Ross Fitzgerald
{{Short description|Australian historian and novelist}}
{{for|the member of the Montana House of Representatives|Ross Fitzgerald (politician)}}
{{Use Australian English|date=June 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Ross Fitzgerald
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=AUS|sep=,|AM}}
| image =
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| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| other_names =
| occupation = Academic, historian, novelist, secularist, and political commentator
| alma_mater = University of New South Wales
| years_active =
| party = The Reason Party
| known_for = Australian Labor Party historian and author
| notable_works =
| spouse = Lyndal Moor (1944–2020)
| children =
}}
Ross Andrew Fitzgerald {{post-nominals|country=AUS|sep=,|AM}} is an Australian academic, historian, novelist, secularist, and political commentator. Fitzgerald is an emeritus professor in history and politics at Griffith University. He has authored or co-authored many books, including histories of Queensland; biographies; works about Labor Party politics of the 1950s; and books relating to philosophy, alcohol abuse, and Australian Rules football. He has written works of fiction.
Early life and education
Ross Andrew Fitzgerald was born in Melbourne, Victoria.{{cn|date=March 2025}}
He was awarded his PhD in political theory from the University of New South Wales.{{cn|date=March 2025}}
Career
Fitzgerald worked as a lecturer at Griffith University from 1977 to 1986, and then senior lecturer /associate professor between 1987 and 1996, followed by a personal chair between 1996 and 2002. In 2002 Fitzgerald was appointed professor in history and politics.{{cn|date=March 2025}}
During his time as an Australian Research Council senior research fellow from 1992 to 1996, as well as writing two political biographies, Fitzgerald co-produced two ABC TV documentaries, about E. G. Theodore and Australia's only Communist Party member of parliament, Fred Paterson.{{cn|date=March 2025}}
Fitzgerald wrote regular columns and book reviews for The Australian,{{cite news |url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/Ross%20Fitzgerald |title=Stories by Ross Fitzgerald |work=The Australian |accessdate=3 June 2016 }} The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times. He also appears on ABC Radio, ABC Television, the Alan Jones Show, Sky News Australia, and Channel 7. He was a regular guest speaker at The Sydney Institute.{{cite web |url=http://thesydneyinstitute.com.au/blog/speaker/ross-fitzgerald/ |title=Ross Fitzgerald|publisher=The Sydney Institute |date=2016 |accessdate=3 June 2016 }} In July 2023, Caroline Overington, literary editor of The Weekend Australian, announced that Fitzgerald would no longer be writing reviews for the newspaper after it was discovered that he had plagiarised many of his book reviews.{{cite web |url=https://meanjin.com.au/blog/plagiarism-cobbling-or-accidental-inclusion/ |title=Plagiarism, cobbling or accidental inclusion? |last=Garden |first=Mary |date=19 July 2023 |work=Meanjin |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230807063918/https://meanjin.com.au/blog/plagiarism-cobbling-or-accidental-inclusion/ |archive-date=7 August 2023 |url-status=live}}
Other roles and activities
Fitzgerald served as chair of Centenary of Federation Queensland between 1999 and 2002, and as a judge of the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Non Fiction and Australian History.
He was member of the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal from 2012 to 2016, of the Australian Government's Expert Advisory Group on Drugs and Alcohol between 2000 and 2013, a member of the New South Wales Heritage Council between 2003 and 2009, a member of the New South Wales Parole Board between 2002 and 2012, a member of Administrative Decisions Tribunal of New South Wales between 2002 and 2012, and a member of the Queensland Parole Board between 1997 and 2002.{{cn|date=March 2025}}
At the 2016 federal election Fitzgerald was a candidate for the Australian Senate representing the state of New South Wales, standing for the Australian Sex Party{{cite news |author=Butler, Josh |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2016/05/11/ross-fitzgerald-stands-for-sex-party-senate-spot/ |title=Ross Fitzgerald Stands For Sex Party Senate Spot |work=Huffington Post |location=Australia |date=11 May 2016 |accessdate=3 June 2016 }} (later renamed The Reason Party).
Fitzgerald is a life member of the Australian Republic Movement.{{cn|date=March 2025}}
Recognition and honours
In 2014 Fitzgerald as appointed a Member in the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to education in the field of politics and history as an academic, and to community and public health organisations.{{cite web |url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1150037 |title= FITZGERALD, Ross Andrew: Member of the Order of Australia |work=It's an Honour |publisher=Australian Government |date=9 June 2014 |accessdate=3 June 2016 }}
His 2015 book, Going out backwards: a Grafton Everest adventure was shortlisted for the 2017 Russell Prize for Humour Writing.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}
Personal life
Fitzgerald is a recovery alcoholic who admitted in his memoirs, My Name is Ross: An Alcoholic's Journey and Fifty Years Sober, to consuming excessive alcohol between the ages of 15 and 24 years, when he took his last drink.{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/spiritofthings/my-spiritual-diary---ross-fitzgerald/3792950 |title=My Spiritual Diary: Ross Fitzgerald |author=Kohn, Rachel |work=The Spirit of Things |publisher=Radio National |date=5 February 2012 |accessdate=3 June 2016 |format=transcript}}
Published works
Fitzgerald has published 46 books, including the following titles:{{cite web |url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/result?q=exact_creator%3A%22Fitzgerald%20Ross%201944%22 |title=Fitzgerald Ross 1944 |via=Trove |accessdate=3 June 2016 }}
- {{cite book |author1=Fitzgerald, Ross |title=The sources of hope |year=1979 |publication-date=1979 |publisher=Pergamon Press Australia |isbn=978-0-08-023104-4 }}
- {{cite book |author1=Fitzgerald, Ross |title=Comparing political thinkers |year=1980 |publication-date=1980 |publisher=Pergamon Press |isbn=978-0-08-024799-1 }}
- {{cite book |author1=Fitzgerald, Ross |title=From the dreaming to 1915: a history of Queensland |year=1982 |publication-date=1982 |publisher=University of Queensland Press |isbn=978-0-7022-1634-3 }}
- {{cite book |author1=Fitzgerald, Ross |author2=Moir, Alan |author2-link=Alan Moir |title=Pushed from the wings: an entertainment |year=1986 |publication-date=1986 |publisher=Hale & Iremonger |isbn=978-0-86806-243-3}}
- {{cite book |author1=Fitzgerald, Ross |title=All about anthrax |publication-date=1987 |publisher=Hale & Iremonger |isbn=978-0-86806-272-3 }}
- {{cite book |author1=Fitzgerald, Ross |author2=Thornton, Harold |title=Labor in Queensland: from the 1880s to 1988 |year=1989 |publication-date=1988 |publisher=University of Queensland Press |isbn=978-0-7022-2152-1}}
- {{cite book |author1=Fitzgerald, Ross |title=Busy in the fog: further adventures of Grafton Everest |year=1990 |publication-date=1990 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0-7329-0202-5 }}
- {{cite book |editor1=Fitzgerald, Ross |editor2=Spillman, Ken |title=The Greatest game |year=1989 |publication-date=1988 |publisher=William Heinemann Australia |isbn=978-0-85561-270-2 }}
- {{cite book |editor1=Fitzgerald, Ross |title=The Eleven deadly sins |publication-date=1993 |publisher=Minerva |isbn=978-0-85561-483-6 }}
- {{cite book |author1=Fitzgerald, Ross |title="Red Ted": the life of E. G. Theodore |publication-date=1994 |publisher=University of Queensland Press |isbn=978-0-7022-2649-6 }}, which was short-listed for the NSW Premier's Prize and for the National Biography Award.
- {{cite book |author1=Fitzgerald, Ross |author2=Allen, Davida |author3=Swan, Robbie |title=Soaring |publication-date=1994 |publisher=Angus & Robertson |isbn=978-0-207-18348-5 }}, awarded the Eros Foundation erotic novel of the year in 1994.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}}
- {{cite book |editor1=Fitzgerald, Ross |title=The eleven saving virtues |publication-date=1995 |publisher=Minerva |isbn=978-1-86330-463-4 }}
- {{cite book |author1=Fitzgerald, Ross |title=The footy club: inside the Brisbane Bears |publication-date=1996 |publisher=University of Queensland Press |isbn=978-0-7022-2904-6 }}
- {{cite book |author1=Fitzgerald, Ross |title=The people's champion, Fred Paterson: Australia's only Communist Party Member of Parliament |year=1997 |publication-date=1997 |publisher=University of Queensland Press |isbn=978-0-7022-2959-6 }}, about Fred Paterson.
- {{cite book |author1=Fitzgerald, Ross |title=Seven days to remember: the first Labor government in the world: Queensland, 1-7 December 1899 |year=1999 |publication-date=1999 |publisher=University of Queensland Press |isbn=978-0-7022-3139-1 }}
- {{cite book |author1=Fitzgerald, Ross |author2=Moore, Keith |title=The federation mirror: Queensland 1901-2001 |year=2002 |publication-date=2002 |publisher=University of Queensland Press |isbn=978-0-7022-3328-9 }}
- {{cite book |author1=Fitzgerald, Ross |author2=Carr, Adam James |author3=Dealy, William J. |title=The Pope's battalions: Santamaria, Catholicism and the Labor split |year=2003 |publication-date=2003 |publisher=University of Queensland Press |isbn=978-0-7022-3389-0 }}
- {{cite book |editor1=Fitzgerald, Ross |editor2=Moor, Lyndal |title=Growing old (dis)gracefully: 35 Australians reflect on life over 50 |year=2008 |publication-date=2008 |publisher=ABC Books |isbn=978-0-7333-2267-9 }}
- {{cite book |author1=Fitzgerald, Ross |author2=Megarrity, Lyndon |author3=Symons, David |title=Made in Queensland: a new history |year=2009 |publication-date=2009 |publisher=University of Queensland Press |isbn=978-0-7022-3661-7 }}
- {{cite book |author1=Fitzgerald, Ross |author2=Blainey, Anna E. |author3=Jordan, Trevor L. |author4=Rakvin, Christine |title=Under the influence: a history of alcohol in Australia |year=2009 |publication-date=2009 |publisher=ABC Books |isbn=978-0-7333-2301-0 }}
- {{cite book |author1=Fitzgerald, Ross |author2=Holt, Stephen |title=Alan "the Red Fox" Reid: pressman par excellence |publication-date=2010 |publisher=New South Books |isbn=978-1-74223-132-7 }}
- {{cite book |author=Fitzgerald, Ross |title=My name is Ross: an alcoholic's journey |publication-date=2010 |publisher=New South Books | isbn=978-1-74223-102-0 }}
- {{cite book |author1=Fitzgerald, Ross |author2=Jordan, Trevor Leslie |title=Fools' paradise: life in an altered state |publication-date=2011 |publisher=Arcadia |isbn=978-1-921509-58-2 |issn=1836-9413 }}
- {{cite book |author1=Fitzgerald, Ross |author2=Murphy, Rick |title=Austen Tayshus: merchant of menace |publication-date=2011 |publisher=The GHR Press |isbn=978-0-86806-719-3 }}
- {{cite book |editor1=Fitzgerald, Ross |editor2=Spillman, Ken |title=Australia's game: stories, essays, verse & drama inspired by the Australian game of football |year=2013 |publication-date=2013 |location=Richmond, Victoria |publisher=Slattery Media Group |isbn=978-0-9875002-0-5 }}, a book about Australian rules football.
- {{cite book |author1=Fitzgerald, Ross |author2=McFadyen, Ian |author2-link=Ian McFadyen |title=Going out backwards: a Grafton Everest adventure |date=27 November 2018 |publication-date=2015 |location=Ormond, Victoria |publisher=Hybrid Publishers |isbn=978-1-925272-10-9 }} Going out backwards was shortlisted for the 2017 Russell Prize for Humour Writing.
- {{cite book |author1=Reid, Alan Douglas |author1-link=Alan Reid (journalist) |editor=Fitzgerald, Ross |title=The Bandar-log: a Labor story of the 1950s |date=May 2015 |publication-date=2015 |location=Brisbane, Queensland |publisher=Connor Court Publishing |isbn=978-1-925138-52-8 }}
- {{cite book |editor=Fitzgerald, Ross |title=Heartfelt Moments in Australian Rules Football |publication-date=2016 |publisher= Connor Court Publishing |isbn=978-1-9251-3894-8}}
- {{cite book |author1=Fitzgerald, Ross |author2=Funnell, Antony |title=So Far, So Good : An Entertainment |publication-date=2018 |publisher=Hybrid Publishers |isbn=978-1-9252-7297-0}}
- {{cite book |author1=Fitzgerald, Ross |author2=McFadyen, Ian |title=The Dizzying Heights |publication-date=2019|publisher=Hybrid Publishers, Melbourne |isbn=978-1-9257-36304 }}
- {{cite book|author1=Fitzgerald, Ross|title=Fifty Years Sober: An Alcoholic's Journey|publication-date=2020|publisher=Hybrid Publishers, Melbourne}}
- {{cite book|author1=Fitzgerald, Ross |author2=McFadyen, Ian |title=The Lowest Depths: The Eighth in The Grafton Everest series|publication-date=2021|publisher=Hybrid Publishers, Melbourne}}
- {{cite book|author1=Fitzgerald, Ross |author2=Price, Neal |title=My Last Drink: 32 Stories of Recovering Alcoholics|publication-date=2023|publisher=Connor Court, Brisbane}}
- {{cite book|author1=Fitzgerald, Ross |author2=McFadyen, Ian |title=Pandemonium: The Ninth in The Grafton Everest series|publication-date=2023|publisher=Hybrid Publishers, Melbourne}}
- {{cite book|author1=Fitzgerald, Ross |author2=McFadyen, Ian |title=The Ascent of Everest|publication-date=2024|publisher=Hybrid Publishers, Melbourne}}
Television and film documentaries
- {{cite AV media |title=The Legend of Fred Paterson |people=Dawson, Jonathan; Laughren, Pat; Fitzgerald, Ross (Producers) |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=April 1996 }}
- {{cite AV media |title=Red Ted and the Great Depression |people=Laughren, Pat; Fitzgerald, Ross (Producers) |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=August 1995 }}
;In development
- {{cite AV media |title=Last Drinks |people=Price, Neal; Fitzgerald, Ross (Producers) }}
- {{cite AV media |title=Stories from the Great Labor Split of the 1950s |people=Laughren, Pat; Fitzgerald, Ross (Producers) }}
- {{cite AV media |title=Alexander Kerensky and Nelle Tritton |people=McFadyen, Ian; Fitzgerald, Ross (Producers) }}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.rossfitzgerald.com Personal website]
- [http://www.rossfitzgerald.com/books/my-name-is-ross/ My Name is Ross: An Alcoholic's Journey]
- [http://www.rossfitzgerald.com/books/soaring/ Soaring]
{{Authority control}}
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Category:Australian historians
Category:20th-century Australian novelists
Category:21st-century Australian novelists
Category:Australian male novelists
Category:Australian political scientists
Category:Australian screenwriters
Category:Australian Sex Party politicians
Category:Australian people of Irish descent
Category:People from Queensland
Category:University of New South Wales alumni
Category:Historians of Australia
Category:Australian male screenwriters
Category:20th-century Australian male writers