''Adelaide Punch'' (1878–1884) was a short-lived humorous and satirical magazine published in Adelaide, South Australia. Like ''

Melbourne Punch ''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'' of Londo ...

'', it was modelled on '' Punch'' of London.

History

''Adelaide Punch'' had its origin in ''The Rattlesnake or Adelaide Punch'', a fortnightly magazine first published by Haddrick and East on Thursday 24 January 1878. It failed after a few issues, leaving the printers Scrymgour and Sons holding a debt of around £100. Rather than writing it off, they decided to persevere with its production, and momentarily interested D. W. Melville, at one time with the '' Register'', to act as managing editor, but he found it interfered with his lucrative auctioneering business, so they settled on J. C. F. Johnson, of the ''Register'' (later M.P. for Onkaparinga). His team included D. M. "Dan" Magill (ca.1845 – 3 April 1916), also ex-''Register''; William John Kennedy (1848–1894), headmaster of

Mount Gambier Mount Gambier is the second most populated city in South Australia, with an estimated urban population of 33,233 . The city is located on the slopes of Mount Gambier, a volcano in the south east of the state, about south-east of the capital Ad ...

and Hindmarsh schools, as cartoonist (also associated with ''

Quiz A quiz is a form of game or mind sport in which players attempt to answer questions correctly on one or several specific topics. Quizzes can be used as a brief assessment in education and similar fields to measure growth in knowledge, abilities, ...

'' magazine); and C. R. Wilton, then a promising cadet. The magazine was a considerable success, and went weekly in September 1878. Johnson purchased a half-share from Scrymgour in December that year and assumed the role of managing editor, and in 1879 became sole proprietor, bringing his brother A. Campbell Johnson in as partner. In mid-1880 they advertised for another cartoonist (by this time the proprietors were Johnson and Scarfe); in July ''Adelaide Punch'' grew in size, and the type and layout were changed to more closely resemble the London ''Punch''; South Australian newspapers greeted the new format with approval. Around October 1881 Johnson hired Godfrey Egremont (died 1923), once the ''Register'' theatre critic, prolific author and embezzler, as editor then in April 1882 sold out to E. H. Derrington, who appointed Henry O'Donnell as editor and engaged Herbert James Woodhouse (1858–1937) as cartoonist. O'Donnell and Woodhouse became owners in early 1884; quality suffered, the wit was gone and by October 1884 the magazine was in trouble; it was purchased by Charles A. Murphy, owner with Charles F. Stansbury, of an erstwhile competitor, the ''Lantern'', and publication ceased. The publication was

Quarto Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...

size, ran to 8 pages, and sold for sixpence.Lurline Stuart (1979), ''Nineteenth century Australian periodicals: an annotated bibliography'', Sydney, Hale & Iremonger, p.17.

References

{{Reflist 1878 establishments in Australia 1884 disestablishments in Australia Defunct magazines published in Australia Magazines established in 1878 Magazines disestablished in 1884 Mass media in Adelaide Satirical magazines Weekly magazines published in Australia History of Adelaide