Peter FitzSimons AM

Peter FitzSimons AM's Biography

He is the biographer not only of World Cup winning Wallaby captains, Nick Farr-Jones and John Eales, but also former Opposition Leader Kim Beazley, boxer Les Darcy, aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, war heroine Nancy Wake and Antarctic explorer Sir Douglas Mawson. In 2001 he was Australia’s biggest selling non-fiction author, and duplicated that feat in 2004, with his book on Kokoda. He has been Australia’s best-selling non-fiction author in the last decade and in November 2013 released his current best-seller on Ned Kelly.

The most popular after-dinner speaker in Australia, he is married to Today Show co-host Lisa Wilkinson and they have three children.

Born on a farm in Peat’s Ridge, Peter went to Knox Grammar School, before accepting an American Field Service Scholarship to go to Ohio for a year. He returned to complete an Arts degree at Sydney University majoring in government and political science. In 1984 he broke into the Wallabies under the coaching of Alan Jones, then lived in France and Italy playing rugby for the next five years whilst learning both languages as well as Spanish. Upon his return to Australia he again played for the Wallabies, under Bob Dwyer, going on to play seven Tests.

In 1989 he joined The Sydney Morning Herald full-time, and has been one of their most popular columnists since. Andrew Denton has called him “Australia’s finest sports journalist.”

Peter boasts an impressive list of interview credits including ex-president George Bush, Sir Edmund Hillary, Jodie Foster, Nicki Lauda, Joe Montana and Carl Lewis as well as all the major Australian sporting figures from Shane Gould to Lionel Rose to Herb Elliot. He has interviewed every Australian Prime Minister from Gough Whitlam through to Julia Gillard.

He has the distinction of being the only Wallaby sent from the field in a match against the All Blacks – unjustly, he swears. He was co-host of the Today Show 15 years before his wife, Lisa Wilkinson – even if it did last for only a day. He has fought a Sumo wrestler at the Opera House, danced on ice with Torville and Dean, told Alan Jones to his face that he is dead freaking wrong and opened a door for the redoubtable Germaine Greer and lived to tell the tale!

He has also written the biographies of former Australian Labor Party leader Kim Beazley, Wallaby captains, Nick Farr-Jones and John Eales, WWII resistance fighter Nancy Wake and sportsmen Steve Waugh and Les Darcy.

FitzSimons' published works include:

Kokoda, which recounts the numerous battles between Australian and Japanese Troops on the Kokoda Track during World War II.
Tobruk, which tells the story of The Rats of Tobruk as they fought during World War II against Italian troops, then later the Afrika Korps, as they were led by then-General Erwin Rommel.
Charles Kingsford Smith and those Magnificent Men, a biography of aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith.
A Simpler Time a childhood memoir which relates his family history and honours the memory of his father and mother.
Batavia - on the fate of the ship Batavia.

Peter FitzSimons was named a Member of the Order of Australia for service to literature as a biographer, sports journalist and commentator, and to the community through contributions to conservation, disability care, social welfare and sporting organisations.