Michael Bachelard and Kate Geraghty
The Age/ Sydney Morning Herald
When you are doing an important story, there are sleepless nights. We are not the consciousless kind of automatons of legend. We worry about the people we are writing about. – Michael Bachelard
I think the moment you stop feeling, is the moment that you’ve got no right to be there. – Kate Geraghty
Michael Bachelard is a multi-award-winning senior writer and former investigations editor. Kate Geraghty is one of the nation’s most decorated war photographers. Together, the pair travelled Iraq and Syria to witness and record the devastating impacts on life under ISIS.
Career Timeline - Michael Bachelard
1990s: Bachelard joins The Canberra Times after completing an arts honours degree at Australian National University. He is promoted as ACT Assembly reporter and columnist, and then to the Federal parliamentary press gallery.
1997: Moves to Melbourne to establish a new weekly newspaper, The Republican, which is short-lived.
1998: He writes The Great Land Grab: What Every Australian Should Know About Wik, Mabo and the Ten-Point Plan. Joins The Australian as a general reporter and then takes on the workplace relations round, followed by Melbourne business editor, deputy Melbourne editor and Victorian political reporter.
2006: Recruited to The Age’s investigations unit.
2007: Specialises in workplace relations and wins a Quill for revealing that the actor in a Howard government Workchoices ad who was reassuring people that the law protected the wages of young people had himself ripped off young people as an employer.
2008: He writes Behind the Exclusive Brethren, an investigative book into the closed Christian organisation.
2010: Wins a Walkley for business report for an investigation into the late Richard Pratt.
2012: Bachelard is appointed Indonesia correspondent.
2015: Appointed investigations editor of The Age. Wins a Walkley for revealing a young Melbourne man, Jake Bilardi, had gone to Syria to fight with Islamic State. Wins UN media peace award for coverage of West Papua.
2016: Is sued by a company associated with the Exclusive Brethren for a feature about cover ups of child sexual abuse. The case later settled. Co-wrote and presented Phoebe's Fall podcast, winning a Quill and Kennedy award.
2017: Appointed world editor of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. Travels twice with Kate Geraghty to Mosul and Iraq to cover the defeat of Islamic State, the refugee crisis and the impact of the war on local communities. Wins a Walkley for best feature and the Gold Walkley.
2018: Goes to Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon with Kate Geraghty to investigate the refugee crisis prompted by the Syrian civil war.
2019: To Syria with Kate Geraghty to investigate the fate of Australian women left behind in Syrian camps after the defeat of Islamic State.
2020: Bachelard is appointed deputy editor of The Age.
2022: He becomes acting editor of The Age
2023: Steps down from editing and becomes a senior writer for The Age.
Awards
2002: Victoria Law Foundation, Legal Reporting Awards, best deadline report.
2007: Quill, best news report in print.
2010: Walkley, best business report.
2015: Walkley, print/text news report (with Armando Cordoba); United nations Association of Australia Media Peace Award, best print feature.
2016: Quill, radio current affairs (with Richard Baker).
2017: Kennedy, radio current affairs (with Richard Baker).
2017: Walkley, best feature. Gold Walkley, (with Kate Geraghty); Kennedy, radio current affairs (with Richard Baker).
Books
Land Grab: What Every Australian Should Know About Wik, Mabo and the Ten-Point Plan (Hyland House, 1997).
Behind the Exclusive Brethren (Scribe, New edition, 2008).
Career Timeline - Kate Geraghty
1997: Geraghty joins The Border Mail as a photographer. Stays for four years.
2000: Goes to East Timor for the first of many overseas assignments.
2001: She transitions freelance.
2002: Joins The Sydney Morning Herald as a photographer and covers the aftermath of the Bali bombings in Indonesia.
2003: Covers the invasion of Iraq. Goes to the Solomon Islands as Australian peace keepers quell ethnic tensions.
2004: Returns to Iraq as Prime Minister John Howard visits troops. Later in The Philippines covers terrorist bombings. In Aceh, she photographs the devastating impact of the Boxing Day tsunami.
2005: Travels again to Aceh, The Philippines and Singapore, where Melbourne man, Nguyen Tuong-van, is executed for drug trafficking.
2006: Photographs the trial of a man convicted of murdering Janelle Patton on Norfolk Island. In Lebanon, she covers the Hezbollah-Israeli war.
2007: In Switzerland, for Sydney doctor, John Elliott, legally ending his life. Returns to Lebanon for Irish UN peacekeepers for The Irish Times.
2008: In Ethiopia, she profiles obstetrician Dr Catherine Hamlin, and covers stories on homelessness and famine relief.
2009: Democratic Republic of Congo for the humanitarian crisis and the use of rape as a weapon of war. In Kenya, at Barack Obama's family home village, she photographs crowds watching the presidential inauguration. In Rwanda, she meets a survivor of the 1994 genocide. In Jakarta, for attacks on the Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels; photographs democracy issues in Fiji.
2010: With reporter Paul McGeough, Geraghty is on a flotilla that is attacked by Israeli commandos. The ships carry aid to blockaded Gaza. She is tasered by the commandos and she and McGeough are deported to Turkey. Later, she covers the conflict and crisis in South Sudan.
2011: She covers the aftermath of the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand. Moves to Afghanistan for stories including the return of former asylum seekers from detention in Nauru. Covers ethnic violence in Pakistan.
2012: In Iraq for a story on internal Shiite political powerplays and other stories. In Indonesia, she photographs Bali bomber, Idris.
2013: She covers Taliban bombings and the war’s impact on people in Afghanistan and Australian soldiers in Uruzgan Province. In Qatar, she photographs Hamas leader Khalid Mishal. Visits PNG twice, for the arrival of Manus Island asylum seekers and a story on domestic violence.
2014: Goes to Iran for sanctions and a memorial for an asylum seeker. In Crimea for a story on a disputed referendum to join Russia which then annexes it from Ukraine. In East Ukraine, for a widely condemned referendum and the start of the war. Returns for the shooting down of MH17. Turkey to cover protests and a profile of the Turkish Prime Minister. Goes to The Netherlands for Tony Abbott’s visit; then fighting between rival terrorist groups in Lebanon.
2015: Geraghty records the transfer of Bali 9 drug traffickers Myuran Sukamaran & Andrew Chan to the island where they are to be executed. She later joins refugees from Libya on a Médecins Sans Frontières rescue boat heading to Europe. Travels to The Netherlands for a joint investigation into the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines MH17. Greece for refugees from Turkey.
2016: Visits South Sudan for the humanitarian crisis. In The Philippines, she covers drug wars and Australian paedophile, Peter Scully. Vietnam for Australian veterans living there; and in Thailand for the mourning of King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
2017: In Mosul, Iraq, photographs survivors of ISIS. The Philippines for extra-judicial executions by government officers. She returns to Mosul with reporter Michael Bachelard for the liberation of the city from ISIS. Later, covers the Rohingya refugee crisis in India and Bangladesh.
2018: In Malaysia, for the release of political leader Anwar Ibrahim. Cambodia for the local impact of China’s Belt and Road policy; Australian filmmaker James Ricketson’s arrest and national elections. She is in Thailand for the cave rescue of 12 young soccer players and their coach. In Bangladesh for the Rohingya crisis a year on and in the Democratic Republic of Congo for sex slaves held by a militia group. Covers the plight of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, and Iraq. The Philippines for urban combat training with Australian forces.
2019: Covers the return of Yazidi women used as sex slaves and child slaves by ISIS in Iraq. Syria after an Australian Islamic State fighter is detained, and displaced persons. In Afghanistan’s Herat Province, documents the humanitarian crisis and the rescue of child brides. In Iraq for Syrian refugees. In Syria, photographs Australian ISIS wives and children at the al-Hawl camp.
2022: Goes to Ukraine three times for the Russian-Ukraine war.
2023: In Israel documents Israel’s war with Hamas.
Awards
2006: Walkley, photographic essay.
2007: Walkley, photographic essay; Nikon-Walkley Australian Press Photographer of the Year.
2009: United Nations Association of Australia Media Peace Award, best photojournalism.
2013: Nikon-Walkley Australian Press Photographer of the Year; PANPA News Photo of the Year.
2017: Gold Walkley (with Michael Bachelard); Walkley, feature writing short (with Michael Bachelard and Age multimedia team); Nikon-Walkley Press Photographer of the Year; Amnesty International Australia Media Award; PANPA News Photo of the Year; Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) Media Award.
2021: Nikon Photo of the Year.
2022: Walkley, feature/photographic essay.
2023: Kennedy, outstanding portrait photography; Lowy Institute Media Award (with Anthony Galloway); Australian Council for International Development Media Award; Prix de la Photographie, bronze.