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Walter Cresswell O'Reilly

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Cresswell O'Reilly
Chief Commonwealth Film Censor
In office
November 1928 – June 1942
Preceded byRobert Wallace
Succeeded byJ. O. Alexander
10th Mayor of Ku-ring-gai
In office
19 March 1929 – 5 December 1933
DeputyAudley Hubert Brennan
James Briton
Ernest Selby
Preceded byGeorge Christie
Succeeded byErnest Selby
Alderman on Ku-ring-gai Municipal Council
In office
10 December 1928 – January 1935
In office
12 November 1944 – 14 December 1948
Councillor on Warringah Shire Council
In office
14 November 1939 – 11 December 1941
Preceded byFrederick Latham
ConstituencyA Riding
Personal details
Born(1877-06-06)6 June 1877
Sydney, New South Wales
Died20 December 1954(1954-12-20) (aged 77)
Pymble, New South Wales, Australia
SpouseEthel Jane Vickery
EducationNewington College
University of Sydney

[Walter] Cresswell O'Reilly (6 June 1877 – 20 December 1954) was an Australian public servant who became Chief Commonwealth Film Censor. He "dominated and shaped Australian film censorship" and was able to "define appropriate mass entertainment" for nearly twenty years.[1] He was the founding president of the National Trust of Australia (NSW) and an early urban conservationist.

Early life

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Cresswell O'Reilly (he was always known by his second name) was born in New South Wales to Irish-American physician Dr Walter William Joseph O’Reilly and his Ballarat-born wife, Mary Narcissa O’Reilly (née Taylor).

He was educated at Newington College (1894–1896)[2] and the University of Sydney from where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1903.[3] He married Ethel Jane Vickery, a granddaughter of philanthropist Ebenezer Vickery,[4] in 1909.

Army service

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During World War I he served with the Australian Imperial Force in France as a gunner and then as a warrant officer, class 1, with the Army Education Service.

Public service

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Before attending university, O'Reilly had been a junior clerk in the Department of Justice. After the war, he returned to the public service as an officer-in-charge in the justice branch of the Attorney-General's Department. In 1925 O'Reilly was nominated by the Methodist Church, the YMCA, and the Businessmen's Efficiency League as the senior Commonwealth film censor in Sydney.[5]

In this position he was de facto chief censor, as most films arrived in Australia through Sydney. Three years later he became chief Commonwealth censor and was reappointed annually. He was joined by Eleanor Glencross who was appointed after lobbying by women's organisations. She was replaced in 1930 by Gwendoline Dorothea Julie Hansen[6] who was appointed for three years and then also reappointed annually.[7] The third member of the board was Colonel LJ Hurley.[8] Up until 1935 they were rejecting half of the films that were assigned for assessment. This proportion was relaxed as the US film industry imposed its own censorship in 1934.[9] O'Reilly retired in 1942. As chief censor he introduced, in 1930, the classification system that graded films 'For General Exhibition' and 'Not Suitable for Children'.[10]

Community service

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O'Reilly was a Wesleyan and served as a trustee of Pymble Methodist Church for over 50 years, and was a choirmaster, Sunday-school-superintendent and lay preacher. He was elected to Ku-ring-gai Municipal Council as an alderman and as mayor from 1929 until 1933. As mayor his vision for the Upper North Shore involved what he called the two TPsTown Planning and Tree Planting and hence he became known as the Tree Mayor.[11] As an early conservationist he was president of the State branch of the Australian Forest League and a member of the Forestry Advisory Council.[12] In 1945 he became the founding president of the New South Wales division of the National Trust of Australia. At Wesley College, University of Sydney he was a councillor and treasurer.

Honours

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Publications

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  • Wesley College (within the University of Sydney): a historical outline (Syd, 1956)[13]
  • Ku-ring-gai Shire: early history and development (Syd, 1948 & 1963)

Bibliography

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  • I Bertrand – Film Censorship in Australia (Brisb, 1978)
  • G Shirley and B Adams – Australian Cinema (Syd, 1983)
  • Film Censorship Board – Annual Reports 1925–42
  • Sydney Morning Herald – 17 June 1942

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 29 May 2008
  2. ^ Newington College Register of Past Students 1863–1998 (Syd, 1999) pp147
  3. ^ Alumni Sidneienses. Retrieved 29 May 2008
  4. ^ Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 29 May 2008
  5. ^ "OVERCOMING FEAR". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 30, 914. New South Wales, Australia. 1 February 1937. p. 7. Retrieved 9 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ "Vol.11 No.518 (22 January 1930)". Trove. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  7. ^ Wright, Andrée, "Gwendoline Dorothea Julie Hansen (1896–1971)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 24 October 2023
  8. ^ "FILM CENSORS DEFENDED". West Australian. 6 April 1933. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  9. ^ Greenberg, Joel, "Walter Cresswell O'Reilly (1877–1954)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 24 October 2023
  10. ^ OFLC Annual Reports Extracts 1925–1963. Retrieved 29 May 2008
  11. ^ [The Pymble Cottages Group The Historian Kathie Reith] Retrieved 9 May 2024.
  12. ^ Ku-ring-gai Council. Retrieved 29 May 2008
  13. ^ National Library of Australia. Retrieved 29 May 2008
Government offices
Preceded by Chief Commonwealth Film Censor
1928 – 1941
Succeeded by
J. O. Alexander
Civic offices
Preceded by
George Christie
Mayor of Ku-ring-gai
1929 – 1933
Succeeded by
Ernest Selby