Betty Olive Osborn

Betty Olive Osborn (1934 – 10 December 2020) was an Australian journalist from Melbourne and historian who was known as the 'girl reporter' of The Argus newspaper in the 1950s and went on the publish numerous books about local history in both Bacchus Marsh and Maryborough.

Career In 1951, when still at high school, Osborn visited The Argus offices in Melbourne to enquire about starting a career in journalism and was advised to complete her studies and to continue working on her typing and short-hand skills. Osborn did so and by the following year was working at the offices as a secretary for the Weekend Magazine and began working on articles for them.

In 1955 Osborne won the Montague Grover Prize for cadet journalists offered by the Australian Journalists’ Association and she was the third woman to in this prize. After the completion of her cadetship, she was transferred to the general staff. Osborne then briefly worked as a journalist for The Sun News-Pictorial but soon returned to university full-time. and The Bacchus Story: A History of Captain W.H. Bacchus and his Son (1973). which she followed up with its sequel Against the Odds: Maryborough 1905-1961 (1995).