Brian Con Penton (21 August 1904 – 24 August 1951) was an Australian

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

. He was born at Ascot, a suburb of

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, and educated at Brisbane Grammar School.

Writing career

In 1921 Penton found employment as a copy-boy on the ''Brisbane Courier'' and went on to work on

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

, ''

The Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

'' and ''

The Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

'' in London and

Sir Frank Packer Sir Douglas Frank Hewson Packer (3 December 19061 May 1974), was an Australian media proprietor who controlled Australian Consolidated Press and the Nine Network. He was a patriarch of the Packer family. Early life Frank Packer was born in K ...

's ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' in Sydney. He eventually became the editor of ''The Daily Telegraph''. He also did some speech-writing for the Australian prime minister

Stanley Melbourne Bruce Stanley Melbourne Bruce, 1st Viscount Bruce of Melbourne, (15 April 1883 – 25 August 1967) was an Australian politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Australia from 1923 to 1929, as leader of the Nationalist Party. Born ...

, and for Bruce's predecessor

Billy Hughes William Morris Hughes (25 September 1862 – 28 October 1952) was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia, in office from 1915 to 1923. He is best known for leading the country during World War I, but ...

. In addition, he worked as a political and social commentator and published a number of works criticizing the political regimes of the day. Penton wrote two novels, which sold quite well: '' Landtakers'' (1934), which chronicles pioneering life in Queensland from 1824 to 1864, and a sequel ''Inheritors'' (1936). One of the principal characters in these books is said to be based on

Patrick Mayne ''The Mayne Inheritance'' is a non-fiction book written by Queensland author Rosamond Siemon. It was first published in 1997 by University of Queensland Press, and a new edition with updated information was issued by the same publisher in 2003 ...

of the Mayne Inheritance.

William Dobell Sir William Dobell (24 September 189913 May 1970) was an Australian portrait and landscape artist of the 20th century. Dobell won the Archibald Prize, Australia's premier award for portrait artists on three occasions. The Dobell Prize is named ...

won the 1943

Archibald Prize The Archibald Prize is an Australian portraiture art prize for painting, generally seen as the most prestigious portrait prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after the receipt of a bequest from J. F. Archibald, J. F. Archib ...

(awarded January 1944) with his

caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, a ...

portrait of

Joshua Smith (artist) Joshua Smith (12 March 190522 July 1995) was an Australian artist who won the Archibald Prize in 1944 with his portrait of Hon Sol Rosevear, MP, Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives, but is better known as the subject of the prev ...

. In the ensuing controversy Penton sided with Dobell, both in ''The Daily Telegraph'' and in his 1946 book on Dobell. The book includes a reproduction of Dobell's caricature portrait of Penton, submitted to the same Archibald exhibition. Penton Place, in the Canberra suburb of

Gilmore Gilmore or Gillmore may refer to: *Gilmore (surname) Places Australia *Gilmore, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb in the Canberra district of Tuggeranong *Gilmore Avenue, a road in southern Perth, Western Australia *Division of Gilmore, an ...

, is named in his honour.

Works

* * * * * *

External links

Works by Brian Penton
a
Project Gutenberg Australia

Sources

1904 births 1951 deaths People from Brisbane Australian male novelists 20th-century Australian novelists 20th-century Australian male writers 20th-century Australian journalists {{Australia-journalist-stub

Writing career

Works

External links

See also

Sources