Kevin Smith, Murdoch’s first manager of communications in 1974 returned to campus recently to share his experiences at the University as a pioneer in public relations, advertising and communications.
Kevin was also one of the founders of the WA branch of the Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA), which this year celebrates its 50th anniversary.Kevin, who was the first WA Life Fellow of the PRIA, was responsible for Murdoch’s first logo – which he said had to be carved in wood to get its proportions right. His duties at Murdoch included a regular newsletter for staff. He commissioned a cartoon for the newsletter’s first edition from the world-famous cartoonist and personal contact, Paul Rigby.
The cartoon features Sir Walter Murdoch in heaven on clouds, with the quote about the university that was named after him 'It had better be a good one'.
Kevin had worked with Rigby on the Daily News. The cartoon drawn by world-famous cartoonist Paul Rigby for Murdoch's first staff newsletter.
Kevin still has the cartoon and showed it to some of the current staff in Murdoch’s communications team, including Acting Associate Director of Communications, Andrew Gaspar and Communications Coordinator, Cassey Santos.
Kevin said he commissioned the cartoon, but thinks that Rigby never actually asked for payment for it.
I joined the staff in 1974 when we were located at Noalimba Migrant Hostel, not far from where Murdoch stands today, and, we ‘opened for learning’ in 1975. That was our promotional phrase, and the title on the main brochure and featured in other materials.”Kevin’s other duties in the 1970s at Murdoch included organising and helping host a Royal visit to Murdoch by Princess Anne and her then husband Captain Mark Phillips. He even organised what could possibly have been the very first quokka ‘selfie’, featuring Princess Anne and a quokka at Murdoch.
The quokkas were part of a research project into mammalian gestation and the Royal tour’s diversion to meet the quokkas meant the Royals were ‘off the grid’ in the Murdoch bush for a short while. Kevin started his career in the 1950s as a cadet at the ABC and then was headhunted to the Daily News.
He left journalism to work in public relations, including for the Sir David Brand, John Tonkin and Sir Charles Court Governments, focusing on promotion of industry (after being headhunted, a feature of his career).
He spent time as head of public relations at Wesfarmers and had a stint in advertising in Melbourne at Ogilvy and Mather, returning to Perth when one of his children’s asthma meant he could not continue to live in Melbourne with his young family.
He served as President of the WA chapter of the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) and it was this experience and organising a state conference for AANA here that convinced him WA needed a voice for the fledging industry of Public Relations and hence the founding of the WA branch of the PRIA. Founding the PRIA in WA meant getting the major PR consultancy then on board – Eric White and Associates (an organisation Kevin later worked for that later became part of the worldwide Hill and Knowlton network).
Reflecting on founding the PRIA in WA, Kevin said: “It was for me, the opening up of a whole new world, from the engine room, and I could see how PR and Advertising were both stronger combined under one banner, marketing communication. And, that as a force PR needed to have as strong a voice as the AANA in WA to balance the equation."
The major advertising force in WA was the association of advertising agencies, not the clients who had the money and generated the work."
Post-retirement from consulting, Kevin served as Adjunct Associate Professor, and as course-coordinator of the PR course at ECU, and lectured and tutored over almost two decades there. His major teaching interests were in PR Ethics and Issues Management.
He has a Bachelor of Arts from UWA, which he gained while working as a Cadet at the ABC, a Certificate of Education (Tertiary) from ECU and a Master’s of Philosophy (M. Phil.) in Theology from Notre Dame.
Kevin has served his industry tirelessly and has fond memories of his time launching Murdoch to the world – and its logo.