Peter John Allen FitzSimons (born 29 June 1961) is an Australian

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

, and

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and

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for people who garner ...

. He is a former national representative rugby union player and has been the chair of the Australian Republic Movement since 2015.

Early life

FitzSimons grew up in Peats Ridge, in the Central Coast of New South Wales. He was one of seven children. He attended Peats Ridge Public School and Knox Grammar School before going in 1978 to Findlay High School, Ohio, for a year as an

exchange student A student exchange program is a program in which students from a secondary school (high school) or university study abroad at one of their institution's partner institutions. A student exchange program may involve international travel, but d ...

on an American Field Service Scholarship. He then completed an arts degree at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public university, public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one o ...

, residing at Wesley College from 1980 to 1982.

Career

Rugby

FitzSimons first played club rugby with the Sydney University Football Club and then with the Manly RUFC in Sydney in the 1980s under the coaching of Alan Jones. Between 1985 and 1989 he played with CA Brive in France for four seasons as the club's first foreign player. He played seven test matches at lock for the

Australian national rugby union team The Australia national rugby union team, nicknamed the Wallabies, is the representative national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of Australia. The team first played at Sydney in 1899, winning their first test match against th ...

between 1989 and 1990, debuting against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

in Strasbourg in November 1989, on the Wallabies 1989 tour of Europe. His final Test match was against the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 198 ...

in Christchurch. Former Wallabies winger David Campese criticised FitzSimons for starting a brawl in Australia's first Test against

in 1990. Campese labelled FitzSimons' actions "a disgrace to the good name of rugby" and asserted that "he was doing the game and its reputation enormous damage." Campese cautioned that if such fights "turn even one family away from the game, then they have been too costly". Former Wallabies backrower Willie Ofahengaue said of FitzSimons: "He's a big character. Funny guy. Talkative. One thing I remember about rooming with him was he used to get his suitcase, tip it up and pour everything out on to the floor. When it was time to go home he would chuck everything back in any old way. Fitzy was a real roughie, but he is married now so he must have changed."

Journalist

FitzSimons has written for ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' since 1988, and has been a sports

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the form of a short ess ...

for that publication since 1987. He regularly appears on the Australian Foxtel program '' The Back Page'', formerly hosted by rugby league journalist Mike Gibson and now Tony Squires. For the Saturday edition of ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', FitzSimons writes a column titled "The Fitz Files" which looks at all the happenings over the past seven days in sport. He writes a more general version of "The Fitz Files" in '' The Sun-Herald'' on Sundays, focusing on community activities and events in Sydney. Andrew Denton has called him "Australia's finest sports journalist". On the 25 September 2001 he wrote a thought provoking opinion editorial piece titled Memo world: try saying sorry to avoid a sorry end. In August 2022 Fitzsimons threatened to sue Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price for defamation when she complained that he had been rude and aggressive in a telephone interview. Price urged FizSimons and the ''Sydney Morning Herald'' to release the recording of the interview but they declined to do so.

Radio

In January 2006 FitzSimons began co-hosting a breakfast radio program with Mike Carlton on Sydney radio station

2UE 2UE is an all-music radio station in Sydney owned by Nine Entertainment Co and run under a lease agreement by Ace Radio. It currently broadcasts from its studios in Pyrmont, New South Wales. History 1920s 2EU Electrical Utilities applied to the ...

. He was brought onto the 2UE breakfast show in an attempt to boost the program's dwindling ratings. However, the ''Mike and Fitz Breakfast Show'' still trailed a long way behind the number one program on 2GB, hosted by FitzSimons' former coach Alan Jones. After two years, FitzSimons quit to become a stay-at-home dad and focus on his writing.

Author

FitzSimons is a prolific writer and is one of Australia's best-selling non-fiction writers. He has written books about subjects such as Nancy Wake, the shipwreck of the Batavia, Sir

John Monash General Sir John Monash, (; 27 June 1865 – 8 October 1931) was an Australian civil engineer and military commander of the First World War. He commanded the 13th Infantry Brigade before the war and then, shortly after its outbreak, became c ...

, Breaker Morant, Charles Kingsford-Smith, and John Eales.

Selected books

* * * * * * *

Community and political activity

FitzSimons is or was involved with a range of community organisations. At the

he was a fellow of the Senate from 2009 to 2013, as well as Pro-Chancellor, a

patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

of The

Russell Prize The Russell Prize (Russell Prize for Humour Writing) is an Australian literary prize awarded every second year by the State Library of New South Wales to a humorous book. It was established in 2014 through a donation by Peter Wentworth Russell, "a ...

for Humour Writing,

State Library of New South Wales The State Library of New South Wales, part of which is known as the Mitchell Library, is a large heritage-listed special collections, reference and research library open to the public and is one of the oldest libraries in Australia. Establis ...

, since 2015 and chairman of the Australian Republic Movement since 2015. Additionally he served on the council of the

Australian War Memorial The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in wars involving the Commonwealth of Australia and some conflicts involving p ...

and founded the Cauliflower Club with Nick Farr-Jones. In the lead up to

2019 New South Wales state election The 2019 New South Wales state election was held on Saturday 23 March 2019 to elect the 57th Parliament of New South Wales, including all 93 seats in the Legislative Assembly and 21 of the 42 seats in the Legislative Council. The election was ...

, FitzSimons began a campaign to prevent the demolition of the

Sydney Football Stadium The Sydney Football Stadium, commercially known as Allianz Stadium and previously Aussie Stadium, was a football stadium in Moore Park, Sydney, Australia. Built in 1988 next to the Sydney Cricket Ground, the stadium was Sydney's premier rect ...

and

Stadium Australia Stadium Australia, currently known as Accor Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Sydney Olympic Park, in Sydney, Australia. The stadium, which in Australia is sometimes referred to as Sydney Olympic Sta ...

. He began by launching a petition in late 2017 on Change.org that reached approximately 220,000 signatures prior to the election as well as numerous editorial articles decrying the demolitions. The stadium issue became a major element of the campaign with Labor leader Michael Daley calling the election a "referendum on stadiums". On 5 December 2017, FitzSimons remarked on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

that the incumbent Gladys Berejiklian government could "bulldoze and rebuild three new stadiums, including Parra, for $3Billion – on no demand – or they can win the next election, but they can't do both." On 23 March, Berejiklian and her coalition were easily returned to government, with political commentators suggesting that the issue did not resonate with the wider community of the state. The campaign had a minor success however, as the Government changed the original plan for a complete knock down rebuild of Stadium Australia, and instead would go ahead with a billion dollar refurbishment. The refurbishment would also be cancelled, although no funds were allocated to any grassroots sports facilities as FitzSimmons wished, and later had a similar level of funding directed to a new stadium in Penrith.

Personal life

FitzSimons is married to Australian journalist and TV presenter

Lisa Wilkinson Lisa Wilkinson (born 19 December 1959) is an Australian television presenter and journalist. Wilkinson currently narrates ''Ambulance Australia'' and has previously co-hosted the Nine Network's breakfast television program, '' Today,'' with K ...

. They have three children and live in Sydney. FitzSimons has identified himself as an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

and a republican.

Bandana

Fitzsimmons is well renown for wearing a red bandana. He has explained his regularly wearing of the bandana due to his children giving it to him to wear, so he wears it for them. He is at times referred to informally as "Pirate Pete" due to his wearing of the headwear.

Honours

On 13 June 2011 FitzSimons was named a Member of the Order of Australia for service to literature as a biographer, sports journalist and commentator, and to the community through contributions to conservation, disability care, atheism, social welfare and sporting organisations.

References

External links

Homepage for FitzSimons' columns
in ''