The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Chandler, Alfred Thomas

1365459The Dictionary of Australasian Biography — Chandler, Alfred ThomasPhilip Mennell

Chandler, Alfred Thomas, was born in Geelong, Victoria, in 1852, his father being a native of New South Wales. The latter, after some experience on the diggings, eventually settled at Hamilton, in the western district of Victoria, where his son, the future poet, received the rudiments of education at the State school, afterwards attending night classes and several terms at the Hamilton Academy. Having acquired the typographical art in the office of the Hamilton Spectator, Mr. Chandler removed in 1878 to Adelaide where he joined the staff of the South Australian Register, and subsequently acted for six years as a parliamentary reporter for the Advertiser. In 1889 Mr. Chandler, in conjunction with Mr. H. C. Evans, started a satirical weekly paper called Quiz, which enjoys a considerable popularity in South Australia. In 1887 Mr. Chandler published a "Bush Idyll and other Poems," and in 1889 "Songs of the Sunland."