My Life as a Leper

This is an edited version of the speech Peter Ryan gave in response after Professor Geoffrey Blainey launched Peter’s book Final Proof at a Quadrant dinner at the Marriott Hotel in Melbourne on December 3, 2010.

I am grateful to Quadrant, and to the ever-valiant Keith Windschuttle, who have arranged such a distinguished gathering, and to Geoffrey Blainey, who has spoken so generously.

In bits and pieces of writing over the years, I’ve touched on the experiences of working in a variety of jobs: public servant; five years a soldier; bush timberworker; publisher of comic books and other rubbish; ten years in advertising and public relations; and a hopeless effort to scratch a living as a freelance journalist.

Then came the twenty-six years at Melbourne University Press, of which some highlights are given in the little book so graciously launched tonight. Finally, a working life rounded off (if that is the phrase) by fifteen years as an Officer of the Supreme Court of Victoria,…