author
Douglas Brooke Wheelton Sladen
1856–1947
An English author, poet, editor, and academic whose life carried him from London to Australia and back again, Douglas Sladen wrote widely about travel, history, poetry, and imagined futures. He is especially remembered for championing Australian literature and the poet Adam Lindsay Gordon.
3 Audiobooks
Twenty Years of My Life
by Douglas Brooke Wheelton Sladen
The Admiral: A Romance of Nelson in the Year of the Nile
by Douglas Brooke Wheelton Sladen
How to see the Vatican
by Douglas Brooke Wheelton Sladen
About the author
Born in London on 5 February 1856, Sladen was educated at Cheltenham College and Trinity College, Oxford, where he studied modern history. He moved to Australia in 1879, earned a law degree at the University of Melbourne, and in 1883 became the first lecturer in modern history at the University of Sydney. He returned to England in 1884.
Sladen became a prolific writer of poetry, novels, travel books, biographies, and anthologies. His collections Australian Ballads and Rhymes and Australian Poets, 1788–1888 helped introduce Australian writing to a wider audience, while works such as Fair Inez: A Romance of Australia reflected his lasting connection with the country. He also edited Who's Who and wrote extensively about Adam Lindsay Gordon, whose reputation he actively promoted.
Sladen died at Hove, Sussex, on 12 February 1947. His books Twenty Years of My Life and My Long Life provide personal accounts of a long career shaped by literary friendships, wide travel, and an enduring interest in Australia.