The ''Australasian Sketcher with Pen and Pencil'' was a monthly

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

published in Melbourne by ''The Argus'' between 1873 and 1889. His first snake - Australasian Sketcher 24 January 1889 (12599852994)

History and profile

The ''Sketcher'' appeared once a month, starting April 1873. The proprietors were named as Edward Wilson,

Lachlan Mackinnon Lachlan Mackinnon (born 1956) is a contemporary Scottish poet, critic and literary journalist. He was born in Aberdeen and educated at Charterhouse and Christ Church, Oxford. He took early retirement from his job as a teacher of English at Win ...

and others. The magazine contained many illustrations and engravings as well as original articles, poetry and short stories, musical and theatrical reviews, social and sporting notes which capture "the picturesque phases of our public and social life of notable objects and events in Australia and New Zealand". It provides an important pictorial account of life in the colonies before the widespread use of photography. The ''Sketcher'' employed many prominent artists, including

Louis Buvelot Louis Buvelot ( Morges 3 March 1814 – Melbourne 30 May 1888), born Abram-Louis Buvelot, was a Swiss landscape painter who lived 17 years in Brazil and following 5 years back in Switzerland stayed 23 years in Australia, where he influenced the H ...

John Gully John Gully (21 August 1783 – 9 March 1863) was an English champion prizefighter who became a racehorse owner and, from 1832 to 1837, a Member of Parliament. Early life Gully was born at Wick, near Bath, the son of an innkeeper who became ...

, political cartoonist Tom Carrington and illustrator

Julian Ashton Julian Rossi Ashton (27 January 185127 April 1942) was an English-born Australian artist and teacher. He is best known for founding the Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney and encouraging Australian painters to capture local life and scenery '' ...

. It published

Arthur Streeton Sir Arthur Ernest Streeton (8 April 1867 – 1 September 1943) was an Australian landscape painter and a leading member of the Heidelberg School, also known as Australian Impressionism. Early life Streeton was born in Mt Moriac, Victoria, sou ...

's first black and white work on 24 January 1889. Authors and poets who wrote for the publication include

Marcus Clarke Marcus Andrew Hislop Clarke (24 April 1846 – 2 August 1881) was an English-born Australian novelist, journalist, poet, editor, librarian, and playwright. He is best known for his 1874 novel ''For the Term of His Natural Life'', about the co ...

and

James Brunton Stephens James Brunton Stephens (17 June 1835 – 29 June 1902) was a Scottish-born Australian poet, and author of ''Convict Once''. Early life Stephens was born in Bo'ness, on the Firth of Forth, Scotland; the son of John Stephens, the parish schoo ...

. Later issues had less literary content and more illustrated news items. In 1880 it briefly moved to a fortnightly publication which lasted until 1882 before returning to a monthly journal. In 1889, it merged with ''

The Australasian The ''Australasian Post'', commonly called the ''Aussie Post'', was Australia's longest-running weekly picture magazine. History and profile Its origins are traceable to Saturday, 3 January 1857, when the first issue of ''Bell's Life in Victoria ...

''. From 1875 it published an Adelaide edition which incorporated ''

The Illustrated Adelaide Post ''The Illustrated Adelaide Post'' was a monthly publication, January 1867 – December 1874, published by W. A. Cawthorne, with issues appearing the week before departure of the English mail ship, clearly for new arrivals wanting to keep friends an ...

''. This coincided with the first issue of the Frearson Brothers' first publication, ''

The Illustrated Adelaide News ''The Pictorial Australian'' was a monthly illustrated paper published in South Australia by the Frearson Brothers, Samuel and Septimus, who were printers located on King William Street and Grenfell Street, Adelaide. The publication evolved over ...

''.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Editions on

Trove Trove is an Australian online library database owned by the National Library of Australia in which it holds partnerships with source providers National and State Libraries Australia, an aggregator and service which includes full text document ...

''The Australasian Sketcher with Pen and Pencil'' (Melbourne, Vic. : 1873 - 1889)

''Australasian Sketcher'' (Adelaide,SA : 1874 - 1885)

''Illustrated Adelaide Post'' (SA : 1867 - 1874)
1873 establishments in Australia 1889 disestablishments in Australia Biweekly magazines published in Australia Monthly magazines published in Australia Defunct literary magazines published in Australia Magazines established in 1873 Magazines disestablished in 1889 Magazines published in Melbourne Newspapers on Trove