Max Fatchen

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

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.

[citation needed] He entered journalism as a copy boy, and after five years in the Australian Army[4] and Royal Australian Air Force[5] during World War II, he became a journalist with The News and later The Advertiser.

[citation needed] Four decades of writing for children, especially those of primary school age, began in 1966 with The River Kings.

[7] Andrew Male Other Times Wakefield Press, Adelaide (1997) includes selections from Max's writings, many not previously republished ISBN 9781862543836[12]

Colin Thiele and Rhonnie Thiele with Max Fatchen standing behind at the State Library's 'Colin Thiele Day' in the Mortlock Library on 14 September 2000
Stone monument with brass plaque
Plaque on the Fatchen memorial at Angle Vale, South Australia