Randolph Bedford
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Randolph Bedford (born George Randolph Bedford 27 June 1868 – 7 July 1941) was an Australian poet, novelist, short story writer and
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state politician.


Early life

Bedford was born in Camperdown,
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, the son of Alfred Bedford, who migrated from
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, England in 1859 and obtained work as a house painter. He was educated at the Newtown state school. At the age of 14, he worked with a Sydney solicitors firm as an office-boy. At 16 years of age he worked in the western district of
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
, shooting rabbits. He carried copies of Carlyle's '' French Revolution'',
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and the
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. He worked for a year as a clerk in
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and joined up with a repertory company run by Edmund Duggan, in
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.


Literary career

Bedford had a short story accepted by '' The Bulletin'' in 1886, the first of many contributions. In 1888 he worked for a time on the ''Argus'' (
Broken Hill Broken Hill is a city in the Far West (New South Wales), far west region of outback New South Wales, Australia. An inland mining city, it is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Hi ...
, NSW), and in 1889 on ''
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'',
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for about two years. Freelancing followed, verse, short stories and sketches, written while travelling in Australia searching for payable mining fields. From 1901 to 1904 Bedford was in Europe and wrote a series of travel sketches. In 1916 these were collected and published under the title of ''Explorations in Civilization''. His first novel, ''True Eyes and the Whirlwind'', appeared in London in 1903, and his ''Snare of Strength'' was published two years later. Three short novels appeared afterwards in the Bookstall series, ''Billy Pagan, Mining Engineer'' (1911), ''The Silver Star'' (1917) and ''Aladdin and the Boss Cockie'' (1919), the latter also adapted into a play in four acts. He had also made a collection of his ''Bulletin'' verse in 1904, however the unbound sheets were all burned during a fire at the printers, except about six copies which were bound without title-page and apparently given to friends. A few years before his death, Bedford stated that he did not regret the fire as some of the verses included "could only be excused on account of his extreme youth at the time of writing". He was then preparing a selection of his verse for the press which, however, was not published. Other short stories included: ''Fourteen Fathoms by Quetta Rock'' and ''The Language of Animals''. A comprehensive bibliography of Bedford's work was published in 1982. With Australian authors
Henry Lawson Henry Archibald Hertzberg Lawson (17 June 1867 – 2 September 1922) was an Australian writer and bush poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period ...
and Victor Daley ''et al.'', he was a member of the elite Dawn and Dusk Club.


Political career

In 1917, Bedford entered the
Queensland Legislative Council Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, ...
, on a platform to secure its abolition (which occurred in 1922). In 1923, he was elected as
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candidate to the
Queensland Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly h ...
for Warrego, a seat which he held until his resignation in 1937 to contest the
Division of Maranoa The Division of Maranoa is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian electoral division in Queensland. Maranoa extends across the Outback, Southern Outback and is Social conservatism, socially conservative. It is the ...
in the
Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Australian Senate, Senate. Its composition and powers are set out in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. ...
. Bedford was defeated, but was again elected to his old seat in the Queensland Legislative Assembly. He had an impatient streak and was not elected to cabinet. He was an ardent Protectionist, and decried the way the wealth of Australia was exported to pay for shoddy goods which could have been produced locally. Bedford died on 7 July 1941 and was cremated at
Mount Thompson crematorium Mount Thompson Memorial Gardens and Crematorium (formerly Brisbane Crematorium) includes a heritage-listed chapel (the West Chapel), columbaria and other features. It is located on north-western slopes of Mount Thompson (Queensland), Mount Thomp ...
.


Bibliography


Plays

*'' White Australia'' (1909) *''Lady of the Pluck-Up'' (1911) *'' The Boss Cockie'' (1920)


Novels

*''True Eyes and the Whirlwind'' (1903) *''The Snare of Strength'' (1905) *''Sops of Wine'' (1909) *''Billy Pagan Mining Engineer'' (1911) *''The Mates of Torres'' (1911) *''The Lady of the Pickup'' (1911) *''The Silver Star'' (1917) *''Aladdin and the Boss Cockie'' (1919) Short Story A Samaritan of the Riverine, in [Adventure Magazine, vol 1 No 4, 1911)


Non-fiction

*''Explorations in Civilization'' (1914)


Autobiography

*''Naught to Thirty-Three'' (1944)


References

Additional sources listed by the ''Dictionary of Australian Biography'': :''The Courier-Mail'', Brisbane, 8 July 1941; ''The Bulletin'', 16 July 1941; ''The Worker'', Brisbane, 8 July 1941; E. Morris Miller, ''Australian Literature''; Nettie Palmer, ''Modern Australian Literature''; See also, Randolph Bedford, ''Naught to Thirty-three''. :G. Blainey, ''Mines in the Spinifex'' (Syd, 1960); C. Lack (ed), ''Three Decades of Queensland Political History, 1929–1960'' (Brisb, 1962); N. Lindsay, ''Bohemians of the Bulletin'' (Syd, 1965); L. A. Lindsay, ''Comedy of Life'' (Syd, 1967); R. Lindsay, ''Model Wife'' (Syd, 1967); ''Overland'', no 26, 1963; ''Bulletin'', 12 February 1894, 4 January 1912; ''Australasian'' (Melbourne), 30 October 1920; ''Sydney Morning Herald'', 4 June 1924, 26 October 1929, 18 November 1933, 9 Feb 28 July 1934, 6 Feb 30, 31 May 1935; Bedford papers (State Library of Queensland); Alfred Deakin papers (National Library of Australia); A1 and A3 series lists (National Archives of Australia). {{DEFAULTSORT:Bedford, Randolph 1868 births 1941 deaths 20th-century Australian novelists Australian male novelists Australian poets Australian male short story writers Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Members of the Queensland Legislative Council Australian male poets Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Queensland 20th-century Australian short story writers 20th-century Australian male writers