into upgrading plant and producing the best possible product so that by the end we had 10 John and James Cook Awards to show for it – and the associated pride which of course goes before a fall, to prove we were so fanatical.”
He also reflected on changes in the newspaper industry. “I was basically doing what Guttenberg had invented, with the advantages of electricity, the camera and telephone added,  but now it is possible – with the aid of  a smartphone and laptop to do what I needed 20 tonnes of equipment, machinery and lead to do. I can’t complain as I lived through a great era, but how I would have loved the technology that is now available to anyone with initiative and ambition.”
Trevor Forbes said Gary had served as a member of the Boort Waterworks Trust.
“As a newspaper owner, Gary did a great job supporting community and rural interests and principles,” he said.
Gary is survived by wife Bev, children Bev. Rod, Maree and David, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.