From the girl in the cupboard to Karl Stefanovic Veteran cameraman reflects as regional cuts end 40-year career
For the first time in 39 years, Kent Murray will sleep a deep and proper sleep â€" without headphones on and without listening for calls of "murder" or "fire" or "car crash".
Key points:But he won't be happy about it.
The ritual was forged by the veteran cameraman on the frontlines of the events that have shaped central Queensland.
And it stops in late August when the 57-year-old's storied media career comes to an end â€" his job the latest to fall in a series of cuts to commercial media's regional newsrooms.
Murray has seen and captured the tragedies and triumphs that have shaped his region, and says he has loved "every second".
His last day, he admitted, will be "a very sad" one.
"The times are changing, and local newsrooms have had to scale down a bit, it's very sad but that's just the way it's going," he says.
"Everyone has mobile phones now, years ago you would go to an accident or house fire, you would ask a witness for an interview, now you ask them if they have any phone vision, which is probably doing me out of my job I suppose."
Supplied: Kent Murray
)ReminiscingMurray says he has worked with more than 360 journalists during his time in central Queensland media.
"In those days, television was a totally different thing with news typed on typewriters," he says.
"We got our weather in on scripts and updates were given to newsreaders on paper, and she would madly try and put it in the teleprompter, but they were reading off paper."
Standout names include Karl Stefanovic and Samantha Heathwood.
Supplied: Kent Murray
)"They've all come and gone all around the world," he says.
"A lot of journalists have come through central Queensland; it's a great training ground."
For Kent Murray, it's his passion: "The vision can be so beautiful and the people are great to talk to".
He lists the funeral of slain police officer Norm Watt and the discovery of Natasha Ryan â€" the girl who hid in a cupboard â€" as some of his most memorable moments.
"The case of Natasha Ryan … when she was found … I was that excited when I got vision of her getting into a car that no-one else had got and then I got shots of her partner walking to the house, and I can still see him now ducking under a tree and again nobody got vision of him."
"The desire to get there and get the shots I still love it … it's great to portray those stories in the local area and network."
There's proof in his ritual of sleeping with headphones and jumping out of bed if he heard "car crash" or "fire".
There's more in his media awards and in the Queensland Police Assistant Commissioner's Certificate of Appreciation â€" that thanks him for "the professional support and assistance he has provided to the Queensland Police Service and the central Queensland community".
"There are many times I have put my camera down and helped emergency services, whether the car has to be shifted or a hose is stuck somewhere," Murray says.
"My work is paramount to me, but I can switch to a human side to help out."
Supplied: Kent Murray
)Want more local news? Sign up to the weekly ABC Capricornia email newsletterWhere to now?Murray hasn't yet decided what he'll do when he puts down the camera but says he's still committed to central Queensland's history and community.
Supplied: Kent Murray
)"I have told some mates I will give a hand in junior sport," he says.
"I can't sit at home. My passion is old things, and I like driving around and collecting old things so I will have more time to go and seek things out."
Laughing, he says: "I don't want to get a caravan and my wife agrees with me".
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