Walter Cresswell O'Reilly

[Walter] Cresswell O'Reilly (6 June 1877 – 20 December 1954) was an Australian public servant who became Chief Commonwealth Film Censor. He "dominated and shaped Australian film censorship" and was able to "define appropriate mass entertainment" for nearly twenty years.[1] He was the founding president of the National Trust of Australia (NSW) and an early urban conservationist.

Cresswell O'Reilly
Chief Commonwealth Film Censor
In office November 1928 – June 1942
Preceded by	Robert Wallace
Succeeded by	J. O. Alexander
10th Mayor of Ku-ring-gai
In office 19 March 1929 – 5 December 1933
Deputy	Audley Hubert Brennan James Briton Ernest Selby
Preceded by	George Christie
Succeeded by	Ernest Selby
Alderman on Ku-ring-gai Municipal Council
In office 10 December 1928 – January 1935
In office 12 November 1944 – 14 December 1948
Councillor on Warringah Shire Council
In office 14 November 1939 – 11 December 1941
Preceded by	Frederick Latham
Constituency	A Riding
Personal details
Born	(1877-06-06)6 June 1877 Sydney, Colony of New South Wales
Died	20 December 1954(1954-12-20) (aged 77) Pymble, New South Wales, Australia
Spouse(s)	Ethel Jane Vickery
Education	Newington College University of Sydney

Early life

Cresswell O'Reilly (he was always known by his second name) was born in New South Wales to Irish-American physician Dr Walter William Joseph O’Reilly and his Ballarat-born wife, Mary Narcissa O’Reilly (née Taylor).

He was educated at Newington College (1894–1896)[2] and the University of Sydney from where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1903.[3] He married Ethel Jane Vickery, a granddaughter of philanthropist Ebenezer Vickery,[4] in 1909.

Army service

During World War I he served with the Australian Imperial Force in France as a gunner and then as a warrant officer, class 1, with the Army Education Service.

Public service

Before attending university, O'Reilly had been a junior clerk in the Department of Justice. After the war, he returned to the public service as an officer-in-charge in the justice branch of the Attorney-General's Department. In 1925 O'Reilly was nominated by the Methodist Church, the YMCA, and the Businessmen's Efficiency League as the senior Commonwealth film censor in Sydney. In this position he was de facto chief censor, as most films arrived in Australia through Sydney. Three years later he became chief Commonwealth censor and was reappointed annually until 1942 when he retired. As chief censor he introduced, in 1930, the classification system that graded films 'For General Exhibition' and 'Not Suitable for Children'.[5]

Community service

O'Reilly was a Wesleyan and served as a trustee of Pymble Methodist Church for over 50 years, and was a choirmaster, Sunday-school-superintendent and lay preacher. He was elected to Ku-ring-gai Municipal Council as an alderman and as mayor from 1929 until 1933. As an early conservationist he earned a reputation as the 'tree mayor' and was president of the State branch of the Australian Forest League and a member of the Forestry Advisory Council.[6] In 1945 he became the founding president of the New South Wales division of the National Trust of Australia. At Wesley College, University of Sydney he was a councillor and treasurer.

Honours

• Cresswell O’Reilly Lookout – 1030–1066 Pacific Highway, Pymble

Publications

• Wesley College (within the University of Sydney): a historical outline (Syd, 1956)[7]
• Ku-ring-gai Shire: early history and development (Syd, 1948 & 1963)

Bibliography

• I Bertrand – Film Censorship in Australia (Brisb, 1978)
• G Shirley and B Adams – Australian Cinema (Syd, 1983)
• Film Censorship Board – Annual Reports 1925–42
• Sydney Morning Herald – 17 June 1942

See also

• Annie Forsyth Wyatt

External links

• Joel Greenberg, Walter Cresswell O'Reilly (1877–1954), Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 11, MUP, 1988, p. 96.

References

1. Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 29 May 2008
2. Newington College Register of Past Students 1863–1998 (Syd, 1999) pp147
3. Alumni Sidneienses. Retrieved 29 May 2008
4. Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 29 May 2008
5. OFLC Annual Reports Extracts 1925–1963. Retrieved 29 May 2008
6. Ku-ring-gai Council. Retrieved 29 May 2008
7. National Library of Australia. Retrieved 29 May 2008

Government offices
Preceded by Robert Wallace	Chief Commonwealth Film Censor 1928 – 1941	Succeeded by J. O. Alexander
Civic offices
Preceded by George Christie	Mayor of Ku-ring-gai 1929 – 1933	Succeeded by Ernest Selby