''Melbourne Punch'' (from 1900, simply titled ''Punch'') was an Australian illustrated magazine founded by Edgar Ray and

Frederick Sinnett Frederick Sinnett (8 March 1830 – 23 November 1866) was a literary critic and journalist in colonial Australia. Sinnett was born in Hamburg, Germany, a son of Mrs. Percy Sinnett, a well-known English author, and was educated for the profession ...

, and published from August 1855 to December 1925. The magazine was modelled closely on ''

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...

'' of London which was founded fifteen years earlier.Lindesay, Vane ''The Inked-In Image'' Heinemann Melbourne 1970 A similar magazine, ''

Adelaide Punch ''Adelaide Punch'' (1878–1884) was a short-lived humorous and satirical magazine published in Adelaide, South Australia. Like ''Melbourne Punch'', it was modelled on '' Punch'' of London. History ''Adelaide Punch'' had its origin in ''The R ...

'', was published in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

from 1878 to 1884.

History

Ray and Sinnett published the magazine 1855–1883, followed by Alex McKinley 1883.Melbourne Punch
/ref> Staff artists included

Nicholas Chevalier Nicholas Chevalier (9 May 1828 – 15 March 1902) was a Russian-born artist who worked in Australia and New Zealand. Early life Chevalier was born in St Petersburg, Russia, the son of Louis Chevalier, who came from Vaud, Switzerland, and was o ...

1855–1861, Tom Carrington 1866–1887, J. H. Leonard 1886 – c. 1891. Contributing artists included J. C. Bancks,

Luther Bradley Luther Alexander Bradley (born May 7, 1955) is a former professional American football player who played four seasons for the Detroit Lions. He later played with the Chicago Blitz, Arizona Wranglers and Houston Gamblers of the USFL. He is the U ...

, O. R. Campbell, George Dancey, Tom Carrington,

Ambrose Dyson Ambrose Dyson (1876 – 4 June 1913), often known as Amb Dyson was an Australian illustrator and political cartoonist, born at Alfredton, near Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, the son of George Dyson, then a hawker and later a mining engineer, an ...

and his brother

Will Dyson William Henry Dyson (3 September 1880 – 21 January 1938) was an Australian illustrator and political cartoonist. In 1931 he was regarded as "one of the world's foremost black and white artists", and in 1980, "Australia's greatest cartoonist" ...

S. T. Gill Samuel Thomas Gill, also known by his signature S.T.G., was an English-born Australian artist. Early life Gill was born in Periton, Minehead, Somerset, England, in 1818. He was the son of the Reverend Samuel Gill, a Baptist minister, and his f ...

Samuel Calvert Samuel Wesley Calvert (September 16, 1867 – March 11, 1956) was a soldier and politician. He served as mayor of Chipman, Alberta, and as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1935 to 1940 sitting with the Social Credit caucus i ...

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 ...

Hal Gye Harold Frederick Neville Gye (22 May 1887 — 25 November 1967), who published under the name Hal Gye, was an author of cartoons, illustrations and articles for early Australian newspapers and journals. Gye provided the artwork for ''The Songs of ...

Percy Leason Percy Alexander Leason (23 February 1889 – 11 September 1959) was an Australian political cartoonist and artist who was a major figure in the Australian tonalist movement. As a painter and commercial artist his works span two continents. Ea ...

, Emile Mercier, Alex Sass, Montague Scott,

Alf Vincent Alfred James Vincent (9 February 1874 – 6 December 1915) was an Australian cartoonist born in Launceston, Tasmania. Alf Vincent contributed work to the '' Melbourne Punch'' from 1895, in 1896 succeeding Tom Carrington as feature artist. Afte ...

and Cecil "Unk" White.McCullough, Alan ''Encyclopedia of Australian Art'' Hutchinson of London 1968 Editors included Frederick Sinnett (1855–1857), James Smith (1857–1863), Charles Bright (1863–1866),

William Jardine Smith William Jardine Smith (1834 – 13 January 1884), also known as Jardine Smith, was an Australian writer and editor. Smith was born at Stockwell, near London. In 1852 he emigrated from Liverpool to Melbourne on the iconic steamer SS Great Britain ...

(1866-1869), Tom Carrington (intermittently) and

John Bede Dalley John Bede Dalley (5 October 1876 – 6 September 1935) was an Australian journalist and novelist, editor of ''Melbourne Punch''. Dalley was born in Rose Bay, Sydney, the second son of William Bede Dalley (1831–1888) and Eleanor Jane, ''née' ...

(1924). Writers included

Butler Cole Aspinall Butler Cole Aspinall (11 November 1830 – 4 April 1875) was a British-born journalist, barrister who migrated with his young wife to Melbourne, Australia, at first as an editor and writer for '' The Argus''. He soon took up his lucrative ...

, Charles Gavan Duffy, R. H. Horne, James Smith, Thomas Carrington and Nicholas Chevalier. It was involved in the creation of

The Ashes The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, '' The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, its first ...

cricket trophy in 1883. It incorporated the ''Melbourne Bulletin'' in 1886, after which it became more involved with "society" news. A cartoon titled "BAIL-UP!" in 1900 was possibly the first published use of the

Kelly Gang Edward Kelly (December 1854 – 11 November 1880) was an Australian bushranger, outlaw, gang leader and convicted police-murderer. One of the last bushrangers, he is known for wearing a armour of the Kelly gang, suit of bulletproof armour dur ...

in a satirical context. It was acquired by ''

The Melbourne Herald ''The Herald'' was a morning and, later, evening broadsheet newspaper published in Melbourne, Australia, from 3 January 1840 to 5 October 1990, which is when it merged with its sister morning newspaper ''The Sun News-Pictorial'' to form the ''H ...

'' in 1924 and amalgamated with '' Table Talk'' in 1926. An annual, variously titled ''Punch Almanac'', ''Melbourne Punch Almanack'', ''Melbourne Punch's Office Almanack'' and similar, was published for a time. The publication was

Folio The term "folio" (), has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for a book ma ...

size and initially contained 8 pages, increasing to 12 pages in 1878 and was 18 pages by 1891.Lurline Stuart (1979), ''Nineteenth Century Australian Periodicals; an annotated bibliography'', Sydney, Hale & Iremonger, p.109. It sold for sixpence.

References

*Wilde, W. H.''The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature'' 2nd ed.

Literature

Mahood, Marguerite ''The Loaded Line'' 1973

External links

*Digitise
''Melbourne Punch''
from the National Library of Australia *Digitise
''World War I Victorian newspapers''
from the State Library of Victoria {{DEFAULTSORT:Punch, Melbourne Defunct magazines published in Australia Magazines established in 1855 Magazines disestablished in 1925 1855 establishments in Australia Magazines published in Melbourne 1925 disestablishments in Australia Satirical magazines Weekly magazines published in Australia