Charles Brundson Fletcher
Encyclopedia
Charles Brunsdon Fletcher (5 August 1859 - 17 December 1946) was an English
-born Australia
n surveyor
and journalist
who served as the editor
of the Sydney Morning Herald for twenty years.
. At age five, his father joined his eldest brother, Joseph Horner Fletcher
, in New Zealand
as a Wesleyan
missionary. Eight years later the family moved to Sydney
and Fletcher attended Newington College
, where his uncle, Joseph Horner Fletcher, was President and another uncle, Joseph James Fletcher
, was a teacher. Charles Brunsdon Fletcher completed his education at Fort Street High School
.
as a cadet. He rose to supernumerary
draftsman in 1879 and became a field assistant four year later, Before moving to Brisbane
in 1884 he worked on the Detail Survey of the City of Sydney
. He obtained his Queensland
survey
licence in 1885 and commenced private practice. For five years from 1888 he served on the Board of Examiners of Licensed Surveyors.
's Boomerang and had served as secretary of the Brisbane Literary Circle. He was also appointed Queensland correspondent of the Melbourne Argus. Fletcher was elected to Ithaca Shire Council
from 1892 until 1898 and served as president in 1894. In December 1898 he became the editor-in-chief of the Brisbane Courier and served as such until to April 1903.
and Queen Mary
were cowned in 1911 he was a member of the Australian delegation and represented the Herald at the fourth Imperial Press Conference in London
in 1930. For four years from 1923, Fletcher was the President of the New South Wales Institute of Journalists.
from 1923 until 1939 and was instrumental in its establishment of a diploma course in journalism. Fletcher further served the University as a lay member of the Council of Wesley College
from 1919. The Charles Brunsdon Fletcher Prize for Pacific History is awarded annually by the University.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
-born Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n surveyor
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...
and journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
who served as the editor
Editor in chief
An editor-in-chief is a publication's primary editor, having final responsibility for the operations and policies. Additionally, the editor-in-chief is held accountable for delegating tasks to staff members as well as keeping up with the time it takes them to complete their task...
of the Sydney Morning Herald for twenty years.
Birth and education
Fletcher was the third of thirteen children of Ruth (née Bloor) and Charles Fletcher of Taunton, Somerset, EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. At age five, his father joined his eldest brother, Joseph Horner Fletcher
Joseph Horner Fletcher
Joseph Horner Fletcher was a West Indies-born Methodist minister of English descent and was the founding Principal of Wesley College, Auckland and the second President of Newington College, Sydney.-Early life:...
, in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
as a Wesleyan
Wesleyanism
Wesleyanism or Wesleyan theology refers, respectively, to either the eponymous movement of Protestant Christians who have historically sought to follow the methods or theology of the eighteenth-century evangelical reformers, John Wesley and his brother Charles Wesley, or to the likewise eponymous...
missionary. Eight years later the family moved to Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
and Fletcher attended Newington College
Newington College
Newington College is an independent, Uniting Church, day and boarding school for boys, located in Stanmore, an inner-western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....
, where his uncle, Joseph Horner Fletcher, was President and another uncle, Joseph James Fletcher
Joseph James Fletcher
Joseph James Fletcher was an Australian biologist, winner of the 1921 Clarke Medal.Fletcher was born at Auckland, New Zealand the son of the Rev Joseph Horner Fletcher, a Methodist clergyman, and his wife Kate, née Green...
, was a teacher. Charles Brunsdon Fletcher completed his education at Fort Street High School
Fort Street High School
Fort Street High School is a co-educational, academically selective, public high school currently located at Petersham, an inner western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....
.
Surveyor
On completion of his school years, Fletcher joined the Survey Department of New South WalesNew South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
as a cadet. He rose to supernumerary
Supernumerary
A Supernumerary is an additional member of an organization. A supernumerary is also a non-regular member of a staff, a member of the staff or an employee who works in a public office who is not part of the manpower complement...
draftsman in 1879 and became a field assistant four year later, Before moving to Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
in 1884 he worked on the Detail Survey of the City of Sydney
City of Sydney
The City of Sydney is the Local Government Area covering the Sydney central business district and surrounding inner city suburbs of the greater metropolitan area of Sydney, Australia...
. He obtained his Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
survey
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...
licence in 1885 and commenced private practice. For five years from 1888 he served on the Board of Examiners of Licensed Surveyors.
Journalist
In 1893, Fletcher became a journalist and joined the Brisbane Courier as a leader-writer. He had previously written for William LaneWilliam Lane
William Lane was a journalist, advocate of Australian labour politics and a utopian.-Early life:Lane was born in Bristol, England, eldest son of James Lane,from Ireland a Protestant Master Gardener , and his English wife Caroline, née Hall...
's Boomerang and had served as secretary of the Brisbane Literary Circle. He was also appointed Queensland correspondent of the Melbourne Argus. Fletcher was elected to Ithaca Shire Council
Town of Ithaca
Ithaca was a local government area of Queensland, located in western Brisbane. The Division of Ithaca was first proclaimed in 1879, and originally covered an area that stretched from Windsor, Kelvin Grove and Milton in the east, through to The Gap and beyond the Enoggera Dam in the west...
from 1892 until 1898 and served as president in 1894. In December 1898 he became the editor-in-chief of the Brisbane Courier and served as such until to April 1903.
Sydney Morning Herald
Fletcher returned to Sydney in 1903 as an associate editor of the Sydney Morning Herald and from 1918 until 1937 was Editor. When King George VGeorge V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
and Queen Mary
Mary of Teck
Mary of Teck was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, as the wife of King-Emperor George V....
were cowned in 1911 he was a member of the Australian delegation and represented the Herald at the fourth Imperial Press Conference in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1930. For four years from 1923, Fletcher was the President of the New South Wales Institute of Journalists.
University of Sydney
He served on the Senate of the University of SydneyUniversity of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
from 1923 until 1939 and was instrumental in its establishment of a diploma course in journalism. Fletcher further served the University as a lay member of the Council of Wesley College
Wesley College, University of Sydney
Wesley College is a Protestant co-residential college of over 230 students within the University of Sydney. The College occupies a site on the main campus of the University of Sydney and was built on a sub-grant of Crown Land.- Academic profile :...
from 1919. The Charles Brunsdon Fletcher Prize for Pacific History is awarded annually by the University.
Publications
- The New Pacific: British Policy and German Aims - MacMillanMacmillan PublishersMacmillan Publishers Ltd, also known as The Macmillan Group, is a privately held international publishing company owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. It has offices in 41 countries worldwide and operates in more than thirty others.-History:...
(1917) - The Problem of the Pacific - HeinemannHeinemann (book publisher)Heinemann is a UK publishing house founded by William Heinemann in Covent Garden, London in 1890. On William Heinemann's death in 1920 a majority stake was purchased by U.S. publisher Doubleday. It was later acquired by commemorate Thomas Tilling in 1961...
(1919) - Stevenson's Germany: The Case Against Germany in the Pacific - ScribnerCharles Scribner's SonsCharles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing a number of American authors including Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Stephen King, Robert A. Heinlein, Thomas Wolfe, George Santayana, John Clellon...
(1920) - The Black Knight of the Pacific - Australasian Publishing Company (1940)
- Coolah Valley (1927)
- Murray Valley (1926)
- Water Magic: Australia and the Future - SandsSands-Buildings:*Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem, a newly-opened casino resort in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania*Sands Hotel, a closed hotel/casino in Las Vegas, Nevada**Sands Atlantic City, a closed hotel/casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey...
(1945) - The Great Wheel: An Editor's Adventures - Angus and Robertson (1940)