When John left school, one his first jobs was at the Manning River Times, from which he retired 48 years later.

He started as an apprentice hand and machine compositor on August 5, 1946, in the days of hot metal typesetting.

Within two weeks of completing his apprenticeship, he was made foreman and press operator, a position he held for 20 years.

In the mid-’70s John successfully applied for the position of manager, later promoted to general manager over the Times and Great Lakes Advocate.

As general manager he saw the relaunch of the Wingham Chronicle in 1987.

The Times turned Thursday's edition into a free paper in 1985, called the Times Extra, which became the Chronicle Extra and then the Manning Great Lakes Extra, all on John's watch.

He was general manager of the Manning River Times, Wingham Chronicle and Great Lakes Advocate at the time of his retirement.

During his time with the Times, the newspaper was owned by Australian Consolidated Press (Sir Frank and then Kerry Packer) and then Rural Press.

John initiated the purchase by Rural Press of the Macleay Argus and the Mid Coast Observer, both in Kempsey. He played a part in the purchase of the Port Macquarie Express. 

An article in the Times on May 13, 1994 regarding his retirement stated:

In the 48 years in which John Doust has worked on the Manning River Times newspaper in Taree, he has swept the floors, printed the paper, sold advertising, done the layouts, composed pages, written stories, taken photographs, inserted brochures, collect debts and even driven the delivery truck.

His dedication to the newspaper is shown by his willingness to do any job that needed doing. On several occasions he had worked all day, helped inserters at night, gone home for breakfast and fronted up at 8am for work again.

Up to John’s retirement, the Manning River Times never missed an issue in 125 years. However, in the 1978 floods, they went close.

The Times was being printed in Maitland, but the highway was cut by floodwater just south of Taree. John Doust loaded the plates onto a boat and was ferried across the flooded Manning River to a Ford F100 truck he had hired on the other side of the river. The plates reached Maitland, the 7000 copies of the Times and the 7000 copies of Town and Country magazines were loaded up for the return journey.

On reaching the flooded Manning, the boat that was supposed to meet them didn’t arrive. So John and his offsider pushed the truck, loaded with 14,000 papers through the flood waters to the other side. A few sprays of WD40 restarted the truck and every copy of the Times was delivered on time.

This surely sums up John’s commitment to his newspapers.

It was his ambition to see out 50 years with the Times, but retired in 1994 after 48 years.

With John’s interest in the history of the Manning Valley, he was the unofficial historian, writing several very well illustrated books on the Manning.

He has been actively involved with the Wingham Historical Society for many years, and even after retirement, John is called upon as a consultant on Manning historical matters.

As a road racing cyclist, John has won several awards. On one memorable occasion, John rode from Taree to Cairns and back, and had an altercation with train lines in Brisbane.

John also loved his tennis and ping pong, and fishing with his long time mate, the late Norm Jones.

To this day, John still loves “his” river, having lived on the Glenthorne side for over 80 years.

These days the bridge helps John determine tide levels, to help in his pursuit for the perfect catch of fish. John and Norm enjoyed the social activities of the Salvation Army Men’s Group.

For many years John has played the piano several times a week to entertain the residents of aged care facilities in Taree, Old Bar and Wingham.

John and Judy have a son and two daughters, each high achievers in their own right.

John joined the Rotary Club of Taree in November 1976 with the vocational classification of Media, Print. He was for many years, together with the late Bill Birrell, the club’s historian.