Robert Victor Macklin (born 1941 in

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 ...

) is an Australian

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

and

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 ...

. He was educated at Ironside Primary School,

Brisbane Grammar , motto_translation = Nothing Without Labour , established = 1868 , type = Independent, day & boarding , gender = Boys , denomination = Non-denominational , slogan = , key_people = , c ...

, and

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

. He began his writing career for the '' Courier Mail'' (

), later moving to ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'' in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and then ''

The Bulletin Bulletin or The Bulletin may refer to: Periodicals (newspapers, magazines, journals) * Bulletin (online newspaper), a Swedish online newspaper * ''The Bulletin'' (Australian periodical), an Australian magazine (1880–2008) ** Bulletin Debate, ...

'' in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and ''

The Canberra Times ''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in ...

'' in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

. In 1967 he became press secretary to Deputy Prime Minister John McEwen shortly before the death of

Harold Holt Harold Edward Holt (5 August 190817 December 1967) was an Australian politician who served as the 17th prime minister of Australia from 1966 until his presumed death in 1967. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party. Holt was born in S ...

when McEwen briefly became Prime Minister. In 1974 while working in the Philippines at the

Asian Development Bank The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank established on 19 December 1966, which is headquartered in the Ortigas Center located in the city of Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines. The bank also maintains 31 field office ...

he began writing both fiction and non-fiction books, beginning with the novel ''The Queenslander''. Awarded a Commonwealth Writer's Fellowship, he returned to Australia in 1975 and wrote ''The Paper Castle'' (1978) and ''Juryman'' (1980), adapted by

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

to the film '' Storyville'' (1994) starring

James Spader James Todd Spader (born February 7, 1960) is an American actor. He has portrayed eccentric characters in films such as the drama ''Sex, Lies, and Videotape'' (1989) for which he won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor, the action scien ...

and Jason Robards. His non-fiction work includes ''Seven Cities of Australia'', ''Dark Paradise, Norfolk Island: Isolation, Savagery'', ''Murder''; ''100 Great Australians'', ''The Secret Life of Jesus'', ''Jacka VC: Australian Hero'', ''Fire in the Blood: The epic tale of Frank Gardiner and Australia's other bushrangers'', ''Bravest: How Some of Australia's Greatest War Heroes Won Their Medals'', the memoir ''War Babies'', '' Kevin Rudd: The Biography, My Favourite Teacher, The Great Australian Pie, One False Move, SAS Sniper (with Rob Maylor), Redback One, SAS Insider, Warrior Elite, Hamilton Hume, Dragon & Kangaroo.'' With Peter Thompson he co-authored ''The Battle of Brisbane'', ''The Man Who Died Twice – the life and adventures of Morrison of China'', ''Kill The Tiger'', ''Keep Off the Skyline'' and ''The Big Fella: The Rise and Rise of BHP Billiton.'' His awards include the Blake Dawson Prize for Business Literature (with Peter Thompson) in 2009, and Canberra Critics Circle awards for ''One False Move'', ''Dark Paradise'' and ''Hamilton Hume - Our Greatest Explorer.'' He is a graduate of the screen writing course of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School and has written and directed documentary films in 32 countries of Asia and the South Pacific. With producer

Andrew Pike Dr. Andrew Pike, OAM (born 1 January 1946) is an Australian film historian, film distributor and exhibitor, and documentary producer and director. Pike formed Ronin Films, an Australian film distribution company, with his first wife, Dr Merril ...

he has written the screenplay ''Barefoot'' on Australia’s only Chinese bushranger,

Sam Poo Sam Poo (died 19 December 1865) was a Chinese bushranger in Australia who was active in New South Wales during early 1865. Poo emigrated to Australia in the early 1860s during the gold rush. Being an unsuccessful miner, he turned to bushranging. ...

. Married to Wendy Macklin, he has two sons, and currently divides his time between Canberra and

Tuross Head Tuross Head is a seaside village on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia. It is approximately halfway between the townships of Moruya and Narooma, a few kilometres off the Princes Highway. As of the 2016 census, Tuross Head has a populat ...

Works

* ''The Queenslander (Corgi, 1978)'' * ''The Paper Castle (Collins, 1977)'' *''Juryman (1982)'' *''100 Great Australians (Currey O'Neil, 1983)'' * ''The Secret Life of Jesus'', Pan Books, ''(1990)'' *''War Babies, A Memoir'' (Pandanus Books ANU, 2004) *''Fire in the Blood: The Epic Tale of Frank Gardiner and Australia's Other Bushrangers (2005)'' * ''Jacka VC: Australian Hero (2006)'' * ''Kevin Rudd - the biography (2007)'' * ''Bravest: How Some of Australia's Greatest War Heroes Won Their Medals (2008)'' * ''SAS Sniper'' With Rob Maylor (Hachette 2010) * ''Dark Paradise - Norfolk Island - Isolation, Savagery, Mystery and Murder'' (Hachette 2013) * ''Redback One'', (Hachette 2014) * ''SAS Insider'', (Hachette 2014) * ''Warrior Elite - Z Force to the SAS; Intelligence Operations to Cyber Warfare'' (Hachette 2015) * ''Hamilton Hume - Our Greatest Explorer'' (Hachette 2016) *''Dragon & Kangaroo: Australia and China's shared history from the goldfields to the present day (2017)'' *''Castaway - the extraordinary survival story of Narcisse Pelletier, a young French cabin boy shipwrecked on Cape York in 1858 (Hachette 2019)'' With Peter Thompson * ''The Battle of Brisbane (2000)'' * ''Morrison of China (2005)'' * ''Kill the Tiger (2002, 2005)'' * ''Keep off the Skylin''e (2004) * ''The Big Fella - the rise and rise of BHP Billiton (2009)'' * ''Operation Rimau'' (Hachette 2015)

External links

Robert Macklin's Web site
*
Storyville from IMDB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macklin, Robert Australian journalists Australian screenwriters Australian documentary film directors Living people 1941 births