DALLEY, John Bede (1878-1935)

journalist and novelist

younger son of William Bede Dalley (q.v.), was born at Sydney on 5 October 1878, and was educated at Beaumont College, England, and at Oxford. He was called to the bar in London in 1901 and practised at Sydney until 1907, when he joined the staff of the Bulletin. He served in the 1914-18 war for three years in Egypt and France, and on his return rejoined the Bulletin. In 1924 he was appointed editor of Melbourne Punch which, however, ceased publication about a year later. Dalley returned to Sydney and became associate-editor of the Bulletin. In 1928 he published a novel No Armour, which was followed in 1929 by Max Flambard, and in 1930 by Only the Morning. These books, though scarcely in the front rank of Australian fiction, are all well written commentaries on the life of the period. Dalley also wrote short stories and was an excellent all-round journalist. He was washed off the rocks while fishing and drowned on 6 September 1935. He married Claire, daughter of Charles Scott, who survived him with a daughter.

The Bulletin 18 September 1935, pp. 4, 9, 14: Smith's Weekly, 28 September 1935; E. Morris Miller, Australian Literature; Who's Who in Australia, 1933.