Maxwell Edgar Fatchen, AM (3 August 1920 – 14 October 2012) was an Australian children's writer and journalist.

Early life

Fatchen was born at "Narma" private hospital, South Terrace, Adelaide, the only son of Cecil William Fatchen and Isabel Harriet Fatchen, née Ridgway, of "Garowen", Angle Vale. He spent his childhood on an Adelaide Plains farm at Angle Vale. He learned to drive a team of Clydesdale horses and did part of his secondary school studies at home, driving his horse and buggy once a week to Gawler High School to have his papers corrected.

Career

He entered journalism as a copy boy, and after five years in the Australian Army and Royal Australian Air Force during World War II, he became a journalist with The News and later The Advertiser. He covered many major stories in Australia and overseas. Four decades of writing for children, especially those of primary school age, began in 1966 with The River Kings. His children's poems, such as "Just fancy that", remain popular. He wrote 20 books; his novels appear in seven countries, and his poetry appears throughout the English-speaking world. The River Kings and Conquest of the River were the basis for a TV mini-series, The River Kings, in 1991.

Later life

He died on 14 October 2012 in his sleep.

Honours and legacy