Brian Con Penton (21 August 1904 – 24 August 1951) was an Australian

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

. He was born at Ascot, a suburb of

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, and educated at Brisbane Grammar School.

Writing career

In 1921 Penton found employment as a copy-boy on the ''Brisbane Courier'' and went on to work on ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

'', ''

The Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

'' and ''

The Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the highest circulation of paid newspapers in the UK. Its sister paper ''The Mail on Sunday'' was launch ...

'' in London and

Sir Frank Packer Sir Douglas Frank Hewson Packer (3 December 19061 May 1974), was an Australian media proprietor who controlled Australian Consolidated Press and the Nine Network. He was a patriarch of the Packer family. Early life Frank Packer was born in ...

's ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' in Sydney. He eventually became the editor of ''The Daily Telegraph''. He also did some speech-writing for the Australian prime minister Stanley Melbourne Bruce, and for Bruce's predecessor

Billy Hughes William Morris Hughes (25 September 1862 – 28 October 1952) was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923. He led the nation during World War I, and his influence on national politics s ...

. In addition, he worked as a political and social commentator and published a number of works criticizing the political regimes of the day. Penton wrote two novels, which sold quite well: '' Landtakers'' (1934), which chronicles pioneering life in Queensland from 1824 to 1864, and a sequel ''Inheritors'' (1936). One of the principal characters in these books is said to be based on

Patrick Mayne ''The Mayne Inheritance'' is a non-fiction narrative written by Queensland author Rosamond Siemon. It was first published in 1997 by University of Queensland Press, and a new edition with updated information was issued by the same publisher in ...

of the Mayne Inheritance.

William Dobell Sir William Dobell (24 September 189913 May 1970) was an Australian portrait and landscape artist of the 20th century. Dobell won the Archibald Prize, Australia's premier award for portrait artists on three occasions. The Dobell Prize is named ...

won the 1943

Archibald Prize The Archibald Prize is an Australian portraiture art prize for painting, generally seen as the most prestigious portrait prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after the receipt of a bequest from J. F. Archibald, J. F. Archib ...

(awarded January 1944) with his

caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, ...

portrait of

Joshua Smith (artist) Joshua Smith (12 March 190522 July 1995) was an Australian artist who won the Archibald Prize in 1944 with his portrait of Hon Sol Rosevear, MP, Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives, but is better known as the subject of the pre ...

. In the ensuing controversy Penton sided with Dobell, both in ''The Daily Telegraph'' and in his 1946 book on Dobell. The book includes a reproduction of Dobell's caricature portrait of Penton, submitted to the same Archibald exhibition. Penton Place, in the Canberra suburb of

Gilmore Gilmore or Gillmore may refer to: *Gilmore (surname) Places Australia *Gilmore, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb in the Canberra district of Tuggeranong * Gilmore Avenue, a road in southern Perth, Western Australia *Division of Gilmore, a ...

, is named in his honour.

Works

* * * * * *

External links

Works by Brian Penton
a
Project Gutenberg Australia

Sources

1904 births 1951 deaths Writers from Brisbane Australian male novelists 20th-century Australian novelists 20th-century Australian male writers 20th-century Australian journalists {{Australia-journalist-stub

Writing career

Works

External links

See also

Sources