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 Daily Express and The Daily Mail in London and Sir Frank Packer's The Daily Telegraph 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. 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 1824-64, and a sequel Inheritors (1936). One of the principal characters in these books is said to be based on Patrick Mayne of the Mayne Inheritance.
William Dobell won the 1943 Archibald Prize (awarded January 1944) with his 'caricature' portrait of Joshua Smith (artist). 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.
Read more about this topic: Brian Penton
Famous quotes containing the words writing and/or career:
“The question mark is alright when it is all alone when it
is used as a brand on cattle or when it could be used
in decoration but connected with writing it is
completely entirely completely uninteresting.... A
question is a question, anybody can know that a
question is a question and so why add to it the
question mark when it is already there when the
question is already there in the writing.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
““Never hug and kiss your children! Mother love may make your children’s infancy unhappy and prevent them from pursuing a career or getting married!” That’s total hogwash, of course. But it shows on extreme example of what state-of-the-art “scientific” parenting was supposed to be in early twentieth-century America. After all, that was the heyday of efficiency experts, time-and-motion studies, and the like.”
—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)