Robert Victor Macklin (born 1941 in

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 ...

) is an Australian

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

and

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 ...

. He was educated at Ironside Primary School,

Brisbane Grammar School Brisbane Grammar School (BGS) is an Independent school, independent, fee charging, non-denominational, day school, day and boarding school for boys, located in Spring Hill, Queensland, Spring Hill, an inner suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Austra ...

and the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

. He began his writing career for 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 ...

'' in

, later moving to ''

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'' in

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, '' The Bulletin'' in

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and the ''

Canberra Times ''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in 1 ...

'' in

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. In 1967 he became press secretary to Deputy Prime Minister

John McEwen Sir John McEwen (29 March 1900 – 20 November 1980) was an Australian politician and farmer who served as the 18th prime minister of Australia from 1967 to 1968, in a caretaker capacity following the disappearance of prime minister Harold Ho ...

shortly before the death of

Harold Holt Harold Edward Holt (5 August 190817 December 1967) was an Australian politician and lawyer who served as the 17th prime minister of Australia from 1966 until Disappearance of Harold Holt, his disappearance and presumed death in 1967. He held o ...

when McEwen briefly became prime minister. In 1974 while working in the Philippines at the

Asian Development Bank The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank to promote social and economic development in Asia. The bank is headquartered in Metro Manila, Philippines and maintains 31 field offices around the world. The bank was establishe ...

he began writing both fiction and non-fiction books, beginning with the novel ''The Queenslander''. Awarded a Commonwealth Writer's Fellowship, he returned to Australia in 1975 and wrote ''The Paper Castle'' (1978) and ''Juryman'' (1980), adapted by

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

to the film '' Storyville'' (1994) starring

James Spader James Todd Spader (born February 7, 1960; ) is an American actor. He is known for often portraying eccentric and morally ambiguous characters. He began his career in critically acclaimed independent films before transitioning into television, f ...

and

Jason Robards Jason Nelson Robards Jr. (July 26, 1922 – December 26, 2000) was an American actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he gained a reputation as an interpreter of the works of playwright Eugene O'Neill. Robards received numerous accola ...

. His non-fiction work includes ''Seven Cities of Australia'', ''Dark Paradise, Norfolk Island: Isolation, Savagery'', ''Murder''; ''100 Great Australians'', ''The Secret Life of Jesus'', ''Jacka VC: Australian Hero'', ''Fire in the Blood: The epic tale of Frank Gardiner and Australia's other bushrangers'', ''Bravest: How Some of Australia's Greatest War Heroes Won Their Medals'', the memoir ''War Babies'', ''

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian diplomat and former politician who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and June to September 2013. He held office as the Leaders of the Australian Labo ...

: The Biography, My Favourite Teacher, The Great Australian Pie, One False Move, SAS Sniper (with Rob Maylor), Redback One, SAS Insider, Warrior Elite, Hamilton Hume, Dragon & Kangaroo.'' With Peter Thompson he co-authored ''The Battle of Brisbane'', ''The Man Who Died Twice – the life and adventures of Morrison of China'', ''Kill The Tiger'', ''Keep Off the Skyline'' and ''The Big Fella: The Rise and Rise of

BHP Billiton BHP Group Limited, founded as the Broken Hill Proprietary Company, is an Australian multinational mining and metals corporation. BHP was established in August 1885 and is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria. As of 2024, BHP was the world� ...

.'' His awards include the Blake Dawson Prize for Business Literature (with Peter Thompson) in 2009, and Canberra Critics Circle awards for ''One False Move'', ''Dark Paradise'' and ''Hamilton Hume - Our Greatest Explorer.'' He is a graduate of the screen writing course of the

Australian Film, Television and Radio School The Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS), formerly Australian Film and Television School, is Australia's national screen arts and broadcast school. Opened to students in 1973 as Film and Television School (FTS), after accredita ...

and has written and directed documentary films in 32 countries of Asia and the South Pacific. With producer

Andrew Pike Andrew Franklin Pike is an Australian film historian, film distributor and exhibitor, and documentary producer and director. Pike formed Ronin Films, an Australian film distribution company, with his first wife, Merrilyn Fitzpatrick, in 1974, ...

he has written the screenplay ''Barefoot'' on Australia’s only Chinese bushranger, Sam Poo. Married to Wendy Macklin, he has two sons, and currently divides his time between Canberra and Tuross Head.

Works

* ''The Queenslander (Corgi, 1978)'' * ''The Paper Castle (Collins, 1977)'' *''Juryman (1982)'' *''100 Great Australians (Currey O'Neil, 1983)'' * ''The Secret Life of Jesus'', Pan Books, ''(1990)'' *''War Babies, A Memoir'' (Pandanus Books ANU, 2004) *''Fire in the Blood: The Epic Tale of

Frank Gardiner Frank Gardiner (1830 – c. 1882) was an Australian bushranger who became notorious for his lead role in the largest gold heist in Australian history, at Eugowra, New South Wales in June 1862. Gardiner and Gardiner-Hall gang, his gang, which in ...

and Australia's Other Bushrangers (2005)'' * ''Jacka VC: Australian Hero (2006)'' * ''Kevin Rudd - the biography (2007)'' * ''Bravest: How Some of Australia's Greatest War Heroes Won Their Medals (2008)'' * ''SAS Sniper'' With Rob Maylor (Hachette 2010) * ''Dark Paradise - Norfolk Island - Isolation, Savagery, Mystery and Murder'' (Hachette 2013) * ''Redback One'', (Hachette 2014) * ''SAS Insider'', (Hachette 2014) * ''Warrior Elite - Z Force to the SAS; Intelligence Operations to Cyber Warfare'' (Hachette 2015) * ''Hamilton Hume - Our Greatest Explorer'' (Hachette 2016) *''Dragon & Kangaroo: Australia and China's shared history from the goldfields to the present day (2017)'' *''Castaway - the extraordinary survival story of Narcisse Pelletier, a young French cabin boy shipwrecked on Cape York in 1858 (Hachette 2019)'' With Peter Thompson * ''The Battle of Brisbane (2000)'' * ''Morrison of China (2005)'' * ''Kill the Tiger (2002, 2005)'' * ''Keep off the Skylin''e (2004) * ''The Big Fella - the rise and rise of BHP Billiton (2009)'' * ''Operation Rimau'' (Hachette 2015)

External links

Robert Macklin's Web site
*
Storyville from IMDB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macklin, Robert Australian journalists Australian National University alumni Australian screenwriters Australian documentary film directors Living people 1941 births People educated at Brisbane Grammar School