Journalist Joe Payne worked his way up from copy boy to become a reporter and the chief of staff at The Sun.

Joe Payne was an accomplished journalist who interviewed everyone from Hollywood sirens to a serial killer across a near 40-year career in Sydney newspapers. He was also an accomplished guitarist. Above all, Joe was a husband, father, brother and friend who will be remembered for his quick mind, fair nature and ability to laugh, even when life was toughest.

Joe was born on September 2, 1935 at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Paddington to parents Zena and George. He was the third of eight children, along with siblings George, Patricia, Valda, Mabel, Lynnette, Teresa and Bill. The family grew up in Hammondville in Sydney’s western suburbs. Joe attended Hammondville Primary School, then Parramatta Boys Junior High.

Joe left school at the age of 14 to become a copy boy for the now defunct The Sun newspaper in Sydney. It was the beginning of a career that would see Joe rise through the ranks to eventually become the newspaper's chief of staff.

Joe also showed talent for music from an early age. In 1943, as a boy of eight, he entered and won a national radio amateur hour competition with his older brother George. George played the guitar, Joe played the spoons. They were just simple household spoons but Joe could make them zing like castanets and beat out a rhythm like a drum.