Christopher Pearson (28 August 1951 – 7 June 2013) was an Australian journalist and conservative commentator who wrote for national

broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of in height. Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper ...

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...

'' and who for many years before had edited a monthly cultural magazine, ''

The Adelaide Review ''The Adelaide Review'' (AR) was a monthly print arts magazine and dynamic website in Adelaide, South Australia. It was first published in 1984, but gained standing after one of its writers, Christopher Pearson, took it over in 1985. In March ...

''.

Biography

Born in Sydney on 28 August 1951, Pearson spent most of his life in Adelaide. He received a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

with Honours (third-class) from

Flinders University Flinders University, established as The Flinders University of South Australia is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia, with a footprint extending across a number of locations in South Australia and ...

as well as a Graduate Diploma in Education from the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

. The topic of his honours thesis was Australian author

Patrick White Patrick Victor Martindale White (28 May 1912 – 30 September 1990) was an Australian novelist and playwright who explored themes of religious experience, personal identity and the conflict between visionary individuals and a materialistic, co ...

. He had left-wing leanings as a student, before becoming an admirer of the

social democrat Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

ic politics of

Bob Hawke Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and trade unionist who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991. He held office as the Australian Labor Party, leader of the La ...

and

Paul Keating Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) is an Australian former politician and trade unionist who served as the 24th prime minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996. He held office as the leader of the Labor Party (ALP), having previously ser ...

. He then moved to the right, voting for

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. His eleven-year tenure as prime min ...

in 1996. As proprietor of the ''Adelaide Review'', he bought the name of the Wakefield Press from the

South Australian government The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government or the SA Government, is the executive branch of the state of South Australia. It is modelled on the Westminster system, meaning that the highest ranking mem ...

and operated the company from 1986 to 1988. Pearson wrote occasional articles for a wide range of newspapers, including '' The Herald'', ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'', and ''

The Courier-Mail ''The Courier-Mail'' is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner norther ...

'', through the 1980s and 1990s. He was a regular columnist for the ''

Australian Financial Review The ''Australian Financial Review'' (''AFR'') is an Australian compact daily newspaper with a focus on business, politics and economic affairs. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New South Wales, and has been published continuously since its foun ...

'' between 1997 and 2001, before moving to the '' Weekend Australian''. In this paper he wrote commentary and articles that covered a wide variety of cultural and religious matters pertaining to Australian society. He was a member of the Council of the

National Museum of Australia The National Museum of Australia (NMA), in the national capital Canberra, preserves and interprets Australia's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation. It was formally established by the ''Nation ...

in 2005/6. He was also on the board of the government-owned SBS television station. He served as a

speechwriter A speechwriter is a person who is hired to prepare and write speeches to be delivered by another person. Speechwriters are employed by many senior-level elected officials and executives in the government and private sectors. They can also be em ...

to Howard, who served as

Prime Minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister is the chair of the Cabinet of Australia and thus the head of the Australian Government, federal executive government. Under the pr ...

from 1996 to 2007, and was a close friend and

mentor Mentorship is the patronage, influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the perso ...

to another Prime Minister,

Tony Abbott Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is an Australian former politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia and was the member of parli ...

(2013–2015), whose books he also edited. Pearson died in Adelaide on 7 June 2013. Tony Abbott was a pall-bearer at his burial.

Works

While Pearson left a large footprint with regard to the publishing of other authors via Wakefield Press, he himself published no

monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

s. His most significant work is an

essay An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

, "The ambiguous business of coming out" (1996), which was published in

Peter Coleman William Peter Coleman (15 December 1928 – 31 March 2019) was an Australian writer and politician. A widely published journalist for over 60 years, he was editor of '' The Bulletin'' (1964–1967) and of '' Quadrant'' for 20 years, and publi ...

's collection called ''Double Take''. In a September 2009 piece in ''The Australian'', Pearson wrote about how he reconciled his homosexuality with his Catholicism. He had converted to Catholicism in 1999, by which time he had committed to a life of chastity. A selection of Pearson's writings, edited by

Nick Cater Nicholas Charles Cater (born 7 July, 1958) is a British-born Australian journalist and author who writes on culture and politics. He is a columnist for ''The Australian'' newspaper. Early life and education Cater was born in Billericay, Essex, ...

and Helen Baxendale, was published in 2014 under the title ''A Better Class of Sunset'', with introductions by Abbott and

Jack Snelling John James Snelling (born 8 November 1972) is an Australian former politician. He was the Labor member for the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Playford from the 1997 election until his retirement in 2018. Snelling left the Labor Part ...

, both of whom had previously written or spoken admiringly of his work.

Biography

Works

References

Further reading