Mike Munro AM

Biography

Having grown up in a monastery as the only child of a single mother, Mike Munro became a copy boy in Sydney newspapers at 17. He worked several years in newspapers and tried television but didn’t like it. Munro back to working for newspapers. He was posted by Rupert Murdoch to Newscorp’s New York bureau as a foreign correspondent for 2 years.

Wanting to start a family in Australia with his childhood sweetheart Lea, Munro returned home and stepped back into television. As he still didn’t like working in television, Munro was about to go back to newspapers when Mike Willesee and the Nine Network offered him a job on their new current affairs program, Willesee.

In less than 2 years Munro found himself replacing George Negus as a reporter on 60 minutes. But after 6 years of war zones, celebrity interviews and exotic locations, he resigned and was offered to co-anchor A Current Affair with Mike Willesee. Within 5 years he was the host of ACA but left in 2004 to start news reading.

By 2009, Munro was offered the role of founding host for the new Seven Network current affairs flagship, Sunday Night. He remained there for 3 years as host and reporter before joining Foxtel and making a series of documentaries for the History Channel. The documentaries included a 4-part series involving archaeologists digging at famous bushranger shoot out sites. Other documentaries included the 100 year anniversary of America and Australia’s military and cultural relationship.

In 2014, Munro was made a Member of the Order of Australia for his services to journalism and charity work.

Munro has written 2 books. His autobiography, A Pasty-faced Nothing, about the disadvantage and trauma of growing up in a Marist brothers monastery with a well-meaning but violent alcoholic mother. In 2019, Munro wrote his second book, The Last Bushrangers, a detailed analysis of the murders, manhunt and trials of Australia’s last 2 bushrangers in 1902-03. The bushrangers, Patrick and Jimmy Kenniff were sentenced to hang in Brisbane’s Boggo Road jail in 1903 for the double murders of Constable George Doyle and station manager Albert Dahlke. The Kenniff’s were Munro’s great uncles. Munro’s name is not actually Munro, but an 80-year family secret and an illegal name change to distance the family from the bushrangers.

At present Munro is promoting The Last Bushrangers with publishers Harper Collins and working with The Documentary Australia Foundation on a new 4 part series about the catastrophic implications of nuclear war.

Munro sites his major interests as family, the environment and journalism. His proudest achievement apart from being with his wife for almost 50 years and their 2 children, are his 6 grandchildren.

Topics

• This Is Your Life presentations
  After being given the basic research on a retiring chief executive, a corporation‘s milestone or an individual’s birthday there are two versions - One being a straight read which I help research, write and deliver OR a larger production with surprise walk-on guests and Q and As which I also script and produce with a camera crew e.g. Roger Corbett retiring from Woolworths. I can also arrange personally custom-made beautifully bound red leather books to become momentos of the tribute.
  
  
• Inspirational speech
  I grew up disadvantaged as the only child of a single mum in a monastery with 12 Marist brothers. For 10 years Mum, who was a well meaning but tragic and violent alcoholic, was the housekeeper at the monastery. I pull no punches and tell my story with warts and all. Trying to get her sober as teenager, early days as a newspaper reporter, starting in TV and all the way to anecdotes on the world stage with interviews with Barbara Streisand, Bette Miller, Madonna, Pope John Paul II, the I.R.A and many more. The moral is there’s no point in blaming your mother, drugs, the cops or society - all you can do is get on with it and do your best.
  
  
• Family heritage
  Being related to cop killing Bushrangers was an 80 year shameful family secret. My name is not actually Munro! It was illegally changed overnight from Kenniff to Munro by my grandfather because of the grisly gruesome double murder of Const George Doyle and station manager, Albert Dahlke in 1902. Both of my great uncles were sentenced to hang in Boggo Road jail. The older brother was hanged in 1903 while his younger brother was given life and died in 1940. Hence my book on “The Last Bushrangers”. Over a century later I discovered buried artefacts left behind at the murder site which were last handled by my great uncles 110 years before!! It’s an incredible 30 year journey of discovery unfolded in a speech which is hard to believe.
  
  
• Media training
  How to conduct, fend off and stay plausible in any pressurised TV interview. Looking back and examining interviews to help clients become more comfortable and make them look far more at home. What are some of the pitfalls to look for in any requests that journalists initially make? And how to cope if someone like me turns up at a company office with cameras rolling?

Testimonials