Hal Richardson, journalist, joined the Wagga Wagga Daily Advertiser as a cadet reporter in 1934. From 1936 he worked with Investors Review, the Illawarra Mercury and the Labor Daily before joining the AIF in May 1940. He was sent to Singapore with the 8th Division subsequently spending four year as a prisoner of war in Palembang, Sumatra.
After the war he joined the Sydney Sun as a reporter and later moved to Melbourne to join the Herald, becoming this newspaper's Darwin correspondent. In 1949 he joined the Argus as chief court reporter and later as a war correspondent in Korea. Richardson became editor of the Maitland Mercury, before accepting an invitation in 1959 to design and edit the Australian Army : The Soldiers' Newspaper, and with the rank of major, remained editor of this until his retirement eighteen years later.
During retirement he travelled mainly in Asia, spent time in Port Stephens and in Canberra and continued writing. Other publications include a local history book, Port Stephens Tales [1988] and Into the Fire (2000), a book that describes the experiences of British and Australian armed forces in POW camps on Banka Island and in Sumatra.
