Alfred Thomas "Alf" Chandler (3 June 1852 – 17 October 1941) was a journalist, editor and newspaper proprietor in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

and

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. He was prominent in the

Western Australian secession movement Secessionism has been a recurring feature of Western Australia's political landscape since shortly after Federation in 1901. The idea of self-governance or secession has often been discussed through local newspaper articles and editorials. On a ...

History

Chandler was born in

Geelong, Victoria Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, a ...

, and began his journalistic career on ''

The Hamilton Spectator ''The Hamilton Spectator'', founded in 1846, is a newspaper published weekdays and Saturdays in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. One of the largest Canadian newspapers by circulation,''The Hamilton Spectator'' is owned by Torstar. History ''The Hami ...

''. He moved to

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, where he found employment with both daily papers: the ''

South Australian Register ''The Register'', originally the ''South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register'', and later ''South Australian Register,'' was South Australia's first newspaper. It was first published in London in June 1836, moved to Adelaide in 1837, and f ...

'', then '' The Advertiser''. He was, in 1889, with H. O. Evans, J. M. Black, and J. R. Powell, a member of the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible governme ...

's first ''

Hansard ''Hansard'' is the traditional name of the transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the first official print ...

'' staff. While working at ''The Advertiser'' he published two books of verse: ''A Bush Idyl'' and ''Songs of the Sunland''. He joined Harry Evans as co-editor of ''

Quiz A quiz is a form of game or mind sport in which players attempt to answer questions correctly on one or several specific topics. Quizzes can be used as a brief Educational assessment, assessment in education and similar fields to measure growth ...

'', 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 for Coolgardie, where he worked on J. M. Smith's weekly ''Goldfield Courier'' and its sister daily, the ''Golden Age''. In 1896 he was elected secretary to the Coolgardie Stock Exchange and the Coolgardie Railway League. He was next editor of the ''

Coolgardie Miner The ''Coolgardie Miner'' (18 April 1894 – 16 June 1911) was a weekly newspaper established in Coolgardie, Western Australia, at a time when Coolgardie was the prominent town in the goldfields region of Western Australia. The subsequent publi ...

'', and gained a great deal of knowledge on the subject of mining, and served as

John Kirwan John Kirwan may refer to: * John Óge Kirwan (fl. 1530–1531), mayor of Galway * Sir John Kirwan (1650–1721), Irish entrepreneur * John Kirwan (cricketer) (1816–1899), English cricketer * John Kirwan (politician) (1869–1949), Australian ...

's Coolgardie secretary. In 1905 he left the ''Miner'' for the position of secretary to the North End Gold Mining Company Ltd. Around 1911 he moved to

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, where he joined the staff of ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' and around 1920 was promoted to editor, succeeding J. E. Webb, who left for a position with '' The Bulletin''. He retired around 1925, but continued contributing to the ''Sunday Times'' and other journals. Around 1919 he joined the newspaper's owner,

James MacCallum Smith James MacCallum Smith (26 April 1868 – 6 August 1939) was an Australian politician, newspaper proprietor and stock breeder. He lobbied unsuccessfully for many years for the secession of Western Australia from the Federation of Australia. Bio ...

, in a campaign to gain independence from the other States of Australia, founding the

Secession League Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Some of the most famous and significant secessions have been: the former Soviet republics lea ...

, and was active in the later

Dominion League of Western Australia The term ''Dominion'' is used to refer to one of several self-governing nations of the British Empire. "Dominion status" was first accorded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State at the 1926 Im ...

, and its president when a secession petition was tabled in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

. In 1938 he was granted a Commonwealth Literary Pension of £1 a week.

Family

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: *Lorna married Peter Charles Mulhall of Perth on 8 February 1919; they lived at East Brunswick, Victoria *Isabel married E. Bagg of Kojonup, Western Australia

Other interests

He was in 1885 a member of the short-lived Adelaide Savage Club, which had links to the

Melbourne Savage Club Melbourne Savage Club is a private Australian gentlemen's club founded in 1894 and named after the poet, Richard Savage. Bohemian in spirit, the club was to bring together literary men, and those immediately connected or sympathising with li ...

Death

He died in 1941.

Publications

*''A Bush Idyl and other poems'' E. S. Wigg & Son. 1887 *''Songs of the Sunland'' E. S. Wigg & Son. 1889 *''The Case for Secession'' W.A. Secession League 1926

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chandler, Alfred Thomas 1852 births 1941 deaths Australian poets Australian newspaper proprietors Australian newspaper editors Australian journalists People from Geelong