'' Nation '' was an Australian fortnightly periodical, published from 1958 to 1972, when it was merged with the ''Sunday Review'' to form the ''
Nation Review
''Nation Review'' was an Australian Sunday newspaper, which ceased publication in 1981. It was launched in 1972 after independent publisher Gordon Barton bought out Tom Fitzgerald's ''Nation'' publication and merged it with his own ''Sunday Revi ...
''.
Origins
Tom Fitzgerald Tom Fitzgerald or Thomas Fitzgerald, Thomas FitzGerald may refer to:
* Tom Fitzgerald (economist) (1918–1993), Australian, delivered 1990 Boyer Lectures
* Tom Fitzgerald (handballer) (born 1966), American handball player
* Tom Fitzgerald (soccer ...
was the Financial Editor of ''
The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...
''. Whilst retaining his post at the ''Herald'', in 1956 he developed the idea of an independent, liberal-minded journal, as an antidote to the general conservative stuffiness of Australian print media at the time. He established ''Nation'' in 1958, installing George Munster as editor. Fitzgerald and Munster were introduced by
Barry Humphries
John Barry Humphries (born 17 February 1934) is an Australian comedian, actor, author and satirist. He is best known for writing and playing his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson. He is also a film prod ...
.
Fitzgerald launched ''Nation'' in the same year as Sir
Frank Packer
Sir Douglas Frank Hewson Packer (3 December 19061 May 1974), was an Australian media proprietor who controlled Australian Consolidated Press and the Nine Network. He was a patriarch of the Packer family.
Early life
Frank Packer was born in K ...
launched his fortnightly news magazine ''Observer''; they were published on alternate fortnights until 1961 when Packer merged ''Observer'' into '' The Bulletin''. Both were printed by the quixotic
Francis James
Alfred Francis James (21 April 191824 August 1992) was an Australian publisher known for being imprisoned in China as a spy.
Early life
James was born in Queenstown, Tasmania, the son of an Anglican priest. His early life was unsettled as his ...
's Anglican Press, for a time in the crypt of
Christ Church St Laurence
Christ Church St Laurence is an Anglican church located at 814 George Street, near Central railway station and Haymarket, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is the principal centre of Anglo-Catholic worship in the city and Diocese of S ...
.
Publication history
The first edition was published on 26 September 1958. ''Nation'' published stories that the mainstream press was not prepared to print, such as
Ken Inglis
Kenneth Stanley Inglis, (7 October 1929 – 1 December 2017) was an Australian historian.
Early life and education
Inglis was born in the Melbourne suburb of Ivanhoe, on 7 October 1929, the son of Stan and Rene Inglis. He was educated at Tyler ...
's 1959 article about
Max Stuart
Rupert Maxwell (Max) Stuart ( – 21 November 2014) was an Indigenous Australian who was convicted of murder in 1959. His conviction was subject to several appeals to higher courts,''R v Stuart'' Arrernte Aborigine who had been convicted of the murder of a nine-year-old girl and sentenced to death. ''Nation'' campaigned strongly against the White Australia Policy and Military history of Australia during the Vietnam War, Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War.
Other contributors to ''Nation'' included economist Geoffrey Harcourt, G.C. Harcourt, film critic
Sylvia Lawson
Sylvia Lawson (12 November 1932 – 6 November 2017) was a journalist, academic and author, known for her support for cinema in Australia through her work with the Sydney Film Festival from its inception in 1954. She wrote ''The Archibald Paradox ...
, historian
Hugh Stretton
Professor emeritus Hugh Stretton (15 July 1924 – 18 July 2015) was an Australian historian who wrote books on politics, urban planning and economics, and a Rhodes Scholar. He was a key figure in the development and implementation of governmen ...
, theatre critic
H. G. Kippax
Harold ("Harry") Gemmell Kippax AO, better known as H. G. Kippax (6 October 192012 August 1999)
Cyril Pearl
Cyril Alston Pearl (11 April 1904 – 3 March 1987) was an Australian journalist, editor, author, social historian, wit and television personality.
Life and career
He was born in the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, Victoria on 11 April 1904, to Jewi ...
. When ''
The Australian
''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...
'' began publication in 1964, a number of contributors to ''Nation'' moved to the new daily newspaper, including
Brian Johns
Brian Lawrence Johns (born August 5, 1982) is a former competition swimmer from Canada. Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, he grew up in Richmond, British Columbia and trained with the Aquanauts and Racers (later Rapids) swim clubs. He started swimm ...
Maxwell Newton
Maxwell Newton (29 April 1929 – 23 July 1990) was an Australian media publisher. He was a founding editor of ''The Australian''. He was the owner of ''Daily Commercial News'' from 1969 to 1981, publisher of the ''Melbourne Observer'' from 1971 ...
Gordon Barton
Gordon Page Barton (30 August 19294 April 2005) was an Australian businessman and political activist.
Biography
He was born in Surabaya, Java, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) of a Dutch mother and Australian father. He showed his intelligenc ...
in 1972, who then merged it with his ''Sunday Review'' to form the ''Nation Review''. The last edition of ''Nation'' was published on 22 July 1972.
An anthology of work from ''Nation'' was edited by
Ken Inglis
Kenneth Stanley Inglis, (7 October 1929 – 1 December 2017) was an Australian historian.
Early life and education
Inglis was born in the Melbourne suburb of Ivanhoe, on 7 October 1929, the son of Stan and Rene Inglis. He was educated at Tyler ...
in 1989 under the title ''Nation: The Life of an independent journal of opinion, 1958-1972'', (1989: Melbourne University Press).
In popular culture
Frank Moorhouse
Frank Thomas Moorhouse (21 December 1938 – 26 June 2022) was an Australian writer. He won major Australian national prizes for the short story, the novel, the essay, and for script writing. His work has been published in the United Kingdom, ...
's ''Conferenceville'' (1976) mentions ''Nation'' and Vadim's Restaurant in Sydney's Kings Cross where the paper's contributors used to meet until it closed in 1969:
"Were you a Vadim's person?" I asked. She was roughly my age. I always put Vadim's cafe before our time. But Cindy had started life pretty early. "Yes, yes, I belonged everywhere then," she put out a sigh. "All the good ideas in this country started at Vadim's. Fitzgerald. The ''Nation'' people."
In his memoir ''Things I Didn't Know'' (2007), art critic Robert Hughes describes Fitzgerald and Munster walking across Kings Cross, after Vadim's had closed for the night, "to take up a laminate table at a hamburger joint named Hasty Tasty... and finish their editing there".Robert Hughes, Things I Didn't Know ', London: Vintage Books, 2007. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
National Library of Australia
The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...