Walter Cresswell O'Reilly

[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. [ [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A110106b.htm Australian Dictionary of Biography] Retrieved 29.5.2008] He was the founding president of the National Trust of Australia (NSW) and an early urban conservationist.

Early life

Cresswell O'Reilly (he was always known by his second name) was born in New South Wales to an American physician and his Ballarat-born wife. He was educated at Newington College (1894-1896) [Newington College Register of Past Students 1863-1998 (Syd, 1999) pp147] and the University of Sydney from where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1903. [ [http://www.bull.usyd.edu.au/as/ Alumni Sydneienses] Retrieved 29.5.2008] He married Ethel Jane Vickery, a granddaughter of philanthropist Ebenezer Vickery [ [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A060355b.htm Australian Dictionary of Biography] Retrieved 29.5.2008] , in 1909.

Army service

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

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. In this position he became de facto chief censor as most films arrived in Australia through Sydney. Three years later he became chief Commonwealth censor and was reappointed annually until 1942 when he retired. As chief censor he introduced, in 1930, the classification system that graded films 'For General Exhibition' and 'Not Suitable for Children'. [ [http://www.libertus.net/censor/docarchive/oflc_history.html OFLC Annual Reports Extracts 1925-1963] Retrieved 29.5.2008]

Community service

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 an early conservationist he earned a reputation as the 'tree mayor' and was president of the State branch of the Australian Forest League and a member of the Forestry Advisory Council. [ [http://www.kmc.nsw.gov.au/www/default.asp?guiValue=A8AB54BE-718C-4733-8D78-E86E8AA10643 Ku-ring-gai Council] Retrieved 29.5.2008] 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

* Cresswell O’Reilly Lookout - 1030-1066 Pacific Highway, Pymble

Publications

* Wesley College (within the University of Sydney): a historical outline (Syd, 1956) [ [http://www.nladom-test.nla.gov.au/anbd.bib-an3685496 National Library of Australia] Retrieved 29.5.2008]
* Ku-ring-gai Shire: early history and development (Syd, 1948 & 1963)

Bibliography

* 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

External links

* Joel Greenberg, [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A110106b.htm Walter Cresswell O'Reilly (1877 - 1954)] , Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 11, MUP, 1988, p. 96.

References