Remembering a legend & a true gentleman

DARRYL ‘SID’ Hosking was always happy to be involved but always wanted his role to be in the background – the limelight never tempted him and he shied away from it at all costs.

The irony is, his contributions behind-the-scenes at work and in the sports community meant he inevitably did find himself in the spotlight.

He might have been a cameraman at Channel 8 (WIN TV) but his more than four decade career saw him as the most loved and most recognisable face at the local television station.

Sid chose a life behind the camera but he was better known than the on screen talent.

The trajectory of his six decade involvement in Mount Gambier baseball was eerily similar as the man who was happy to roll up his sleeves and, in his trademark, no-fuss manner, just get things done, was eventually thrust centre stage, awarded an Australian Sports Medal in 2000 for his contribution to baseball and with his induction into the Baseball SA Hall of Fame in 2022.

And it was his impressive sports administration contributions that also saw the much loved baseball stalwart awarded an Order of Australia Medal as part of the 2023 King’s Birthday Honours.

The bottom line is, Sid Hosking, just achieved too much to be ignored and he will be missed by the Mount Gambier community like few others after passing away on October 28 at aged 78.

SID THE CAMERAMAN

Believe it or not, Sid Hosking did have a life before his four decade career as a television cameraman. As a 15 year old he left school and went to work at Kaylors Studio, a photographic studio. That was in 1963.

“I had no idea what I wanted to do but I knew I didn’t want to be at school,” Sid said when reflecting on his career after his retirement. “Back in those days you basically applied for different jobs and whichever one you got, that’s the one you started.”

As a photographic assistant he learnt film processing for black and white and then went on to passport photos, candids at The Barn, weddings, babies and debutantes. He stayed in that role for three and a half years before he was looking for a change and that came in the form of the hardware industry, working as a storeman under the tutelage of Ron and Marg Taylor.

“I was then asked to go back to Kaylors which I did for 18 months,” Sid said. It was on his 21st birthday though that everything changed. That was the day SES 8 general manager John Lewis rang the young photographer with a job offer. “I was probably lucky that I knew Andrew Noblet and he recommended that John give me a call,” Sid said.

So on October 7, 1968, Darryl Hosking walked through the doors of Mount Gambier’s television station – SES 8. Little did he know he would never really leave, well not for more than 40 years.

He had only one week of training with the out-going senior cameraman. His first tool of the trade was a Bolex 16mm film camera and, among other things, worked on what was a 10 minute news service, anchored by Lew Hobba.

And rather than the commercial work that dominated his later career, Sid worked on news and worked extensively in the studio. “Most of the commercials were basically graphics in those days so we weren’t really shooting ads,” Sid said. He was also an audio operator.

Sid was part of the station’s most iconic productions – the children’s show Fun Fair; the pre-cursor to Woman’s World, Wednesday Woman, hosted by Mae Dunstan; an agricultural program on Monday nights, a Q & A style show called Opinion, the Peter Bennett hosted Four Seasons, which was another rural focus show, the inter-school debating program Voice of the Student that saw South East and Western Victorian schools go head to head; a World Of Sports program on Sundays, with George Kay, and also a footy show.

It was in the 1980s, when Kevin Skinner was at the helm, that the news developed into a half hour bulletin. Initially it was a bulletin prepared by a couple of Border Watch journalists and there were also stringers around the region – Judy Hearne in Casterton, Sharon Fletcher in Mount Gambier, Robyn Brown in Naracoorte, Jill Milne in Bordertown and Jean Heuzenroder in Millicent.

It was when Andrew O’Connor arrived on the scene in 1990 that the news service employed its own journalists and initially Leith Mulligan was the man of the hour. “I probably split my time fifty-fifty between news and commercials,” Sid said. “Back then I was shooting around four commercials a day.”

Sid’s early days at the station were not without their challenges. “I had no light meter as the previous cameraman had his own and the station didn’t own one,” he said. “It meant it was all guess work.” Consequently the first job he went to at Grant High School the pictures were so overexposed because he was guessing.

“I learnt alot about camera work from Andrew Noblet,” Sid said. “From shooting whatever happens, to composition.” He also learnt to make sure his work was quality through and through as he was working on film – an expensive resource that was not reusable. “You had to be careful about what you shot – you basically edited in the camera and if a news story needed one minute of footage then that’s basically what you shot so it all had to good,” he said.

One minute of footage was 30 feet of film – it was a dollar and cents game but it taught the 40 year veteran of the industry to ensure his work was always top quality. “Even when we went digital, I tried to get it through to cameraman not to overshoot and with the exception of live sport,” Sid said.

His training at Kaylors was also to come in handy as in the early days, when he was shooting on film, the film was processed on site in a darkroom. Only a few months after his arrival, the station purchased a positive film processor and Sid was entrusted to set it up, purchase and mix the chemicals and spent a lot of time in the darkroom supervising a process that could not be left unattended. “It would take about an hour for each news story,” he said.

1985 was a huge year for the long serving cameraman when he won Australian Provincial Cameraman of the Year, an award presented at the National Press Club in Canberra. The award centred on footage shot on Penola Road in Mount Gambier of a roadside domestic dispute between a father and a son – an assault that involved a rifle. “We were coming back in from a job and near the airport we saw a couple of people on the side of the road and pulled up just past them,” he said.

Sid crawled into the rear of the vehicle and put the gear together and basically started recording. “Until a crowd started gathering I don’t think they realised we were there and at one stage we all ducked for cover as he pointed the rifle our way,” Sid said. The footage aired that night and was picked up by the metropolitan stations.

Sid was also part of an era when the Mount Gambier Pioneers games were filmed and played on delay on the station – he really has seen it all. There also used to be a Mount Gambier Show Extravaganza that was aired as a special annual presentation and, of course, countless Christmas parades.

From helicopters to offshore oil rigs, from the Bat Cave at Naracoorte to the visit of Prince Charles and even the Queen from a distance, in Portland, Sid Hosking has captured and inadvertently been a part of the history of this region and the fabric of this community.

SID THE BASEBALL ICON

With more than six decades involved in the sport, it is safe to say baseball was Sid’s passion project, from starting as a junior to becoming an innovative and dedicated administrator at club and league level, to also heavily promoting and organising a thriving masters competition.

He is the man who captured the history of the sport for future generations and again, while being in the background was where he felt most comfortable, his fingerprints are over every milestone achievement of the sport in the Limestone Coast.

Not surprisingly, he was a recipient of an Australian Sports Medal in 2000, was inducted into the Baseball SA Hall of Fame in 2022 and was awarded an Order of Australia Medal as part of the 2023 King’s Birthday Honours.

As a boy, he harboured dreams of being a footballer but soon realised that might not be the path for him. “I wasn’t much of a footballer. I couldn’t kick for love nor money. I thought I could but then saw my mates were kicking it three times further,” he said.

It meant Sid would take a different path and the sport of baseball is all the richer for that change in direction, although the man who was involved at the coalface of the sport for more than six decades, didn’t rate his on diamond work much higher than his footballing prowess.

“I always believe I was an average ball player,” he said, when reflecting on his induction into the Baseball SA Hall of Fame. And while that can be debated what is not up for debate is his dedication off the diamond in a wide range of administration roles as well as his tireless work not just improving the facilities for Mount Gambier players but also promoting the sport and preserving its history.

Sid’s baseball journey started the way many sporting stories start – a friend asked him to get involved.

He had played the occasional game of rounders at primary school but it was in 1960, after Mount Gambier hosted the Victorian Provincial Baseball Championships that he was recruited by a mate and the rest, as they say, is history.

“That’s where baseball really took off in Mount Gambier,” Sid said. “The grand finals were played at Vansittart Park and because so many people, so many locals came out to watch, the local league looked to start a junior baseball competition.”

And organisers were right. The interest was there with 120 kids heading to the initial come ‘n’ try training sessions.

The enthusiastic youngsters were divided into eight teams – all with US inspired names – and Sid was part of the Pirates.

Of course a key part of becoming a baseballer is the purchase of the all important glove and Sid spied a beauty in the window of local store Zed’s and it was soon part of his baseball kit.

Starting his career in the outfield, Sid’s inaugural glove was actually a specialist first base mitt, and so a few games in, a keen eye noticed the error and Sid had to replace that first glove.

“I have no idea where it ended up,” he said. “You weren’t allowed to wear a first base mitt anywhere else on the field but I had no idea and I wore it for a few weeks before someone noticed.”

In his second season of junior league baseball Sid ventured to the pitching mound and behind the catcher’s mask but for all his hundreds of games of baseball, Sid never really claimed any one position on the diamond.

His association with Central Baseball Club basically spanned his entire baseball career, save for that first two years in the junior league, when a mate from down the road, Robert Wilson, needed his neighbour to help out with numbers for Central in a senior C Grade match.

Of course, this self-professed ‘average ball player’ must have had some skills. He quickly progressed to the Division 1 line-up as an 18 year old and also represented Mount Gambier at eight Victorian Provincial Baseball Championships and one South Australian Country Carnival – honours not usually reserved for those with run of the mill ability.

But in an era now where there is more pressure than ever on sporting clubs, associations and leagues to attract and retain volunteers, stories like the Sid Hosking story are few and far between. He held a role every year for 63 years and even the 2021-22 season, which was his first stepping away from league and club roles, he still scored regularly for Central Baseball Club and was still collating the league history.

“I just love the game,” Sid said. “I played my last game about 10 years ago but I just love being involved.” It was a family affair too, with Sid clocking up more than 700 games for Central, playing in seven title wins, including one memorable premiership alongside his two sons Brett and Tim.

Sid credited Ian Ewart, Sam Sutton and Kevin Hoath with the establishment of the baseball headquarters at Blue Lake Sports Park but he certainly was part of many of the improvements since, including the construction of new diamonds, the clubrooms, attracting of major events, including national championships and Australian Baseball League matches, and ensuring the Mount Gambier home of baseball is one of the most envied facilities in South Australia, including the construction of international standard lighting in 2002,

Aside from his administration roles at Central Baseball Club, basically since the day he walked in the door in 1962, he was league president for two years treasurer for 23 and league statistician for 38 years.

Local baseball officials were all too aware that the unassuming administrator was the jewel in their sport’s crown. He was awarded Mount Gambier & District Baseball League life membership in 1989, the Division 1 premiership silverware is named in his honour and he presented it after each grand final series and as recently as the 2019-20 season he was awarded the league’s highest honour for contribution to baseball – the Cooke Family Trophy.

In the mid 1990s he was instrumental in having Penola, Naracoorte and Portland re-join the competition after many years absence and Hamilton to form a team to play in the Mount Gambier competition. He was heavily involved with the transition from winter to summer baseball in 1980 with that move to permanent facilities at Blue Lake Sports Park.

Sid always had an interest in history and he parlayed that into ensuring there is a comprehensive record of the history of both the league and his club and it is his work that has resulted in the League and Centrals Honour Boards which are now on display in the clubrooms.