Logie-winning television current affairs editor Mike Chirgwin, who also worked on the classic Australian film Mad Max 2, has died of cancer aged 73.
Chirgwin began his television career on ABC’s ground-breaking This Day Tonight and was best known for his long-running stint on Nine’s 60 Minutes.
During his time on Nine’s flagship current affairs show, Chirgwin worked with journalists Ray Martin, George Negus, Jana Wendt, Liz Hayes, Tara Brown, Tracey Curro and Charles Wooley.
He won Logies for a 2010 episode of Australian Story about backpacker killer Ivan Milat and for the 1980 documentary series This Fabulous Century.
Chirgwin edited the television films Cattle King (1983) and Shipwrecked (1984) and was an additional editor on Mad Max 2, released in the United States as The Road Warrior in 1982.
Her editing achievements were recognised with a lifetime achievement award from the Australian Film Institute.
Chirgwin died in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, west of Sydney, on 20 August, a year after receiving a complex cancer diagnosis.
Former 60 Minutes reporter Charles Wooley said Chirgwin was “a lovely man” and a highly respected colleague who excelled at his job.
Logie-winning current affairs editor Mike Chirgwin, who also worked on the classic Australian film Mad Max 2, has died of cancer aged 73.
“It was really good,” Wooley told Daily Mail Australia.
‘The editor has to hold the story together: he weaves a tapestry, and Chirgy wove a pretty good tapestry.
“If I had to do something, I would want it. Everyone fought to get Chirgy.”
Wooley recalled the halcyon days of 60 Minutes, when reporters traveled to exotic locations around the world while technicians like Chirgwin stayed home.
“They had the best life, the crews on the road,” Wooley said. “It was staying in that dark room under the broadcast tower at the old Nine studios.
“But Chirgy never got angry. Some editors did, but Chirgy didn’t. He never resented the fact that we all went out and had a wonderful time.”
Wooley said it wasn’t all work at the 60 Minutes offices in Willoughby on Sydney’s north shore, and Chirgwin knew how to have a good time.
Chirgwin (right) began his television career on ABC’s ground-breaking This Day Tonight and was best known for his long-running stint on Nine’s 60 Minutes.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Wooley said. “He was a big lunch eater. He would work like a madman, get all the work done and go to lunch for a long time.”
Former 60 Minutes executive producer Hamish Thomson also remembered Chirgwin as a legendary diner and storyteller at a time when film editors were regarded as craftsmen.
“They come from an era, a lost era, of cinema,” he said. “It was much harder to shoot on film and much harder to edit stories in those days because there was limited material.
“Those editors were integral to the entire editorial process. They made great observations, additions and contributions to the development of the story and its final production.”
Chirgwin and his wife Kath moved to the Blue Mountains in 2002 and settled in Blackheath.
He was a founding member of the Blackheath Theatre Company and was actively involved in the local Food and Wine Festival as well as other community activities.
Chirgwin is survived by Kath, their children Andrew, Marion, Peter and Michelle and six grandchildren.
(tags to translate)dailymail
