''Melbourne Punch'' (from 1900, simply titled ''Punch'') was an Australian illustrated magazine founded by Edgar Ray and Frederick Sinnett, 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'', 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 1855–1861, Tom Carrington 1866–1887,

J. H. Leonard Joseph John Henry Leonard (c. 1863 – 19 November 1929) was an Australian newspaper illustrator, whose work first appeared in the Adelaide satirical weeklies, signed variously as "J. H. Leonard", "Leo", or simply "JL". History Leonard was born in ...

1886 – c. 1891. Contributing artists included J. C. Bancks, Luther Bradley,

O. R. Campbell O is the fifteenth letter of the modern Latin alphabet. O may also refer to: Letters * Օ օ, (Unicode: U+0555, U+0585) a letter in the Armenian alphabet * Ο ο, Omicron, (Greek), a letter in the Greek alphabet * O (Cyrillic), a letter of ...

George Dancey George Henry Dancey (1865 – 23 December 1922) was an Australian artist, known for cartoons and caricatures, particularly for the '' Melbourne Punch'', second only to Tom Carrington in his time with that paper. History Dancey was born in Engla ...

, Tom Carrington, Ambrose Dyson and his brother Will Dyson, S. T. Gill, Samuel Calvert, Alex Gurney, Hal Gye, Percy Leason, Emile Mercier,

Alex Sass Alex is a given name. It can refer to a shortened version of Alexander, Alexandra, Alexis. People Multiple *Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Gordon (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Harris (disambiguation), multiple pe ...

Montague Scott Montague Scott, also known as "Montagu Scott", was a London born artist, photographer and cartoonist. He emigrated to Australia 1855 and was the official photographer for the Duke of Edinburgh's visit in 1868. He was cartoonist for the ''Sydn ...

, Alf Vincent 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 (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, ''né ...

(1924). Writers included Butler Cole Aspinall, Charles Gavan Duffy, R. H. Horne, James Smith, Thomas Carrington and Nicholas Chevalier. It was involved in the creation of The Ashes 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 in a satirical context. It was acquired by '' The Melbourne Herald'' 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