Fred J. Broomfield

Who was Fred J. Broomfield?

Fred J Broomfield was English-born Australian writer, friend of Australian writer Henry Lawson and prominent co-member with him of the Dawn and Dusk Club which formed around poet Victor Daley; some meetings were held in his Darlinghurst home. Before coming to Sydney in the 1880s, where he gained employment as an accountant, Broomfield worked for the Kyneton Guardian and as a correspondent for the Melbourne Age.

Flamboyant, bohemian Broomfield was a contributor to The Bulletin and at one time worked there as a sub-editor. Tradition has it that it was Broomfield who accepted Henry Lawson's first Bulletin contribution. He defended Lawson in Henry Lawson and his Critics.