Desmond Fennessy

[3] At 23 Fennessy was writing humour for Bohemia magazine,[4] and for The Argus in 1939 he penned an omnivorous response to their request for lists of guests for the ‘perfect’ dinner party, nominating for "a good party and not merely a bleak gathering of the leading figures from Who's Who;" A. P. Herbert, English humourist, author and politician, "because his jovial quips would put the other guests In a happy mood, and because he Is the only politician who can be relied upon not to bore his listeners;" Salvador Dalí, in order to know more about Surrealism; Sam Goldwyn "because I want to know if his name really is Sam Goldfish, and if he is as illiterate as his critics allege;" Peter Fleming, for his stories of strange lands and peoples; Orson Welles; critic Hannen Swaffer to discover whether he was "as eccentric as he is supposed to be;" "Believe-It-Or-Not" Ripley to "tell him of a few strange oddities I have discovered off my own bat;" Osbert Sitwell; French journalist Magda de Fontages [sic] so that she "may be able to sell her story to Sam Goldwyn;" and Eddie Cantor for his funny face.

[8]Following their divorce Fennessy founded and edited The Port Phillip Gazette,[9][10] published by Rising Sun Press, which from 1952 to 1956 irregularly issued seven 64-page numbers offering short stories, essays, humour, and critical reviews of paintings, plays, books and films.

[14] Later in 1957 he relocated to Ghana after its independence and worked as editorial adviser its Ashanti Times, with plans to make it a weekly news magazine like the London Observer, and to increase its pages to carry more features and illustrations.

At first he freelanced, writing fondly in Walkabout magazine as "a native son returned recently from abroad," of the city of Melbourne;[17]"a maiden lady in bonnet and lace-up boots, it has been bleakly remarked, and there is a spark of truth in this assertion.

And one does not become a true Melburnian until, strolling at dusk past Scots Church towards the top of Collins Street one feels the deep and calm serenity of being quite at peace with the world.

[19] He married Betty Alieen Godfrey of New Norfolk, Tasmania, who had worked with him on the Gazette, on 15 July 1967 at the Wesley Church in Melbourne,[20] and the couple moved to 33 Hopkins St, Weston in Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory.