{{Short description|Australian news presenter}} {{Infobox person |name=Melody Joy Iliffe |birth_name=Melody Joy Welsh |birth_date={{Birth date|1938|04|10|df=y}} |birth_place=Bundaberg, Queensland |death_date={{Death date and age|2017|09|21|1938|04|10|df=y}} |death_place=Brisbane, Queensland |known_for=Becoming the first woman in Australia to read a prime time television news bulletin |television=''QTQ-9 News'' |years_active=1964 to 2009 |awards=Logie Award (1965) |spouse={{marriage|Jim Iliffe|1964|2005|end=d.}} }}
'''Melody Joy Iliffe''' (née Welsh, 10 April 1938 – 21 September 2017) was an Australian Logie Award-winning news presenter.<ref name=ladies>{{cite news|last=Willmington|first=Phil|date=23 September 2017|title=Ladies first |url=https://www.facebook.com/9NewsQueensland/videos/1941386329518244/|work=Nine News Queensland|location= |access-date=3 January 2023}}</ref><ref name=vale>{{cite news |last=Knox|first=David|date=29 September 2017|title=Vale: Melody Iliffe|url=https://tvtonight.com.au/2017/09/vale-melody-iiiffe.html|work=TV Tonight|location= |access-date=3 January 2023}}</ref><ref name=obit>{{cite news |last=Bayley|first=Andrew |date=24 September 2017|title=Obituary: Melody Iliffe |url=https://televisionau.com/2017/09/obituary-melody-iliffe.html|work=Television.AU|location= |access-date=3 January 2023}}</ref>
==Career== Iliffe is best remembered for becoming the first woman to co-anchor a prime time news bulletin on Australian television after she was chosen to read the 6pm news alongside Don Seccombe on QTQ-9 in Brisbane in 1964.<ref name=ladies/> Welsh had previously been a production assistant on the station's children's program ''The Channel Niners'' hosted by "Captain" Jim Iliffe.<ref name=ladies/>
She married Jim Iliffe in 1964.<ref name=ladies/> They had three children, including David who is now a media veteran himself and a long serving breakfast presenter on ABC Southern Queensland in Toowoomba.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.abc.net.au/profiles/content/s1855726.htm?site=southqld|title=David Illiffe|author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2019|website=ABC Southern Queensland|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|access-date=3 January 2023|quote=After growing up in a "broadcasting household" (his parents Jim and Melody were Queensland television identities in the sixties and seventies) the odds were heavily against David choosing any other profession.}}</ref>
Although she kept a low profile after her marriage, Melody Iliffe regularly appeared in television commercials for Brisbane-based electrical good retailer Chandlers throughout the 1980's.<ref name=kutts>{{cite news |last=Cutts|first=Adrian|date=27 September 2017|title=Vale: Melody Iliffe |url=http://kuttsywoodscouch.blogspot.com/2017/09/vale-melody-iliffe.html|work=Kuttsywood's Couch|location= |access-date=3 January 2023}}</ref> She also co-hosted QTQ-9's 25th anniversary of Queensland television broadcast in 1984 and appeared at the station's 50th anniversary celebration in 2009.<ref name=kutts/><ref name=obit/>
Jim Iliffe died in 2005.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--not stated--> |date=28 June 2005|title=Radio Veteran, Jim Iliffe, Dies|url=https://radioinfo.com.au/news/radio-veteran-jim-iliffe-dies|work=radioinfo|location= |access-date=3 January 2023}}</ref> Melody Illife died on 21 September 2017.<ref name=tribute>{{cite web |url=https://www.mytributes.com.au/notice/funeral-notices/iliffe-melody-joy-nee-welsh/4012875|title=ILIFFE, Melody Joy (nee Welsh)|author=<!--Not stated--> |date=27 September 2017|website=My Tributes|publisher=News Corp Australia|access-date=3 January 2023|quote=}}</ref> A funeral service was held for her at St Andrew's Anglican Church in Indooroopilly on 29 September 2017.<ref name=tribute/> At the time of her death, she had eight grandchildren.<ref name=tribute/>
==Logie Award== The achievement of being the first female newsreader in Australia was recognised at the Logie Awards of 1965 when Welsh was presented with a special Logie Award for "acknowledged ability, in a man's domain."<ref name=vale/>
== References == <!-- Inline citations added to your article will automatically display here. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:REFB for instructions on how to add citations. --> {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Iliffe, Melody}} Category:1938 births Category:2017 deaths Category:Australian women television presenters Category:Australian television newsreaders and news presenters