Alfred Thomas Chandler | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1852-06-03)3 June 1852 |
| Died | 17 October 1941(1941-10-17) (aged 89) Perth,Western Australia, Australia |
| Occupation | Journalist and poet |
Alfred Thomas Chandler (3 June 1852 – 17 October 1941) was a journalist, editor and newspaper proprietor inVictoria,South Australia andWestern Australia. He was prominent in theWestern Australian secession movement.
Chandler was born inGeelong, Victoria, and began his journalistic career onThe Hamilton Spectator. He moved toAdelaide, where he found employment with both daily papers: theSouth Australian Register, thenThe Advertiser.[1] He was, in 1889, with H. O. Evans, J. M. Black, and J. R. Powell, a member of theHouse of Assembly's firstHansard staff.[2] While working atThe Advertiser he published two books of verse:A Bush Idyl andSongs of the Sunland.
He joinedHarry Evans as co-editor ofQuiz, a satirical weekly, to which he also regularly contributed examples of his poetry. He left the partnership (of, by then,Quiz and The Lantern) on 31 August 1894, and left forCoolgardie, where he worked on J. M. Smith's weeklyGoldfield Courier and its sister daily, theGolden Age.[3] In 1896 he was elected secretary to the Coolgardie Stock Exchange[4] and the Coolgardie Railway League.[5] He was next editor of theCoolgardie Miner, and gained a great deal of knowledge on the subject of mining,[6] and served asJohn Kirwan's Coolgardie secretary. In 1905 he left theMiner for the position of secretary to the North End Gold Mining Company Ltd.[7]
Around 1911 he moved toPerth, where he joined the staff ofThe Sunday Times and around 1920 was promoted to editor, succeeding J. E. Webb,[8] who left for a position withThe Bulletin. He retired around 1925, but continued contributing to theSunday Times and other journals.[6]
Around 1919 he joined the newspaper's owner,James MacCallum Smith, in a campaign to gain independence from the other States of Australia, founding theSecession League, and was active in the laterDominion League of Western Australia,[9] and its president when a secession petition was tabled in theHouse of Commons.
In 1938 he was granted a Commonwealth Literary Pension of £1 a week.[1]
Chandler married Isabella Agnes McGinn (ca.1855 – 16 April 1888).He married again, to Julia Addison (died 9 August 1950), daughter of George Addison MD., FRCS, on 17 September 1892.They later had a home at 27 Ridge Street,South Perth.He had two daughters:
He was in 1885 a member of the short-lived Adelaide Savage Club,[10] which had links to theMelbourne Savage Club.
He died in 1941.[11]
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