''Ben Bowyang'' was an Australian newspaper

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

created by the cartoonist

Alex Gurney Alexander Gurney (born September 4, 1974) is an American racing driver who competes in the Rolex Sports Car Series for GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing. He won the 2007 and 2009 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype drivers' championshi ...

. It debuted in 1936. Following the misadventures of two larrikin soldiers, the strip was based on the "Gunn's Gully" newspaper humor columns written during the 1920s and 1930s by

C. J. Dennis Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis (7 September 1876 – 22 June 1938), better known as C. J. Dennis, was an Australian poet and journalist known for his best-selling verse novel ''The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke'' (1915). Alongside ...

of the ''Melbourne Herald''. Dennis wrote about a philosophical farmer, Ben Bowyang, from Gunn's Gully. The first six installments appeared on a full page in the ''Picture-News'' in November and the comic strip was moved to the ''Sun News-Pictorial'' on 1 February 1940. The strip was also drawn by Mick Armstrong, Keith Martin, Sir

Lionel Lindsay Sir Lionel Arthur Lindsay (17 October 187422 May 1961) was an Australian artist, known for his paintings and etchings. Early life Lindsay was born in the Victorian town of Creswick, into a creative family – he was the brother of artist Norm ...

, Alex McRae,

Peter Russell-Clarke Peter Russell-Clarke (born 19 September 1935) is an Australian chef, cookbook writer, illustrator and media personality Biography Clarke is best known for his television cooking shows. He hosted a five-minute television show called ''Come an ...

and Sam Wells. During its later years it appeared in '' The Melbourne Herald'', where it ceased publication in 1979.

References

Australian comic strips 1936 comics debuts 1979 comics endings Gag-a-day comics Bowyang, Ben Bowyang, Ben Australian comics characters Bowyang, Ben Comics set in Australia {{Comic-strip-stub