- CHS 1945 – 1946
- Member of school football team; Library Assistant
- Host of Swallows’ Juniors which became Brian’s Juniors on TV Channel 7
- Became Channel 7 newsreader in 1970
- Chief Newsreader on Channel 9 for 20 years
- Outstanding broadcasting career over 42 years
- Inducted into Logies Hall of Fame 2010
Brian began his secondary education at Melbourne High School, but when the school was taken over by the Americans during the War, Brian transferred to Camberwell High in 1945. He completed his Leaving Certificate (Year 11) there in 1946.
A young Brian Naylor was promoting wood-weave blinds on radio when a twist of fate brought him to the attention of the management of radio station 3DB that saw him begin his career as a radio announcer. Brian believed that luck played an enormous part in his life.
His outstanding broadcasting career spanned 42 years, beginning in 1956 at radio station 3DB as an announcer and host of a children’s talent program, Swallows Juniors. In 1958, he moved to HSV Channel 7, transferring Swallows Juniors to television, which later became Brian and the Juniors. The program, which was nationally telecast on more than 20 stations, lasted 12 years. In 1970, Naylor became HSV7’s chief newsreader and in a move that made headlines, switched to GTV Channel 9 in 1978 at the instigation of Nine’s news director, John Sorell. He was soon considered the doyen of Melbourne newsreaders and his catchphrase ‘May your news be good news’ was part of National Nine News viewers’ lives, on weeknights for 20 years.
On ten occasions, Brian hosted the annual Carols By Candlelight spectacular from the Myer Music Bowl and in 1988, the father of five was voted “Father of the Year” by the Victorian Father’s Day Council.
Brian loved the great outdoors and took viewers into his world with his series of documentaries, Brian Naylor’s Australia, produced and filmed by his son, Greg. Brian and his wife, Moiree, sailed their 50-foot catamaran around much of Australia’s coastline and across Bass Strait. The tyranny of distance forced the Naylor’s to take to the air to explore the more remote regions of the country. Brian learnt to fly 39 years ago and Moiree also gained her pilot’s licence. When they weren’t producing documentaries, flying around the countryside or sailing the oceans, Brian and Moiree were hands-on at the family beef cattle properties.
Brian was patron of the Variety Club in Victoria, the Dialysis and Transplant Association of Victoria, and the Jack Brockhoff Reconstructive Plastic Surgery Research Unit of Royal Melbourne Hospital. He also assisted with fundraising for the MacFarlane Burnet Appeal and Windana Society Drug Rehabilitation. Brian retired from his role as chief newsreader of National Nine News on November 27, 1998. In 1988 Brian was named “Victorian Father of the Year”.
The Melbourne community was saddened by the deaths of Brian and Moiree Naylor, who both perished in the devastating February 2009 (Black Saturday) Victorian bushfires. In 2010 Brian was posthumously inducted into the Logie Awards Hall of Fame.
Brian was an extremely popular former student of Camberwell High School and he was highly supportive of the school, addressing students on several occasions and supporting the Ex-Students Society in its endeavours.
Along with media personalities, Lou Richards and Tony Jones, Brian Naylor was greeted by Principal Ann Rusden after landing by helicopter on the Camberwell High School oval as a fundraiser for a new hall in 1992. The TV stars helped raise $5,000 for the Sports Hall.
Many thanks to Channel 9 Publicity and Brian Naylor for the photos.
Addendum
https://camhigh.exstudents.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/1946.pdf
In the 1946 Prospice, Brian Naylor can be seen in the Football team and he is also listed as one of the Library Assistants. Updated 2020