Edward Thomas Fricker (17 December 1858 – 4 April 1917) was editor of ''

The Australasian The ''Australasian Post'', commonly called the ''Aussie Post'', was Australia's longest-running weekly picture magazine. History and profile Its origins are traceable to Saturday, 3 January 1857, when the first issue of ''Bell's Life in Victoria ...

'' magazine from 1903 to 1917.

Biography

He was born in London, a son of William Henry Fricker and cousin of Sir Hereward Wake, Bart., (1852–1916). He was educated at

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and Westbrook, Kent, ...

, and at first worked for an uncle who had an architect's practice in London. He left England in the 1870s for Australia, working in Adelaide and Melbourne, and in the early 1880s left for New Zealand, where he turned to journalism, working as a reporter with the ''

Otago Daily Times The ''Otago Daily Times'' (ODT) is a newspaper published by Allied Press Ltd in Dunedin, New Zealand. The ''ODT'' is one of the country's four main daily newspapers, serving the southern South Island with a circulation of around 26,000 and a c ...

'', Dunedin. In 1888 he returned to Melbourne, having been invited to join the staff of '' The Argus'', first as parliamentary reporter, then progressed to

leader writer A leader writer is a senior journalist in a British newspaper who is charged with writing the paper's editorial either in the absence of the editor or in cases where the editor chooses not to write editorials because their editorial skills may res ...

and theatre critic of which subject, as with literature, he had considerable knowledge. In July 1903 he filled the editor's chair, which had become vacant, but continued writing the "Topic of the Week" column and "Comments on the War", which benefited from his singular knowledge of European history and geography. He had been ailing for months before his death, but the rapidity with which he succumbed surprised everyone. His remains were interred at the

Box Hill Cemetery Box Hill Cemetery is a cemetery located in Melbourne's eastern suburb of Box Hill, Victoria in Australia. It currently occupies 12.5 ha (31 acres). It is known as the resting place of notable figures from Melbourne and its heritage-registered Co ...

. He was a member of the Melbourne

Yorick Club The Yorick Club was a private social club in Lowell, Massachusetts, which twenty prominent young Lowell men founded in February 1882."History of Lowell and its people, Volume 1", p. 383, By Frederick William Coburn. The club went bankrupt in 1979 ...

, and was married to Emily M. Fricker with two daughters. A son, Austen Cousens Fricker, was born in Dunedin around September 1888 and died 25 August 1958. He enlisted with the

First AIF The First Australian Imperial Force (1st AIF) was the main expeditionary force of the Australian Army during the First World War. It was formed as the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) following Britain's declaration of war on Germany on 15 Aug ...

in November 1914 and served at

Gallipoli The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles ...

. They had a home "Roma", at Morris (Morrice?) street, Caulfield.

A tribute

He made a host of friends while in the chair at the "Australasian", and always maintained the dignity of that historic journal. It is a matter for regret that most of his writing was for the day, and that he left no record in volume form, for he had a wide knowledge and a clear method of expression.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fricker, Edward 1858 births 1917 deaths Australian journalists Australian newspaper editors Journalists from London English emigrants to colonial Australia Burials in Victoria (state) 19th-century Australian journalists