Australian journalist and TV presenter Simon Townsend dies aged 79

Digital Staff
7NEWS
Australian journalist and TV presenter Simon Townsend has died aged 79.
Australian journalist and TV presenter Simon Townsend has died aged 79. Credit: Wonder World

Beloved Australia journalist and presenter Simon Townsend has died at the age of 79.

The news was confirmed by his family on Tuesday after he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer.

He was the celebrated creator and host of children’s TV show Simon Townsend’s Wonder World.

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The show won five Logie Awards and ran for almost a decade from 1979.

“In his final days, Simon was surrounded by his family and a mix of journalists, writers, actors, political activists and Italians,” his family said in a statement.

“The conversation to the last was loud, passionate and full of laughs.”

Townsend grew up in Vaucluse, in Sydney’s affluent east, before moving to Woy Woy at the age of 10 when his father died.

His journalism career began when he was 16 as a reporter for a local paper in Gosford.

Originally published on 7NEWS

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