News

1 Mar 2021

Vale Jason Hanlon

by Simon Byrne

The Canberra live event production industry lost a remarkable figure last Saturday, Jason Hanlon.

Jason started his career at Topstage Productions around 1986/7. Literally one afternoon, the lads loading a truck decided they needed some more help so they drove around the nearby Canberra suburb of Narrabundah and picked him up off the street to do a shift.

From there he had stints at Intercity Hire and Staging Connections amongst others. He later started a crewing business, Elite Personnel Services in the early 2000’s (I think).

EPS became one of the two major crewing services in Canberra and he ran the business right up until he left us. Jason gained his advanced rigging certificate and he quickly established himself as a top production rigger, known for his exceptional detail and attention to safety. On the back of his crewing and rigging services, he had a solid audiovisual installation business.

To detail a person’s industry credentials only tells the small part of Jason’s story. Jason was universally liked and respected like few others. He always wanted to do everything “the right way” and a champion for his workers. His hallmarks were honesty and loyalty. A testament to Jason’s respect was the large group of industry colleagues who attended his funeral this afternoon.

Father to Nimi and Merlin, best mate to Nathan, and a true gentlemen to all, Jason Hanlon passed away too early, at just forty-seven. 

Farewell, Jason, you left the world a better place and we are all thankful for it.

Subscribe

Published monthly since 1991, our famous AV industry magazine is free for download or pay for print. Subscribers also receive CX News, our free weekly email with the latest industry news and jobs.