Charles Adams "Jeff" Jeffries (13 April 1869 – 17 April 1931) was an author and journalist in New Zealand and Australia.

Biography

Jeffries was born in 1869 at

Leigh Woods Leigh Woods is a area of woodland on the south-west side of the Avon Gorge, close to the Clifton Suspension Bridge, within North Somerset opposite the English city of Bristol and north of the Ashton Court estate, of which it formed a part. S ...

, near Bristol, England, and in 1878 was brought by his parents to New Zealand, where he helped his father manage a farm. He joined New Zealand Railways as a cadet

telegraphist A telegraphist (British English), telegrapher (American English), or telegraph operator is an operator who uses a telegraph key to send and receive the Morse code in order to communicate by land lines or radio. During the Great War the Royal ...

and later as

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is c ...

. He left New Zealand for Sydney in 1891, and after a few months working for the New South Wales Government took a position as journalist with ''

The Bulletin Bulletin or The Bulletin may refer to: Periodicals (newspapers, magazines, journals) * Bulletin (online newspaper), a Swedish online newspaper * ''The Bulletin'' (Australian periodical), an Australian magazine (1880–2008) ** Bulletin Debate, ...

'', doubling as the editor's secretary, and gained a reputation as Australia's best writer on

prize fighting Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

. He left ''The Bulletin'' in 1924 after some thirty years' service, and joined the ''

Daily Commercial News and Shipping List ''Daily Cargo News'' (DCN) is a monthly Australian shipping, trade, transport and logistics focused magazine, published by Paragon Media. First published in 1891 as ''Daily Commercial News'', ''Daily Cargo News'' is Australia's longest running na ...

'' as

leader writer A leader writer is a senior journalist in a British newspaper who is charged with writing the paper's editorial either in the absence of the editor or in cases where the editor chooses not to write editorials because their editorial skills may re ...

. His dedication to work was exemplified by his insistence of contributing to the paper, by dictation, in the last months of his life, when illness had him confined to bed. The paper published a number of "Letters to the Editor" in appreciation of his work. His remains were interred at the

Waverley Cemetery The Waverley Cemetery is a heritage-listed cemetery on top of the cliffs at Bronte in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Opened in 1877 and built by R. Watkins (cemetery lodge, 1878) and P. Beddie (cemetery office, 1915 ...

Other interests

Jeffries was a serious amateur photographer, contributing articles to the '' Australasian Photo-Review''.

Publications

''Famous Fights at the Stadium'' (1914) Platypus Press He published a great number of short stories under the titles ''The Shepherd Kings of Canterbury'' and ''By Rail and Semaphore'', which were never published as a collection. Jeffries and fellow ''Bulletin'' journalist John Barr wrote the screenplay for

Raymond Longford Raymond Longford (born John Walter Hollis Longford, 23 September 18782 April 1959) was a prolific Australian film director, writer, producer and actor during the silent era. Longford was a major director of the Australian films: 1896–1919, sile ...

's epic 1913 film '' Australia Calls'', now considered " lost".

Family

Jeffries was married and had several daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeffries, Charles 1869 births 1931 deaths Australian journalists