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Richard Walsh (born John Richard Walsh; born 21 July 1941) is an Australian publisher, editor, company director, media consultant, lecturer, broadcaster and journalist. For many years he ran the publishing and bookselling firm
Angus & Robertson Angus & Robertson (A&R) is a major Australian bookseller, publisher and printer. As book publishers, A&R has contributed substantially to the promotion and development of Australian literature.Alison, Jennifer (2001). "Publishers and editors: A ...
and later he headed the media company
Australian Consolidated Press Are Media is an Australian media company that was formed after the 2020 purchase of the assets of Bauer Media Australia, which had in turn acquired the assets of Pacific Magazines, AP Magazines and Australian Consolidated Press during the 201 ...
. In those roles he was "one of the most dominant figures in Australian publishing from the early seventies".


Education, ''OZ'' magazine

Richard Walsh was educated at
Barker College , motto_translation = Seek Honour above Rewards , location = Hornsby, Sydney , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = Australia Sydney , pushpin_image ...
and the University of Sydney and graduated with degrees in arts and medicine. He never practised medicine, but instead became a copywriter at advertising firm
J. Walter Thompson J. Walter Thompson (JWT) was an advertisement holding company incorporated in 1896 by American advertising pioneer James Walter Thompson. The company was acquired in 1987 by multinational holding company WPP plc, and in November 2018, WPP merg ...
. In 1963, while still a university student and editor of Sydney University's ''
Honi Soit ''Honi Soit'' is the student newspaper of the University of Sydney. First published in 1929, the newspaper is produced by an elected editorial team and a select group of reporters sourced from the university's populace. The name is an abbrev ...
'' student magazine, Walsh co-founded and co-edited the satirical underground alternative '' OZ'' magazine. Together with co-editors Richard Neville and
Martin Sharp Martin Ritchie Sharp (21 January 1942 – 1 December 2013) was an Australian artist, cartoonist, songwriter and film-maker. Career Sharp was born in Bellevue Hill, New South Wales in 1942, and educated at Cranbrook private school, where one ...
, he was sentenced to prison for obscenity (the convictions were quashed on appeal). Looking back in 2006 on his involvement with ''OZ'', Walsh commented:
''OZ'' was born in the bland, conservative world of the early ’60s. It was the
Menzies Menzies is a Scottish surname, with Gaelic forms being Méinnearach and Méinn, and other variant forms being Menigees, Mennes, Mengzes, Menzeys, Mengies, and Minges. Derivation and history The name and its Gaelic form are probably derived ...
era: Australia was white Anglo Saxon, culturally barren and very, very insular. The Queen, the church and the RSL ruled the day. If you did anything radical, you were a communist. To call for the White Australia policy to end was a betrayal of our boys killed by the Japanese. Like lots of young people, we wanted to take the place by the scruff of the neck and change it.
He also wrote scripts for the satirical television show ''
The Mavis Bramston Show ''The Mavis Bramston Show'' was a weekly Australian television satirical sketch comedy revue series which aired on the Seven Network from 1964 to 1968. Inspired by the British TV satirical revue TV shows of the period (notably ''That Was The Week ...
''.


''POL'' magazine

In 1968 Walsh became founding editor of '' POL'', an important magazine of its era that has been described as "distinctively Australian, lively and intelligently sexy". Walsh originally envisaged POL as "glossy, up-market women's magazine"..., something like '' Queen'' or '' Nova'' in Great Britain which had no counterparts in Australia at that time". He subtitled the first issue of magazine "The Australian Woman" but in subsequent issues he changed the subtitle to "The Monthly Magazine for Modern Australian Women", this change signalling "Walsh's wish to target women readers who were forward-looking at a time when he saw Australians breaking many of the bonds of conservatism." During the leadership of Walsh, ''POL'' attracted some of Australia's greatest journalistic talent, with issues guest edited by such as Germaine Greer (1972) and Richard Neville (1974) and writers including
Charmian Clift Charmian Clift (30 August 19238 July 1969) was an Australian writer and essayist. She was the second wife and literary collaborator of George Johnston. Biography Clift was born in Kiama, New South Wales in 1923. She married George Johnston ...
. From 1968 to 1970 Walsh was also Creative Group Head at the advertising firm
J. Walter Thompson J. Walter Thompson (JWT) was an advertisement holding company incorporated in 1896 by American advertising pioneer James Walter Thompson. The company was acquired in 1987 by multinational holding company WPP plc, and in November 2018, WPP merg ...
.


''Nation Review''

In the years 1971–1978 Walsh edited the ''Sunday Review'' (later renamed 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 ...
''), a weekly newspaper noted for its mocking left-of-centre political commentary, its offbeat cartoons, and its iconoclastic reviews, with a stable of fine writers and young and talented cartoonists. According to Walsh, his aim with the ''Nation Review'' was to take part in the creation of a "more stimulating, more sophisticated and more passionate Australia". Referring to the ''Nation Review'' under Walsh's editorship, John McLaren wrote: "As he ''Nation Review''developed..., it consciously adopted the role of an alternative press, publishing news that others ignored and cultivating a brash larrikin style of writing that bruised many sensitivities but also recalled some of the older traditions of Australian journalism going back through '' Smith's Weekly'' to the early ''
Bulletin Bulletin or The Bulletin may refer to: Periodicals (newspapers, magazines, journals) * Bulletin (online newspaper), a Swedish online newspaper * ''The Bulletin'' (Australian periodical), an Australian magazine (1880–2008) ** Bulletin Debate, ...
''".


Angus & Robertson (1972 – 1986)

In 1972 Walsh was appointed as chief executive of the major Australian publishing and bookselling firm
Angus & Robertson Angus & Robertson (A&R) is a major Australian bookseller, publisher and printer. As book publishers, A&R has contributed substantially to the promotion and development of Australian literature.Alison, Jennifer (2001). "Publishers and editors: A ...
(A&R). During his 14-year tenure Walsh promoted a strategy of mass market books (in areas such as self-help, health and Australiana) in a successful attempt to improve the financial fortunes of the firm. The task that faced Walsh when he first arrived at Angus & Robertson was daunting. "While still recognisable as a former leviathan, he firmwas in fact close to death," he recounted in a case study published in 2006. By dint of many innovations, such as concentrating on general publishing rather than both general and educational publishing, reining in maverick editors with their own pet publishing programs, introducing a number of seductively designed book series, offering sale-or-return conditions to booksellers, publishing attractive books for younger readers, and pioneering the novelization of Australian book and film series, Walsh built A&R into "a highly profitable company and by far the most prolific publisher of Australian books." He has wryly noted that while doing so he had received a chilly welcome from the establishment of the Australian publishing world:
The thirty-something hyperactive ''Wunderkind'' ... had neither gravitas nor political conservatism to recommend him, and appeared to have undergone a tact bypass. Every change and every innovation at the new A&R was greeted with howls of disbelief and rage.


Australian Consolidated Press (1986 – 1996)

In 1986 Walsh was appointed director and publisher of
Australian Consolidated Press Are Media is an Australian media company that was formed after the 2020 purchase of the assets of Bauer Media Australia, which had in turn acquired the assets of Pacific Magazines, AP Magazines and Australian Consolidated Press during the 201 ...
(ACP). Walsh oversaw the firm's more than 60 magazines, including '' The Bulletin'', ''
The Australian Women's Weekly ''The Australian Women's Weekly'', sometimes known as simply ''The Weekly'', is an Australian monthly women's magazine published by Mercury Capital in Sydney. For many years it was the number one magazine in Australia before being outsold by t ...
'', '' Cleo'', ''Australian House & Garden'', and ''
Wheels A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axle bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the six simple machines. Wheels, in conjunction with axles, allow heavy objects to be ...
''. Owned by Kerry Packer, ACP controlled a huge share of Australia's magazine market. After ACP's takeover in 1988 of its rival Fairfax's magazines, Walsh was responsible for even more top magazines including '' Woman's Day'', ''
People A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of propert ...
'', '' Dolly'' and '' Good Housekeeping''. In 1990 he was promoted to chief executive.


Current activities

A 2015 news item from the University of Wollongong reported as follows: "Richard Walsh lectures part-time at Sydney’s Macleay College and is the author of eight books. He is also a business consultant at the software developer, itechne, and Consultant Publisher at Allen & Unwin." He has also been a director of HWW, Text Media, and Cinema Plus. As of 2018, he was lecturing at the University of Sydney.


Public service

Walsh was a founding member of the Literature Board of the
Australia Council The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austr ...
(1973–76), the President of the Australian Book Publishers' Association (1986), the Chairman of the
Nimrod Theatre The Nimrod Theatre Company, commonly known as The Nimrod, was an Australian theatre company based in Sydney. It was founded by in 1970 by Australian actor John Bell, Richard Wherrett and Ken Horler, and gained a reputation for producing more "go ...
, the Chairman of the Australian National Commission for UNESCO (1989–93), the Chairman of the Quest for Life Foundation (1991–94), and a member of the Library Council of New South Wales (1992–95).


Awards and recognition

In 2008 the Association of Magazine Publishers of Australia conferred a Lifetime Achievement Award on Walsh for his "Outstanding Contribution to the Magazine Industry", noting as follows:
Richard Walsh’s appointment to ACP, firstly as editor-in-chief, then CEO & chairman, resulted in numerous launches, circulation growth and profit rises for the company. Under Walsh’s leadership, ACP became Australia’s largest publisher, followed by highly successful forays into New Zealand and South East Asia."
At the
Australian Book Industry Awards The Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) are publishers' and literary awards held by the Australian Publishers Association annually in Sydney "to celebrate the achievements of authors and publishers in bringing Australian books to readers". ...
in May 2019 Walsh was presented with the Lloyd O’Neill hall of fame award for services to the Australian book industry.2019 Hall of Fame Awards Announced
abiawards.com.au. Retrieved 29 December 2019.


Books by Richard Walsh

* ''Reboot: A Democracy Makeover to Empower Australia's Voters.'' Richard Walsh. Carlton, Victoria : Melbourne University Press, 2017. * ''Traditional Australian verse : the essential collection. Edited by Richard Walsh. Crows Nest, N.S.W. : Allen & Unwin, 2009. * ''Great Australian eulogies.'' Edited by Richard Walsh. Crows Nest, N.S.W. : Allen & Unwin, 2008. * ''Executive material : nine of Australia's top CEO's in conversation with Richard Walsh.'' Crows Nest, N.S.W. : Allen & Unwin, 2002. * ''Ferretabilia : life and times of Nation Review.'' Compiled by Richard Walsh. St Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press, 1993. * ''Gortn the ACT : the year's best cartoons from Petty, Tanner, Molnar, Weg, King, Collette, Eyre Jnr and others.'' Selection and text by Richard Walsh. Melbourne : Sun Books, 968 * ''Dr. Whitlam's deservedly famous Gough syrup : an anthology of the year's best cartoons, being a universal panacea for the nation's ills, comprising one part each of the following: Petty, Molnar, Tanner, Rigby, Weg, Collette, King, Eyre jnr., Sharp.'' Compounded under the general supervision of Richard Walsh. Melbourne : Sun Books,
967 Year 967 ( CMLXVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – Emperor Otto I (the Great) calls for a council at Rome, to present the ne ...
* ''No Holts barred : the year's best cartoons from Petty, Molnar, Tanner, Sharp, Rigby, Weg, Benier, Collette, Eyre Jnr, Mercier, and others.'' Selection and text by Richard Walsh. Melbourne : Sun Books, 1966.


Article by Richard Walsh

* "A Note from a Victim", in: Geoffrey Dutton and Max Harris, eds., ''Australia's Censorship Crisis''. Melbourne: Sun Books, 1970, pp. 131–133.


References


External links


Richard Walsh interviewed by Stewart Harris
(sound recording), National Library of Australia, 1994.
Richard Walsh
austlit.edu.au. {{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh, Richard Living people Australian publishers (people) Australian magazine editors Australian newspaper editors 1941 births Businesspeople from Sydney University of Sydney alumni Journalists from Sydney