It is with great sadness we acknowledge the passing of much loved SA ACS branch member DOP David Woolford. David passed away peacefully listening to his favourite music by Queen, surrounded by his loving family on 12th May 2025 after a short illness. He was a talented cameraman who bought joy to all those around him and his infectious laugh will be sorely missed.
Wooly started his career at AMV 4 Television (now Prime TV), in Albury. He worked there for five years filming local news and sport before moving to GMV 6 (Win) in Shepparton. During that time, he freelanced at Channel 10 Melbourne on weekends, before taking a full-time news cameraman position in Adelaide, where he joined ADS 7 in 1988. His talents were immediately recognised and he spent many years working for a variety of TV networks.
He went freelance in 1993 after returning from assignments in Cambodia & Vietnam and spent time in London working for the BBC and B Sky B news. He had many other international clients and worked with the likes of National Geographic, Discovery Channel and Greenpeace.
He continued freelance work, doing a stint in Sydney at TCN 9 ‘A Current Affair’ and forged a strong relationship with them, moving back to Adelaide in 1995 to continue filming for them.
In 1997 he moved to Hong Kong for the hand over, working for RTL, BBC and Asia Pacific Vision and spent 11 months living aboard ‘Rainbow Warrior’ for Greenpeace international and six months in total on their other ships, ‘Esperanza’ and the ice-breaker ‘Arctic Sunrise’. His footage has been broadcast around the world via Reuters and the BBC and to just about every news service on the planet.
Wooly joined the SA branch ACS committee in 1990 and apart from a couple of years away has been a solid committee member in various roles, including Treasurer, President and Secretary.
Recently he went back to working full time at Channel 7 Adelaide so he could spend more time with his wife Amanda and daughter Lilly.
We will miss you Wooly. RIP
