Ross Andrew Fitzgerald AM (born in 1944) is an Australian academic, historian, novelist, secularist, and political commentator. Fitzgerald is an Emeritus Professor in History and Politics at Griffith University. He has authored or co-authored forty-five books, including three histories of Queensland, two biographies, works about Labor Party politics of the 1950s, with other books relating to philosophy, alcohol and Australian Rules football, as well as ten works of fiction, including nine political/sexual satires about his corpulent anti-hero Professor Dr Grafton Everest.

In 2018 Ross Fitzgerald published the Grafton Everest sexual/political satire So Far, So Good : An entertainment. In 2019, he published the Grafton Everest adventure The Dizzying Heights and in March 2020, his memoir Fifty Years Sober. In November 2021 he published the eighth Grafton Everest adventure, The Lowest Depths. All these books are published by Hybrid in Melbourne.

Fitzgerald was an alcoholic who admitted in his memoirs, My Name is Ross: An Alcoholic's Journey and Fifty Years Sober, to consuming excessive alcohol between the ages of 15 and 24 years, when he took his last drink.^[1] He has now been sober for 54 years.

At the 2016 federal election Fitzgerald was a candidate for the Australian Senate representing the state of New South Wales, standing for the Australian Sex Party,^[2] which is now renamed The Reason Party.

Biography

Born in Melbourne, Victoria on Christmas Day 1944, Fitzgerald was awarded his PhD in political theory from the University of New South Wales. His academic career has included appointments at Griffith University as a Lecturer between 1977 and 1986, a Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor between 1987 and 1996, and a Personal Chair between 1996 and 2002. In 2002 Fitzgerald was appointed as Professor in History and Politics.

During his time as an Australian Research Council Senior Research Fellow from 1992 to 1996, as well as writing two political biographies Professor Fitzgerald co-produced two ABCTV documentaries, also about E.G. ("Red Ted") Theodore and Australia's only Communist Party member of parliament, Fred Paterson.

Fitzgerald wrote regular columns and book reviews for The Weekend Australian,^[3] The Australian, the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times. He also appears on ABC Radio, ABC Television, the Alan Jones Show, SkyNews, and Channel 7 and is a regular guest speaker at The Sydney Institute.^[4] On 22 July 2023, Caroline Overington, literary editor of The Weekend Australian, announced that Ross Fitzgerald would no longer be writing reviews for the newspaper after it was discovered that he had plagiarised many of his book reviews.^[5]

In addition to his academic and political commentary appointments, Fitzgerald has served as the Chair of Centenary of Federation Queensland between 1999 and 2002, a Judge of the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Non Fiction and Australian History, a member of the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) from 2012 to 2016, a member of the Australian Government's Expert Advisory Group on Drugs and Alcohol between 2000 and 2013, a member of the New South Wales Heritage Council between 2003 and 2009, a member of the New South Wales Parole Board between 2002 and 2012, a member of Administrative Decisions Tribunal of New South Wales between 2002 and 2012, and a member of the Queensland Parole Board between 1997 and 2002.

Fitzgerald is a life member of the Australian Republic Movement.

In 2014 Fitzgerald as appointed a Member in the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to education in the field of politics and history as an academic, and to community and public health organisations.^[6] His 2015 book, Going out backwards: a Grafton Everest adventure was shortlisted for the 2017 Russell Prize for Humour Writing.^{[citation needed]}

Published works

Fitzgerald has published 45 books, including the following titles:^[7]

• Fitzgerald, Ross (1979). The sources of hope. Pergamon Press Australia. ISBN 978-0-08-023104-4.
• Fitzgerald, Ross (1980). Comparing political thinkers. Pergamon Press. ISBN 978-0-08-024799-1.
• Fitzgerald, Ross (1982). From the dreaming to 1915: a history of Queensland. University of Queensland Press. ISBN 978-0-7022-1634-3.
• Fitzgerald, Ross; Moir, Alan (1986). Pushed from the wings: an entertainment. Hale & Iremonger. ISBN 978-0-86806-243-3.
• Fitzgerald, Ross (1987). All about anthrax. Hale & Iremonger. ISBN 978-0-86806-272-3.
• Fitzgerald, Ross; Thornton, Harold (1989). Labor in Queensland: from the 1880s to 1988. University of Queensland Press (published 1988). ISBN 978-0-7022-2152-1.
• Fitzgerald, Ross (1990). Busy in the fog: further adventures of Grafton Everest. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-7329-0202-5.
• Fitzgerald, Ross; Spillman, Ken, eds. (1989). The Greatest game. William Heinemann Australia (published 1988). ISBN 978-0-85561-270-2.
• Fitzgerald, Ross, ed. (1993). The Eleven deadly sins. Minerva. ISBN 978-0-85561-483-6.
• Fitzgerald, Ross (1994). "Red Ted": the life of E. G. Theodore. University of Queensland Press. ISBN 978-0-7022-2649-6., which was short-listed for the NSW Premier's Prize and for the National Biography Award.
• Fitzgerald, Ross; Allen, Davida; Swan, Robbie (1994). Soaring. Angus & Robertson. ISBN 978-0-207-18348-5., awarded the Eros Foundation erotic novel of the year in 1994.^{[citation needed]}
• Fitzgerald, Ross, ed. (1995). The eleven saving virtues. Minerva. ISBN 978-1-86330-463-4.
• Fitzgerald, Ross (1996). The footy club: inside the Brisbane Bears. University of Queensland Press. ISBN 978-0-7022-2904-6.
• Fitzgerald, Ross (1997). The people's champion, Fred Paterson: Australia's only Communist Party Member of Parliament. University of Queensland Press. ISBN 978-0-7022-2959-6., about Fred Paterson.
• Fitzgerald, Ross (1999). Seven days to remember: the first Labor government in the world: Queensland, 1-7 December 1899. University of Queensland Press. ISBN 978-0-7022-3139-1.
• Fitzgerald, Ross; Moore, Keith (2002). The federation mirror: Queensland 1901-2001. University of Queensland Press. ISBN 978-0-7022-3328-9.
• Fitzgerald, Ross; Carr, Adam James; Dealy, William J. (2003). The Pope's battalions: Santamaria, Catholicism and the Labor split. University of Queensland Press. ISBN 978-0-7022-3389-0.
• Fitzgerald, Ross; Moor, Lyndal, eds. (2008). Growing old (dis)gracefully: 35 Australians reflect on life over 50. ABC Books. ISBN 978-0-7333-2267-9.
• Fitzgerald, Ross; Megarrity, Lyndon; Symons, David (2009). Made in Queensland: a new history. University of Queensland Press. ISBN 978-0-7022-3661-7.
• Fitzgerald, Ross; Blainey, Anna E.; Jordan, Trevor L.; Rakvin, Christine (2009). Under the influence: a history of alcohol in Australia. ABC Books. ISBN 978-0-7333-2301-0.
• Fitzgerald, Ross; Holt, Stephen (2010). Alan "the Red Fox" Reid: pressman par excellence. New South Books. ISBN 978-1-74223-132-7.
• Fitzgerald, Ross (2010). My name is Ross: an alcoholic's journey. New South Books. ISBN 978-1-74223-102-0.
• Fitzgerald, Ross; Jordan, Trevor Leslie (2011). Fools' paradise: life in an altered state. Arcadia. ISBN 978-1-921509-58-2. ISSN 1836-9413.
• Fitzgerald, Ross; Murphy, Rick (2011). Austen Tayshus: merchant of menace. The GHR Press. ISBN 978-0-86806-719-3.
• Fitzgerald, Ross; Spillman, Ken, eds. (2013). Australia's game: stories, essays, verse & drama inspired by the Australian game of football. Richmond, Victoria: Slattery Media Group. ISBN 978-0-9875002-0-5., a book about Australian rules football.
• Fitzgerald, Ross; McFadyen, Ian (27 November 2018). Going out backwards: a Grafton Everest adventure. Ormond, Victoria: Hybrid Publishers (published 2015). ISBN 978-1-925272-10-9. Going out backwards was shortlisted for the 2017 Russell Prize for Humour Writing.
• Reid, Alan Douglas (May 2015). Fitzgerald, Ross (ed.). The Bandar-log: a Labor story of the 1950s. Brisbane, Queensland: Connor Court Publishing (published 2015). ISBN 978-1-925138-52-8.
• Fitzgerald, Ross, ed. (2016). Heartfelt Moments in Australian Rules Football. Connor Court Publishing. ISBN 978-1-9251-3894-8.
• Fitzgerald, Ross; Funnell, Antony (2018). So Far, So Good : An Entertainment. Hybrid Publishers. ISBN 978-1-9252-7297-0.
• Fitzgerald, Ross; McFadyen, Ian (2019). The Dizzying Heights. Hybrid Publishers, Melbourne. ISBN 978-1-9257-36304.
• Fitzgerald, Ross (2020). Fifty Years Sober: An Alcoholic's Journey. Hybrid Publishers, Melbourne.
• Fitzgerald, Ross; McFadyen, Ian (2021). The Lowest Depths: The Eighth in The Grafton Everest series. Hybrid Publishers, Melbourne.
• Fitzgerald, Ross; Price, Neal (2023). My Last Drink: 32 Stories of Recovering Alcoholics. Connor Court, Brisbane.
• Fitzgerald, Ross; McFadyen, Ian (2023). Pandemonium: The Nineth in The Grafton Everest series. Hybrid Publishers, Melbourne.

Television and film documentaries

• Dawson, Jonathan; Laughren, Pat; Fitzgerald, Ross (Producers) (April 1996). The Legend of Fred Paterson. ABC TV.
• Laughren, Pat; Fitzgerald, Ross (Producers) (August 1995). Red Ted and the Great Depression. ABC TV.

In development

• Price, Neal; Fitzgerald, Ross (Producers). Last Drinks.
• Laughren, Pat; Fitzgerald, Ross (Producers). Stories from the Great Labor Split of the 1950s.
• McFadyen, Ian; Fitzgerald, Ross (Producers). Alexander Kerensky and Nelle Tritton.