Fitchett at this time had already entered journalism, having during the seventies contributed a regular column to the "Spectator", the Methodist church paper, signed "XYZ". Some time later he became editor of the "Southern Cross", a Sunday magazine for the home, and held this position until his death, a period of over 40 years. Articles by him appeared in its pages a month before he died. From 1883 to 1892, when it ceased publication, he was editor of the Melbourne "Daily Telegraph". But what really brought him before the general public was a series of articles published in "The Argus" (Melbourne) under the title of "Deeds that Won the Empire". They were collected and published in book form in Melbourne in 1896 and by Smith Elder and Company, London, in 1897. The book eventually ran into 35 printings, and about 250,000 copies were sold. Similar volumes (many under the pseudonym "Vedette") followed in steady succession: