Michael Beatty, veteran current affairs journalist and animal welfare advocate, dies aged 76
The death of the colourful Queensland media figure was announced on Sunday, with his son Liam writing on social media that "dogs all over Brisbane were howling" as he passed away that day with his family by his side.
"He never lost his fighting spirit, as he continued to defy the odds," Liam wrote.
Beatty was born in England in 1949, the son of Canadian screen legend Robert Beatty.
He moved to Canada as a teenager following his parents' divorce, taking an entry-level job at a CBC radio station in Ottowa.
While employed as a mail boy, he volunteered to interview an up-and-coming guitarist out of the UK — one Jimi Hendrix — and was then "promptly 'exiled' to a CBC radio station in the eastern Arctic", according to his 2018 book Off the Beatty Track.
Undeterred, he later returned to England, interviewing music royalty such as David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, Stevie Nicks and a teenage Michael Jackson, before taking a job with the ABC in Sydney in the 1970s.
The move to Australia proved a rewarding one, with Beatty going on to spend the next three decades reporting for current affairs programs such as Today Tonight and The 7.30 Report, as well as producing documentaries for Wild Life and Beyond 2000.
Over the course of his career, he covered the downfall of the Marcos regime, the 1981 Brixton riots, land mine removal in Cambodia and the war between Myanmar's military junta and the ethnic Karen.
Not content with being pelted with rocks, charged by a black rhino and shot at in the line of duty, Beatty also made headlines when he recorded a piece to camera from the back of a 3.6-metre-long crocodile.
"[I did] some pretty stupid things. I was told I had nine lives, I reckon I've used about five of them," he told reporters at his book launch in 2018.
Despite his extensive current affairs experience, Beatty was likely most well-known to reporters across Queensland for the role he took on after he left journalism — that of RSPCA Queensland's senior media adviser.
Always available for comment and never one to shy away from upsetting topics, he made sure animal welfare was highlighted in media coverage across the state for a decade and a half, a service for which he was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2019.
He also wasn't opposed to becoming the story himself, such as in December 2004, when he joined then-RSPCA chief inspector Byron Hall in a locked car to highlight the dangers of leaving pets unattended.
The temperature reportedly hit 70 degrees before they exited the vehicle.
Beatty was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2018, a condition he lived with for seven years, until he was also diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia.
He is survived by his wife Cecile and son Liam.
"Whilst our hearts are shattered in pieces, we know we will mend them as we commit to continuously remembering and celebrating a great husband, friend, father, father-in-law, and grandfather at every opportunity," Liam wrote on Sunday.
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