The history of newspapers and novels parallel each other in many ways, yet links between journalism and fiction are often overlooked by The Academy. Founding novels in England and Australia were written by journalists and coincided with the emergence of newspapers. Since the first convict novel was published in 1830, at least 168 Australian journalists have written novels. This article examines journalism-fiction connections with emphasis on the work of Robert Drewe and the realism-fabulism debate.(Author's abstract.) Also includes an appendix of Australian novelists who were also journalists.