Griff Richards was the first Western Australian born editor of the
West Australian and also its longest serving editor. He began his career at the newspaper as a casual reporter while studying at the University of Western Australia where, in 1930, he was the founding editor of
Pelican, the students' newspaper. In 1927 he was given a cadetship and in 1932 he was appointed leader of the West Australian parliamentary staff. Richards enlisted in the RAAF in 1942 and was eventually promoted to flight lieutenant navigator.
