William Thomas Goodge (28 September 1862 – 28 November 1909) was an English writer and journalist, who arrived in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in 1882, after jumping ship 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 ...

. He worked in various jobs in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, including as a coal-miner, until he was engaged to write for "The Tribune" in North Sydney, a small weekly associated with the "Daily Telegraph". From there he was chosen by Harry Newman (Member of Parliament and newspaper proprietor) to edit "The Leader" newspaper in Orange, NSW. Goodge remained in Orange, becoming part-owner of "The Leader" at some point, until in the early 1900s he returned to Sydney and began writing for that city's newspapers, especially "The Sunday Times". Goodge was first married on 21 January 1892. His wife died 3 January 1895 of typhoid, leaving behind two children. Sometime later he remarried and had another child. Goodge died on 28 November 1909 in North Sydney. During his writing career, Goodge wrote mainly light-verse poems and short stories. Although he did have one novel, ''The Fortunes of Fenchurch'', serialised in the pages of ''The Sunday Times'', the book was never published separately. His best known works were "

The Great Australian Adjective ''The Great Australian Adjective'' is a humorous poem by English writer and poet W. T. Goodge. It was first published in '' The Bulletin'' magazine on 11 December 1897, the Christmas issue of that publication, and later in the poet's only collecti ...

", and "The Oozlum Bird".

Norman Lindsay Norman Alfred William Lindsay (22 February 1879 – 21 November 1969) was an Australian artist, etcher, sculptor, writer, art critic, novelist, cartoonist and amateur boxer. One of the most prolific and popular Australian artists of his genera ...

, who illustrated the reprint volume of Goodge's only poetry collection, considered the poet better than

C. J. Dennis Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis (7 September 1876 – 22 June 1938), better known as C. J. Dennis, was an Australian poet and journalist known for his best-selling verse novel ''The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke'' (1915). Alongside ...

. "Goodge, with his ''Hits! Skits! and Jingles!'', is a much better light-verse writer than Dennis, and his book should be reprinted."

Novels

* ''The Fortunes of Fenchurch'', 1906

Collections

* ''Hits! Skits! and Jingles!'', 1899

Individual poems

* "

" (1897) * " The Oozlum Bird" (1897) * " Daley's Dorg Wattle" (1898) * " Mulligan's Shanty" (1898)

External links

Obituary: A.G. Stephens

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodge, W.T 1862 births 1909 deaths 20th-century Australian novelists Australian male novelists Australian male short story writers Australian male poets 19th-century Australian poets English emigrants to colonial Australia 19th-century Australian short story writers 19th-century male writers 20th-century Australian short story writers 20th-century Australian male writers 19th-century Australian novelists