Denis Gibbons

Denis Stanley Gibbons was born in Granville on 23 August 1937, the eldest of 3 children. His parents were Stanley and Doris Gibbons. Stanley was originally from the Central Tablelands, and the family moved to Lithgow when Denis was a baby. They moved to Bathurst by 1943, where twins Coral and Wendy were born.

During the war, Denis and his sisters lived in Lithgow with their grandparents. Denis's father worked as a machinist at the Small Arms Factory (S.A.F.) in Bathurst. In April 1944, he enlisted to join the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He was posted around NSW and the Northern Territory and demobilised in November 1945 with the rank of Leading Aircraftman. After the war, Denis's father found work as an operator at the S.A.F. in Lithgow.

When Denis was about 13, his parents divorced and the children stayed in Lithgow. Denis attended Lithgow High School but preferred sports and Army Cadet Corps over his lessons. One of his favourite pastimes was shooting foxes and rabbits in the bush beyond Lithgow.

Long path to photography

When Denis was 10, his father gave him a camera, developing equipment and photographic paper. This started a life-long interest in photography.

After school, Denis started an apprenticeship in printing but didn't finish. He had a few jobs and eventually worked as a laboratory assistant to a sugar chemist in Toowoomba, Queensland.

Denis was called up for compulsory national service training. He joined the Commonwealth Military Forces in 1955. After training with 26 Platoon, Fox Company, 11 National Service Training Battalion, he joined the 25th Infantry Battalion in Toowoomba. Denis completed his service obligation in 1960 after postings to Sydney and Brisbane. He later said that he found army life ‘exciting and invigorating’.

He studied Pure Science at the University of Queensland, majoring in Botany and Psychology. While at uni, he took on student leadership roles and represented the Sports Union in rugby league. After graduating, he studied photography at the Sydney Institute of Technology. He wanted to improve his technical photography skills for his job with a building materials manufacturer.

In the course, Denis met photographers who worked in Sydney's main media organisations. A classmate introduced him to the editor of People magazine at John Fairfax and Sons. He started doing freelance news photography and never looked back. It paid better than his technical position, and the assignments were more interesting.

By this stage, Denis had a wife and 4 children.

War photographer

Denis was living in Greenacre with his father when the editor of People magazine suggested he go to Vietnam to cover the Australians at war. Denis attended a meeting in Canberra and was registered as an official war photographer.

Denis arrived in Vietnam in January 1966.

After Operation Hardihood to set up a base for the Australians at Nui Dat, Denis was given permission to enter and stay there with the troops. He operated from the 1st Australian Task Force Headquarters (1ATFHQ) for many years. Over time, he helped develop a press centre at the base. In 1969, he and his colleagues created a small bar for international public relations men and war correspondents to relax and mingle.

In December 1969, Denis was hit by shrapnel and underwent surgery. He was wounded 5 times while covering news of the war in Vietnam.

Most war correspondents and photographers stayed in Saigon only briefly. However, Gibbons lived at the 1ATFHQ for years. He would typically spend months with a particular unit, allowing him to record all areas of Australia's work in great detail. He recorded the tours of 9 Australian infantry battalions for Fairfax Press and United Press International (UPI). His photographic essays were published in People magazine.

In his time in Vietnam, Gibbons took around 10,000 black-and-white and colour photographs. Together, his photos provide a comprehensive view of the activities undertaken by Australians during the war.

In October 1970, the Australian Army asked Denis to leave the Nui Dat base over a personal matter. His fiancée, Army nurse Patricia Ferguson, was going home. It was time for Denis to go home, too. He was 33 when he arrived in Australia in November 1970.

After the war, Denis took on various government and private appointments as a photographer and photo journalist, including positions with the NSW Department of Public Works.

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Advocacy for veterans and war correspondents

In 1978, Denis was one of many war correspondents invited to lead the Anzac Day march in Sydney. An advocate of the work of war correspondents, Bob Leonard of the Bank of NSW, said of the correspondents:

Let's face it, in getting their material, they were in more action than the average serviceman.

In 1987, Denis was working at the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Sydney. At the time, he wrote to the Department of Veterans Affairs about his father's RAAF war service medals.

Denis later worked for the Department of Veterans' Affairs as Director, Special Projects. In 1989, he organised a concert for Vietnam-era veterans. In 1995, he helped organise a presentation ceremony at Randwick Barracks for the Vietnam Logistic and Support Medal. The recipients were correspondents who covered the Vietnam War for Australian, United States and international news organisations. Denis received a medal at the ceremony.

In 2005, Denis was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (AM) for 'service to the recording and preservation of the history of Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War as a correspondent and photographer and to organisations that preserve military records and memorabilia'. He was living in Randwick at the time and remained there for the rest of his life.

Denis passed away in Sydney in 2011, aged 74. His memorial service was held at Rookwood Memorial Gardens Crematorium.