Ambrose Pratt
Ambrose Pratt | |
---|---|
Born | Ambrose Goddard Hesketh Pratt 31 August 1874 |
Died | 9 June 1944 Surrey Hills, Victoria, Australia | (aged 69)
Occupation | writer & journalist |
Spouse | Eileen May Roberts |
Parent | Dr. Eustace Henry Lever Pratt & Caroline (née Kershaw) |
Ambrose Goddard Hesketh Pratt (31 August 1874 – 13 April 1944) was an Australian writer born into a cultivated family in Forbes, New South Wales.[1][2]
Early life
Pratt was the third of seven children of Eustace Pratt, a well-connected physician fluent in
Writing career
Around the time of his university studies Pratt began writing pro-labour (and anti-Asian immigration) articles for The Australian Worker. Once qualified as a solicitor, he rose to admission to the Supreme Court of New South Wales in 1897. But this life must not have suited him, as he left to follow a more adventurous existence, including work on a Pacific trading steamer and as a Queensland drover.
He travelled to England where he commenced writing novels and stories for magazines such as The Bulletin and The Lone Hand, and began what was to become a career in journalism with the Daily Mail which brought him back to Australia in 1905.
He joined The Age as a journalist in 1905, gaining considerable influence (David Syme was a mentor), and was a member of the party with Prime Minister Andrew Fisher visiting the newly founded Union of South Africa for the opening of its parliament. In 1918, as a prominent protectionist in the tariff debate then raging, became founding editor and part-owner of the Australian Industrial and Mining Standard to 1927.[2] He was involved in companies mining for tin in Malaya and Siam.
Pratt's novels frequently focussed on criminal outsiders such as "
Other activities
With retirement from journalism, he became involved with keeping Australian fauna in the
He was a proponent (from around 1925) of The Ghan railway to Alice Springs and rode in the VIP carriage during the inaugural journey.[5] In 1933 he founded the League of Youth with the aim of encouraging citizenship and love of nature. His politics, initially pro-labour, had turned decidedly conservative from the time of the Australian Labor Party split of 1916. His mining and newspaper investments may have been a contributing factor. By 1931, as a member of "The Group",[3] he was helping ease the departure of Joseph Lyons from the Labor Party, including the writing of his resignation speech.[2]Bibliography
Among his 30-odd novels are
- King of the Rocks Hutchinson, London 1900 (not 1898)[3]
- Franks: Duellist 1901 (not 1899)[3]
- aka Spiller og Duellant : Roman
- aka Den högsta hasarden Holger Schildts förlagsaktiebolag, Stockholm 1919
- The Great 'Push' Experiment Grant Richards, London 1902
- The Doings of Vigorous Daunt, Billionaire serialised in Harmsworth London Magazine 1903
- (ill. Stanley L Wood) Ward Lock & Co., London 1905.
- aka Billionaren : afventyrsroman
- The Counterstroke Ward Lock & Co. London 1906[3]
- The Leather Mask 1907[3]
- aka Manden med Masken 1907[3]
- The Remittance Man Ward Lock & Co. London 1907
- aka Jan Digby (not "Bigby")[3]
- The Outlaws of Weddin Range Ward Lock & Co. London 1907
- (ill. Sir Lionel Lindsay) NSW Bookstall, Sydney 1911[3]
- The Big Five serialised in The Lone Hand 1907–08[1]
- First Person Paramount (ill. J MacFarlane) Ward Lock & Co., London 1908.
- The Living Mummy Ward Lock and Co, London 1910
- Frederick A Stokes, New York 1910[3]
- Karoola NSW Bookstall, Sydney 1911[3]
- Dan Kelly 1911
- A Daughter of the Bush Ward Lock and Co, London 1912[3]
- Wolaroi's Cup NSW Bookstall, Sydney 1913[3]
- The Golden Kangaroo NSW Bookstall, Sydney 1913[3]
- The Mysterious Investment Sydney 1914
- War in the Pacific Critchley Parker, Australia 1914.
- Her Assigned Husband Simpkin Marshall Hamilton Kent & Co. London 1916[3]
- Everyman (poems) Speciality Press, Melbourne 1933[3]
- Lift Up Your Eyes Robertson & Mullens, Melbourne 1935[3]
Non-fiction publications include
- Three Years with Thunderbolt (ed. George Monckton) States Publishing Co. 1905
- David Syme: The Father of Protection in Australia Ward Lock & Co, London 1908[1]
- The Real South Africa Bobbs Merrill, Indianapolis 1912[3]
- Notes on the Laws and Customs of War 1914
- The Red Book: a Post-Bellum Policy for the British People 1914[3]
- Edwardian South Africa: Grudges and Repulsion
- Why Should We Fight for England Australian Statesman and Mining Standard 1917
- The Judgment of the Orient (as by K'ung Yuan Ku'suh) E P Dutton and Co 1917
- The Australian Tariff Handbook 1919[2]
- British Railways and the Great War 1921
- Magical Malaya Robertson & Mullens 1931[3]
- The Elements of Constructive Economics 1931[3]
- The Lore of the Lyrebird The Endeavour Press 1933 (reprint Robertson & Mullens 1940) ISBN 1-135-89952-5[2]
- The Art of John Kauffmann Manuscripts: A Miscellany of Art and Letters no. 7 1933
- The Centenary History of Victoria 1934
- The Handbook of Australia's Industries 1934[1]
- The Call of the Koala Robertson and Mullens, Melbourne 1937[3]
- Handmaids of the Sun Robertson & Mullens, Melbourne 1944[3]
- Sidney Myer: a biography Quartet Books Australia 1978[3]
Legacy
Pratt ended his life an opponent of the
In 1941, Pratt was appointed as a Commander of the Order of the White Elephant by the government of Thailand, for his service as consul-general in Australia. He was the first Australian inducted into the order.[6]
His portrait by Charles Wheeler won the 1933 Archibald prize.[7]
The Ambrose Pratt section of the Royal Zoological Gardens in Melbourne is named for him.[2]
References
- ^ a b c d e Oxford Companion to Australian Literature (2nd ed.) Oxford University Press, Melbourne 1994
- ^ a b c d e f g Langmore, Diane. "Pratt, Ambrose Goddard Hesketh (1874–1944)". Biography - Ambrose Goddard Hesketh Pratt - Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
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:|website=
ignored (help) - ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac "Ambrose Pratt". Austlit.edu.au. 13 April 1944. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 July 2008. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "The Ghan - History". Archived from the original on 29 September 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
- ^ "Australian Gets 'Order of White Elephant'". The Courier-Mail. Brisbane. 6 October 1941.
- ^ "Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes 2016 :: Art Gallery NSW". Thearchibaldprize.com.au. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
External links
- Works by Ambrose Pratt at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Ambrose Pratt at Internet Archive
- Contents to Ambrose Pratt Papers[permanent dead link] at State Library of Victoria
- Ambrose Pratt at Library of Congress, with 16 library catalogue records