Goulburn-born Ray Leeson left lasting legacy for The Post

Ray Leeson's name is cited in hallowed terms at The Post for his example and enduring legacy to the masthead and its earlier iterations.

But movie star ratings were never his go. As his good friend, former Legacy president Greg Seaman recalled after his 2015 passing, Mr Leeson was a "quality person who treated everyone equally."

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Numerous journalists have recalled that Mr Leeson always reserved judgement and listened to both sides after people complained about a story or his reporters. Only then would he say his peace.

In a 1996 interview he described himself as a "self-born journalist who had a news sense."

Straight out of school, without his leaving certificate, he and another boy applied for a cadetship at the Goulburn Evening Penny Post.

"Marmion Dart, who was the editor at the time gave me the job and then rang my father up. He was a store manager in Goulburn and they played golf together. He said Les, we've got your son as an employee of the Goulburn Post. He didn't even know I had the job," Mr Leeson said at the time.

That was 1941. He spent two years doing the rounds and later wrote of riding with a typewriter perched on his bike to stock sales each week, to meetings and people's homes to write obituaries. The typewriter, which he kept, still had an indent from the bike's handlebars years later.

In 1943 Mr Leeson joined the RAAF and miraculously survived after his six-man Wellington bomber crashed near Bruntingthorpe in January, 1945. He was pulled unconscious from his gun turret and underwent months of rehabilitation.

Mr Leeson rejoined The Post in December, 1945, became sub-editor in 1948 and was appointed editor in 1952 upon Dart's retirement.

He became the newspaper's longest serving editor, mounting memorable campaigns to retain wool sales in Goulburn in the late 1950s.

The NSW and Queensland Woolbuyers' Association had placed a ban on Goulburn wool sales in 1959. However Goulburn united as a community, formed its own buying power and staged independent sales.

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Mr Leeson later wrote that this stance was "vindicated" after a lengthy inquiry into the buying trade.

He and the newspaper also campaigned heavily for state aid for Catholic schools in 1962. The Post strongly back parents who pulled children out of Catholic schools and sent them to public ones in protest over the lack of funding for a toilet block.

It was during his tenure in 1982 that the newspaper became a morning publication and changed its name to The Goulburn Post.

"He (Mr Leeson) was a bold as brass little bloke who never took a backward step and led from the front," former journalist Ian Frazer said in 2015.

"He was an old fashioned editor."

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Mr Leeson was a talented cricketer, but also played tennis, rugby league and golf and immersed himself in community organisations. He strongly encouraged his journalists to be involved in the community and was always willing to train up a local person for the job, former journalist Leon Oberg said.

Writing in the 1970 Goulburn Evening Post 100th anniversary commemorative edition, Mr Leeson said a local newspaper's role was to "present all viewpoints; to support all good causes; to oppose the others; to counsel; to promote free discussion; to help educate."

He was awarded the Centenary Medal in 2003 and an AOM in 2008 for service to the print media and community.

Upon his retirement in 1988, sub-editor John Thistleton was appointed editor. Mr Leeson died in June, 2015 aged 90, "leaving generations of journalists with a love of their craft and of their leader," Mr Thistleton wrote at the time.

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