Alison Andrews

Journalist

Place of birth: Launceston

Year of birth: 1952

Lived in Launceston: For nearly 50 years

“This original entrance to the Examiner Newspaper Office in Paterson Street, Launceston is to me particularly significant because it is the way I entered the building when I started my journalist cadetship in 1970. The newspaper and the city whose stories it has told for more than 160 years has kept drawing me back ever since.
I think that it has to do with the pleasure of writing about your own community. There is something special about this place that makes it different to anywhere else in the world and which we should fiercely protect. It has to do with the obvious things like the heritage buildings and streetscapes and its setting in a fertile river valley with the geographically ancient Gorge and Cliffgrounds as our community backyard. But there’s the intangible too - the energy of its residents that means that there is always something about to happen or an innovative idea to be tried. It is a newspaper reporter’s privilege to write about these things.”