Ita Buttrose

Ita Clare Buttrose AO OBE (born 17 January, 1942) is an Australian journalist and businesswoman. She is probably best-remembered as the celebrity founding editor of Cleo (magazine), a high-circulation magazine aimed at young single women that was ground-breakingly frank about sexuality (and, in its infancy, featured nude male centrefolds), and later as the editor of the more sedate Australian Women's Weekly.

Buttrose was born at Mittagong, New South Wales in 1942. She worked as a journalist before taking the Cleo appointment in 1972, a position she held until 1975, and was the Weekly's editor in 1975-6 and then was editor-in-chief of both publications from 1976 until 1981. She has also been a radio broadcaster, editor of the Sydney tabloids the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph in the early 1980s, served on the board of News Limited, among many other prominent roles.

Another prominent role was as chairperson of the National Advisory Committee on AIDS (NACAIDS) from 1984 until 1987. On one notable occasion, she appeared personally in a nationwide TV campaign to explain that donating blood at a blood bank did not pose a risk of catching AIDS (the fear of which caused a significant drop in donations). Australia's early AIDS public information campaign was widely regarded as one of the best in the world, and contributed to a very low infection rate.

Buttrose's slight lisp was instantly familiar in the 1970s and 1980s. She was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1979, and became an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1988. In 2001, Buttrose was awarded the Centenary Medal.

Amongst other roles, Buttrose currently works on the professional speakers' circuit.

She is the sister of the late Will Buttrose.

In the tell-all book by Gerald Stone, "Who Killed Channel Nine?", published in 2007, it was revealed that Buttrose had previously had a long-running adulterous affair with the late Kerry Packer, then the richest man in Australia.

Trivia

• The Cold Chisel song, Ita was written about her.
• Ita is currently editor in chief of Bark! magazine.
• Mark Brandon Read aka. 'Chopper' the famous Australian criminal and author has the words ‘I Love Ita Buttrose’ tattooed on his backside.

External links

• National Foundation of Australian Women Archives Project biography