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The ''Australasian Post'', commonly called the ''Aussie Post'', was
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
's longest-running weekly picture magazine.


History and profile

Its origins are traceable to Saturday, 3 January 1857, when the first issue of ''Bell's Life in Victoria and Sporting Chronicle'' (probably best known for
Tom Wills Thomas Wentworth Wills (19 August 1835 – 2 May 1880) was an Australian sportsman who is credited with being Australia's first cricketer of significance and a founder of Australian rules football. Born in the British penal colony of Colo ...
's famous 1858
Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...
letter) was released. The weekly, which was produced by Charles Frederic Somerton in
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
, was one of several Bell's Life publications based on the format of '' Bell's Life in London'', a Sydney version having been published since 1845. On 1 October 1864, the weekly newspaper ''The Australasian'' was launched in
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
, Victoria by the proprietors of '' The Argus''. It supplanted three unprofitable ''Argus'' publications: ''The Weekly Argus'', ''The Examiner'', and ''The Yeoman'', and contained features of all three. A competitor, ''
The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'', gloated that as it was printed on coarse heavy paper, its weight exceeded the maximum for concessional postage, adding to its cost to country subscribers. Its format was similar to the ''Bell's Life'' papers, but with much less sport content. As a result, the local papers ''Bell's Life in Victoria'' and ''Bell's Life in Sydney'' were gradually phased out of publication. On Saturday, 4 January 1868, the last Melbourne issue appeared (no. 504), while the last Sydney issue (No. 731) came out on Saturday, 31 December 1870 (no. 731). ''The Australasian'' adopted locally based editions during the transition. Well-known writers who contributed to its pages include
Marcus Clarke Marcus Andrew Hislop Clarke (24 April 1846 – 2 August 1881) was an English-born Australian novelist, journalist, poet, editor, librarian, and playwright. He is best known for his 1874 novel ''For the Term of His Natural Life'', about the con ...
(including series ''The Peripatetic Philosopher'' under the pseudonym "Q"), T. A. Browne as "Rolf Boldrewood", Ada Cambridge, Louisa Anne Meredith, J. E. Neild, C. H. Spence, and Jessie Couvreur. The '' Australasian Sketcher with Pen and Pencil'', which was founded by ''The Argus'' in April 1873, merged with ''The Australasian'' after its last issue of 26 December 1889.


Editors

* Frederick William Haddon 1865 to 1866 * James Smith 1871 to 1872 * Henry Gullett 1872 to 1885 * David Watterston 1885 to 1903 * Edward Thomas Fricker 1903 to 1917 * Alexander Hugh Chisholm 1937 to 1938


Transition to ''Post''

The final edition of ''The Australasian'' appeared on 6 April 1946, published by The Argus and Australasian Limited, 365 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, with an announcement that "Next week, this magazine becomes The Australasian Post in an entirely new format, with modern enlarged content." ''The Australasian Post'' was read by millions at the height of its popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, and featured a uniquely Australian mix of scandal,
sensationalism In journalism and mass media, sensationalism is a type of editorial tactic. Events and topics in news stories are selected and worded to excite the greatest number of readers and viewers. This style of news reporting encourages biased or emoti ...
, human interest stories, fashion, politics, culture and entertainment, being the staple of
barber shops A barber is a person whose occupation is mainly to cut, dress, groom, style and shave hair or beards. A barber's place of work is known as a barbershop or the barber's. Barbershops have been noted places of social interaction and public discourse ...
across the country. One of its features was its focus on
Australiana Australiana is anything pertaining to Australian culture, society, geography and ecology, especially if it is endemic to Australia or has reached iconic status. It includes people, places, flora, fauna and events of Australian origins. Austr ...
, with pages of jokes and cartoons, including the
Ettamogah Pub The Ettamogah Pub is a cartoon pub that was featured in the now defunct '' Australasian Post'' magazine. The cartoonist Ken Maynard, loving empty spaces and having nothing around him, enjoyed an area just outside Albury at Table Top, New South W ...
series by cartoonist
Ken Maynard Kenneth Olin Maynard (July 21, 1895 – March 23, 1973) was an American actor and producer. He was mostly active from the 1920s to the 1940s and considered one of the biggest Western (genre), Western stars in Hollywood. Maynard was also an occa ...
. Its "Letters" column was title
"Pillar to Post"
a punning reference to the
pillar box A pillar box is a type of free-standing post box. They are found in the United Kingdom and its associated the Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories, and, less commonly, in many members of the Commonwealth of Nations such as Cypru ...
method of posting a letter. In the late 1960s and 1970s, the magazine's covers and content included illustrations and stories focused on sex and nudity.
Australasian Post
' at Paper World (commercial site). Accessed 2 May 2017
In 1982, '' The Sun News-Pictorial'' features editor Feyne Weaver was appointed ''Australasian Post'' editor: he immediately doubled the number of articles in the magazine and, while keeping the bikini-clad cover girl, got rid of all the "tit 'n' bum" inside. The circulation rose to an all-time high, overtaking the then market leader ''
People The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...
'' before Weaver resigned in mid-1984 to move to the United States. Post's trademark bikini-clad
cover girl A cover girl is a woman whose photograph is used for the front cover of magazines. She may be a model, celebrity or entertainer. The term would generally not be used to describe a person making a single, casual appearance on the cover of a magaz ...
began to look old-fashioned in the late 1980s, and it suffered a rapid decline in popularity. The execution was stayed momentarily when knockabout ''
Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a Conservatism, conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the American Rupert Murdoch, Murd ...
'' columnist Graeme "Jacko" Johnstone took the helm, took the bikini girl off the cover, and focused on its knack for telling uniquely Australian stories. The magazine was renamed ''Aussie Post'' in 1997, but it was not enough and it closed its doors on 2 February 2002, after 138 years. At the time of its last edition, it was the longest-running continuously published magazine in Australia.


References

{{Reflist, 33em 1864 establishments in Australia 2002 disestablishments in Australia Weekly magazines published in Australia Defunct magazines published in Australia English-language magazines Magazines disestablished in 2002 Magazines established in 1864 Magazines published in Melbourne Magazines published in Sydney