Around 1882 he took over a sub-editorial chair of the Port Adelaide News, where he demonstrated a conspicuous ability and won many friends, including John Deslandes, James Haddy, the Rev.
He was convicted of criminal libel for a paragraph in the issue of 11 July 1885 accusing Samuel Tomkinson of corruption in respect of his support of a projected railway between Port Augusta and Phillip Ponds,[2] near Woomera.
He published several pamphlets exposing these faults, in order that the Colonial Office might not be able to plead ignorance as an excuse for inaction or mistaken policy.
In his last years he lived alone in a remote area of Fiji, not far from the residence of his niece, Mrs Bucknell, and died at either Nadroga[8] or Nausori.
His uncompromising nature made it rather difficult sometimes to work with him, but, even when his advanced views could not be endorsed, his friends admired his independence and sterling character.