Hinch was born in New Zealand and began his long career with The Taranaki Herald in 1960, aged 15.
Just a few years later he moved to Australia, taking part in a police round for The Sun newspaper in Sydney.
Over the next six decades, he landed roles in almost every form of media… and often told people that he had been fired from “16 or 17” of them.
Speaking at Hinch’s induction into the Australian Media Hall of Fame in 2018, his contemporary Ray Martin remarked that the media legend “made more front-page scoops than any other fellow countryman” while working at Fairfax in New York.
Martin recalled being chastised by his own ABC editors for not having as many contacts within the UN as Hinch, or for not having the same headline-grabbing quotes in his corridors.
“Whenever I questioned the veracity of some of these diplomatic sources – and I sometimes did – Hinch would respond, somewhat rhetorically, by asking, ‘Listen, did your story get on the ballot? Did it make the front page of the first edition? No? Well, end of section, Sunshine.”
You can read more about Hinch’s long career in our obituary.