thought and action, friendship, and concern for the common good over selfish or sectional interests. Further, according to Lindsay, Bean's preoccupation with character was consistent with, if not a reflection of, the "Arnold Tradition". Bean's formal education began in Australia at All Saints' College, Bathurst. In 1889, when Bean was nine, the family moved to England, where he was educated at Brentwood School, Essex (1891–1894), of which his father was the newly appointed headmaster. In 1894 Bean entered Clifton College, Bristol – his father's alma mater, the ethos of which was also in the tradition of Arnold. While at Clifton, Bean developed an interest in literature and in 1898 won a scholarship to Hertford College, Oxford taking a Masters of Arts in 1903 and a Bachelor of Civil Law in 1904. During his schooling Bean served in the volunteer corps both at Clifton College and at Oxford University. Early career In 1904, Bean taught at Brentwood and as a private tutor in Tenerife. Later that year he returned to Australia where he retained his parallel interests for teaching and writing, becoming an assistant master at Sydney Grammar School and writing articles for the Evening News, then edited by Andrew 'Banjo' Paterson. Admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1905, Bean commenced his legal career in Australia as a barrister, and as a judge's associate. As such he saw much of New South Wales on circuit in 1905–07, and, as Inglis noted, he was struck by the outback way of life. In 1907, in his last days as a judge's associate, he wrote articles about "The Australian character" which were published in the Sydney Morning Herald (S.M.H.) under the banner "Australia." In 1908 Bean forsook law for journalism and, at the suggestion of Paterson, applied to join the staff of the S.M.H. In mid-1908, as a junior reporter he covered the waterside workers' strike and wrote a twelve part series of articles on country NSW under the banner 'Barrier Railway.' Later in 1908, as a special correspondent for the S.M.H. on HMS Powerful, the flagship of the Royal Navy squadron in Australia, Bean reported on the visit of the United States' 'Great White Fleet' to Australia. The following year the articles were published in book form as With the Flagship in the South in which Bean advocated the establishment of an Australian Navy Fleet. The Imperial Naval Conference of 1909