Former ABC newsreader Richard Morecroft dies aged 70

Updated October 6, 2026 — 9:10pm,first published 8:44pmFormer ABC newsreader Richard Morecroft has died at the age of 70 following a cancer diagnosis.“Sadly, our beloved Richard died today, at a time of his choosing, on the south coast of NSW,” a statement shared on his Instagram account said.Richard Morecroft pictured in May of 1983.Paul Wright/Fairfax Media“He was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year and was grateful to go peacefully, with his partner of 36 years, Alison Mackay, beside him. We are devastated to lose such a warm, generous and caring human and hope that all those who knew him, if only through their TV screens, will remember him fondly.”Morecroft moved from England to Adelaide with his family at the age of 10. He studied English and drama at the University of Adelaide and worked at the university’s radio station before landing a job at the ABC.He presented the Adelaide News bulletin before hosting ABC News NSW from 1983 until 2002.Morecroft also hosted the quiz show Letters and Numbers on SBS between 2010 and 2012.Richard Morecroft alongside his partner Alison Mackay in 2022. Fairfax MediaHis career spanned more than 20 years, including reporting stints in Canberra. He was also a staunch environmental activist and was a long-time trustee for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), a governor of the Taronga Foundation and a director of the Zoological Parks Board of NSW.Morecroft was also an acclaimed landscape photographer. His work hangs on the walls of Parliament House in Canberra.He met his long-term partner, Alison Mackay, in Far North Queensland in 1990 while he was on holiday at Cape Tribulation. They kept in touch through handwritten fountain-pen letters for two years before Mackay moved to Sydney.Morecroft had shared updates on his Instagram account earlier in the year about his long stay in the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse in Sydney for cancer treatment.Tributes have already started to flow in from veteran news presenters who worked alongside Morecroft at the ABC, including Leigh Sales and Michael Rowland.“The best way I can describe Richard is that he was a gentleman, and a gentle man. He was pure class in every way - a kind, warm and generous colleague, as well as being a consummate professional. I had so much admiration and regard for him and I consider myself a lucky person indeed to have been his friend,” Sales wrote in a comment on the Instagram post.Aine Ryan is Homepage Editor at The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.Emily Kaine is a national news blogger at The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.From our partners