A. G. (Alfred Greenwood) Hales

Born in Adelaide in 1860, Alfred Arthur Greenwood Hales worked a string of tough jobs before making his name as a writer, including time in the outback, on the goldfields, and in journalism. That varied early life fed directly into his fiction and nonfiction, giving his books a restless, firsthand quality.

He became well known as a war correspondent during the South African War, where his reports drew attention for their immediacy and strong opinions. Alongside journalism, he wrote a large number of books—adventure stories, novels, and travel pieces—and built a broad readership in the early 20th century.

Hales died in 1936. He is still of interest today as a lively Australian voice whose career mixed reporting, travel, and popular storytelling.