Frederick John Broomfield migrated to Victoria in 1868 with his widowed mother. Broomfield was educated near Daylesford and worked with his sawmiller uncles before joining an architect's office at Kyneton. Here he also worked for the Kyneton Guardian and as a correspondent for the Melbourne Age. After a variety of other jobs, Broomfield moved to Sydney during the 1880s and was employed as an accountant. He also contributed to the Bulletin and was soon employed as a sub-editor. Broomfield is traditionally credited with accepting Henry Lawson's first Bulletin contribution, and he also assisted several other writers, including Francis Adams and John Farrell. For many years, after leaving the Bulletin in 1888, Broomfield assisted several editorial projects and wrote on a variety of topics for periodicals such as the Bulletin, the Sydney Mail and the Brisbane Courier. In 1930 Broomfield published a spirited book-length defense of Henry Lawson's reputation, adding to the professional and personal assistance he had given to many Bulletin writers in previous decades. His comprehensive knowledge of Australian literature and his assistance to bibliographer Sir John Quick was acknowledged in 1940 by E. Morris Miller who completed Australian Literature from its Beginnings to 1935 after Quick's death. Broomfield died in 1941, survived by a wife and two sons.
