Capturing Asia now available in iTunes

http://itunes.apple.com/au/book/capturing-asia/id419238052?mt=11

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Tragedy at the ABC.

"For 38 years Paul has been my soul mate, a loving husband and father and a loyal friend to many. He will be in our thoughts every day." - Maria Lockyer.

The ABC, family and friends have suffered a terrible tragedy with the deaths of ABC journalist Paul Lockyer, a former correspondent, ABC pilot Gary Ticehurst, and cameraman John Bean. They died when the ABC helicopter crashed near Lake Eyre on August 18.

Paul was a close friend of Singaporean cameraman Willie Phua, subject of the book Capturing Asia, and the two worked on many assignments in Asia.

Paul is pictured above in Bangkok, where he was a correspondent in the early 1980s, with cameramen Neil Davis, (left) who was killed in a brief coup in Bangkok, and Willie Phua.

Pic: Gary Ticehurst, Paul Locker and John Bean.

Paul is pictured above alongside Philippines President Cory Aquino in the mid-1980s. From left Willie Phua and the late ABC journalist John Mills.

Paul Lockyer contributed to the book on Willie Phua, Capturing Asia, published in 2010 by ABC Books. Here is an extract from the book:

Paul Lockyer with Willie and Cindy Phua in Bangkok in the 1980s.

'A nice young fellow with a good sense of humour..."

Paul Lockyer was one of the few correspondents of the late ‘seventies and ‘eighties era still actively reporting on ABC Television News and the 7.30 Report at time of writing. Willie Phua recalls their first meeting on the Thai-Cambodian border:

‘I was sitting on a stool outside a shop house at Aranyaprathet. He came up from Bangkok and walked up to me and said ‘Are you Willie Phua?’ He looked like a very young correspondent and to tell you the truth my first thought was ‘Oh no, here’s another new one!’ He turned out to be a very nice young fellow with a good sense of humour and he was also a very good journo. He became one of my very good friends. But he cheats at dollar poker.’

Lockyer had arrived in Thailand in the midst of an international emergency. ‘Tens of thousands of Cambodian refugees were pouring across the border into Thailand, forced out by the fighting and the famine in their homeland. The world had been largely oblivious to the crisis that had engulfed Cambodia in the previous four years under Pol Pol’s rule.

‘Only later would the full extent of the senseless killings and the famine be realised. Vietnamese forces had finally ousted Pol Pot with an invasion in January 1978. But it wasn’t until later the following year that starving Cambodians began streaming into Thailand. The remnants of the Khmer Rouge, with their stony faced boy soldiers brandishing their AK47s, had blocked their passage in a last ditch effort to maintain a stronghold against the Vietnamese. But with little food and no medical supplies the Khmer Rouge had no option but to retreat into Thailand with the people. By late 1979, the trickle of exhausted and emaciated people had turned into a constant flow.

‘Women and children, many racked with malaria, collapsed and died at our feet. I was 29, with little international reporting experience.

'Willie was 51, a veteran cinematographer who had witnessed the worst of Asia’s wars and humanitarian disasters for 20 years. No one is immune from such suffering, but Willie had learnt to maintain his composure in the most testing of circumstances to capture images that told a story of disaster which swept the world,’ Paul Lockyer recalled.

Read Paul's own story as a young correspondent...

Click on the 'News, Views and Reviews' tag top of page.

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Capturing Asia -

now in e-book format

ABC Books recently launched e-books and Capturing Asia, the life story of ABC cameraman Willie Phua, was in this first wave of titles.

Book Review:

"It is the lot of the TV cameraman that they are largely ignored. At best they are a small credit at the end of a story. Yet, as this genuinely engrossing book demonstrates, they lead interesting lives, meet fascinating people and record momentous events."

- Sydney Morning Herald.

1942 - Australia's greatest peril, published by Pan Macmillan, now on e-book world-wide.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE 7.30 REPORT VIDEO ON CAMERAMAN WILLIE PHUA

Singaporean Willie Phua is the subject of Bob Wurth's biography, Capturing Asia. See the 7.30 Report video on Willie Phua's amazing career covering Asia for the ABC, including some of his major assignments.

Singapore now knows all about Willie Phua

 Correspodent John McBeth wrote in the Singapore Straits Times in 2008 that while Willie Phua was ‘virtually unknown to his own countrymen, the ever-cheerful Singaporean is a household name in a global fraternity of international correspondents.’

 How things have changed after the publication of Capturing Asia.

 Many thousands of Singaporeans now have come to know the Willie Phua life story through a series of events in Singapore during October-November 2010 and a key exhibition featuring his life which is ongoing. In the latest honour for Willie, the Australian High Commission in Singapore in November featured a photographic exhibition in its atrium foyer, similar to the exhibition staged in the foyer of the ABC for the launch of the Phua book, Capturing Asia, in July.

The High Commission hosted Willie and family at a reception for visiting journalists from all around the region. The Asia-Pacific Journalism Centre, based in Australia, organised a tour of Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia for five Australian senior journalists, reporter/producers and another five from elsewhere in Asia. The group was led by Nigel McCarthy.

The High Commission invited local journos and academics along and about 50 guests attended. Australian High Commissioner Doug Chester introduced Willie Phua as a special guest and encouraged guests to meet him. There was no shortage of takers. High Commission staff said “it was just such wonderful timing to have Willie's photos up. He really was a hit of the evening - everyone wanted to hear his stories and have their photos taken with him.”

 A few days later Willie Phua was invited back to the High Commission to have his photo taken at the exhibition with organisers Sally Trethewie and Chelsea Chua, pictured with Willie and the High Commissioner Doug Chester.