World Press Freedom Day: Pendil Rayner, War Correspondent

This Wednesday 3 May is UNESCO World Press Freedom Day. This year's theme is ‘Shaping a Future of Rights: Freedom of Expression as a driver for all Other Human Rights’, highlighting how journalists play a vital role in verifying and disseminating information, rendering complex issues understandable for the general public, as well as creating forums for ideas to be debated and for the voiceless to be heard. The theme aims to raise awareness of how these freedoms of information and expression are enablers of all other human rights.

World Press Freedom Day is also a day of remembrance for journalists who lost their lives in the pursuit of a story. Pendil Arthur Rayner was one of many Australian war correspondents killed during World War II. Regarded as “one of the best known and most brilliant journalists in Queensland” (The Telegraph 1943), Rayner was described as a journalist who "unflinchingly sought the truth..." and who was "...admired and respected by colleagues and rivals, alike by everyone from the highest executive to the lowest copy boy... and by the host of people of every walk of life with whom he came in contact in his wide journalistic experience" (The Telegraph 1943).

Born in 1909 the son of George and Edith Rayner, Pendil Rayner attended Junction Park State School and had three brothers named Elford, Clifford and Earle. Joining the Brisbane Telegraph in 1928 as a cadet reporter, Rayner was accredited as a war correspondent in June 1942, and he then proceeded to cover operations in New Guinea, where he wrote a memorably vivid account of the Battle of the Bismarck Sea.

Rayner subsequently reported on the American occupation of the island of Kiriwina and was with the first Australian troops who captured Lae, describing the scenes there in his typically visceral writing style. “There is scarcely the frame of a house left standing, and the few that do remain have had their walls and windows blown out like paper bags. Everywhere are gaping bomb craters that seem like ugly ulcers on the face of the earth around." (The Sun 1943) Rayner also represented the evening press at General Douglas MacArthur’s Headquarters, where he was reportedly well-respected by high-ranking officers.

Rayner was killed in December 1943 when his plane bound for Cape Gloucester crashed in New Guinea. He was 34 years old, and he left behind a wife and two sons. In an emotional tribute, a colleague of Rayner’s wrote, “He was a man of unshakable personal and professional integrity, of warm and ready sympathy for his fellow men... His physical courage was as high as his moral courage, and it was a point of honour with him that as a war correspondent he should experience at first hand the hazards and emotions of the men who do the fighting.” (The Telegraph 1943)  

Pendil Arthur Rayner is buried in Bomana War Cemetery, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. His inscription reads, 'His duty nobly done. His memory forever cherished'. 

To hear more Queensland stories of service, visit Anzac Square Memorial Galleries 10am-4pm Sunday-Friday. 

References 

1943 'BRISBANE WAR CORRESPONDENT KILLED IN N.G. AIR CRASH', Queensland Times (Ipswich, Qld. : 1909 - 1954), 29 December, p. 3. (DAILY), viewed 17 Jan 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article114400998 

1943 'DEATH AND RUIN IN BOMB-BLASTED LAE', The Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954), 19 September, p. 3. , viewed 20 Jan 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article231617692  

1943 'Death of Mr. P. A. Rayner, 'Telegraph' War Correspondent', The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), 28 December, p. 2. (CITY FINAL LAST MINUTE NEWS), viewed 09 Feb 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article186843210  

1943 'MILES OF BATTLE DEBRIS LITTER SEA OF THE DEAD', The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), 6 March, p. 2. (LATE WEEKEND FINAL ALL THE NEWS), viewed 20 Jan 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article186628567 

1943 'P A Rayner Killed', The Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 - 1955), 28 December, p. 1. (CITY FINAL), viewed 17 Jan 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article78397312 

Commonwealth War Graves Commision 2023, 'Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery', viewed 24 March 2023, https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/2014300/port-moresby-bomana-war-cemetery  

Commonwealth War Graves Commission 2023, ‘Reporter Pendil Arthur Rayner’, viewed 20 January 2023, https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2164254/pendil-arthur-rayner  

'Pendil Arthur Rayner in 1909', findmypast.com.au, viewed 22 January 2023, https://www.findmypast.com.au/transcript?id=AU/QUEENSLAND/BIRTHS/00497927  

UNESCO 2022, World Press Freedom Day 2023, Shaping a Future of Rights: Freedom of expression as a driver for all other human rights; draft concept note, UNESDOC Digital Library, viewed 22 January 2023, https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000384177.locale=en  

UNESCO 2023, World Press Freedom Day 30th Anniversary Recentering Freedom of Expression as a Driver for All Other Human Rights, https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/world-press-freedom-day-30th-anniversary-recentering-freedom-expression-driver-all-other-human