Thomas William Heney

Who was Thomas William Heney?

Thomas William Heney was an Australian journalist and poet.

Heney was the son of Thomas William Heney, a printer, and his wife Sarah Elizabeth, née Carruthers and was born in Sydney. Heney was educated at Cooma. Heney Senior was a heavy drinker and died in 1875. Heney Junior joined the staff of The Sydney Morning Herald as a junioir assistant reader in 1878, he became a reporter on the Sydney Daily Telegraph six years later. He was editor of the Western Grazier at Wilcannia in 1886 but returned to Sydney in 1889 and worked on the Echo until it ceased publication in 1893. Heney then rejoined the Herald as a reviewer and writer of occasional leaders, was appointed associate editor in 1899, and editor in October 1903. He held this position until 1918 and was subsequently editor of the Brisbane Telegraph from 1920 to 1923, and the Sydney Daily Telegraph from 1923 to 1925. He retired on account of ill health in 1925, and died of heart disease at Springwood in the Blue Mountains on 19 August 1928 and was buried in the Anglican cemetery. He married in 1896 Amy, daughter of Henry Gullett, who survived him with a son and two daughters.