author
Alfred Buchanan
1874–1941
A sharp-eyed Australian journalist and barrister, he wrote fiction and social commentary that aimed to show readers a less polished, more revealing picture of life in Australia. His work mixes storytelling with a reporter’s feel for public life and debate.
1 Audiobook
The real Australia
by Alfred Buchanan
About the author
Born in 1874 and dying in 1941, Alfred Buchanan was an Australian writer who also worked as a journalist and barrister. Sources on his career consistently describe him as a well-known journalist, and he wrote leader articles for The Age in the 1910s while also spending time as an editor of the Daily Mail in Brisbane.
He published both fiction and nonfiction. His known books include Bubble Reputation and The Real Australia, the latter of which has remained the work most often associated with his name. Some records also list him as Alfred Johnson Buchanan or A. J. Buchanan.
What makes Buchanan interesting is the mix of professions behind the writing: law, newspaper work, and literature all meet in his career. That combination helps explain why his books can feel both literary and closely tied to the social and political world around him.