 Cover of the Australasian Post for 29 January 1953. | |
| Frequency | Weekly |
|---|---|
| Year founded | 1864 |
| Final issue | 2002 |
| Country | Australia |
| Based in | Melbourne |
| Language | English |
| ISSN | 0004-8437 |
The Australasian Post, commonly called the Aussie Post, was Australia's longest-running weekly picture magazine.
Its origins are traceable to Saturday, 3 January 1857, [1] when the first issue of the publication Bell's Life in Victoria and Sporting Chronicle (probably best known for Tom Wills's famous 1858 Australian rules football letter) was released.
The weekly publication was based on the format of Bell's Life in London , which was produced by Charles Frederic Somerton in Melbourne, with a Sydney version having been published since 1845. [2]
On 1 October 1864, the weekly newspaper The Australasian was launched in Melbourne, 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. [3] A competitor, The Age , 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. [4]
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). [5] The Australasian adopted locally based editions during the transition.
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. [6]
The final edition of The Australasian appeared on 6 April 1946, published by The Argus and Australasian Limited, 365 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, [12] with an announcement that "Next week, this magazine becomes The Australasian Post in an entirely new format, with modern enlarged content." [13]
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, human interest stories, fashion, politics, culture and entertainment, being the staple of barber shops across the country. [14]
One of its features was its focus on Australiana, with pages of jokes and cartoons, including the Ettamogah Pub series by cartoonist Ken Maynard. [15] [16]
In the late 1960s and 1970s, the magazine's covers and content included illustrations and stories focused on sex and nudity. [17]
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 before Weaver resigned in mid-1984 to move to the United States.
Post's trademark bikini-clad cover girl 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 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.
The New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR) was the agency of the Government of New South Wales that administered rail transport in New South Wales, Australia, between 1855 and 1932.
The Argus was an Australian daily morning newspaper in Melbourne from 1846 to 1957. It was considered to be the general Australian newspaper of record for this period. Widely known as a conservative newspaper for most of its history, it adopted a left-leaning approach from 1949. The Argus's main competitor was David Syme's more liberal-minded newspaper, The Age.
Ken Maynard was an Australian cartoonist.
George Frederick Folingsby was an Irish-born Australian painter and art educator.
The following lists events that happened during 1883 in Australia.
Cranbrook is a large house built at Rose Bay in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Built in 1859 as a private residence, the house was used as an official residence for the Governor of New South Wales and Governor-General of Australia, it is now comprises part of Cranbrook School.
Niel Black was a successful Australian colonial pastoralist and one of Australia’s early politicians, a member of the Victorian Legislative Council.
The Australasian Sketcher with Pen and Pencil was a monthly magazine published in Melbourne by The Argus between 1873 and 1889.
Austral Otis was a Melbourne engineering works established in 1887 on site of former Langlands foundry in Grant Street South Melbourne. It was one of the largest manufacturers of elevators in Australia and continued as the Otis Elevator Company.
William Acland Douglas Anderson, (31 October 1829 – 23 January 1882) was an English-born politician and goldfields commissioner in colonial Victoria, Australia.
James Bell was an Australian politician, member of the Victorian Legislative Council from 1880 to May 1904.
Henry Miller was an Australian banker and politician, member of the Victorian Legislative Council.
James Watson was an Australian politician, Colonial Treasurer of New South Wales 1878 to 1883.
David Watterston was an Australian journalist and newspaper editor; he was editor of The Australasian from 1885 to 1903 and of The Argus 1903 to 1906.
Emily Matilda Manning, pen-name Australie was an Australian journalist and writer.
Angus Mackay was a founder of the radical Constitutional Association in 1848 before becoming a politician in colonial Victoria (Australia), as a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly.
Lucy Edith Gullett was an Australian medical practitioner and philanthropist.
Solicitor General for New South Wales, known informally as the Solicitor General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Attorney General. They can exercise the powers of the Attorney General in the Attorney General's absence. The Solicitor General acts alongside the Crown Advocate, and Crown Solicitor, and serves as one of the legal and constitutional advisers of the Crown and its government in the Australian state of New South Wales.
Redleaf is a historical building that was a private residence and now serves as an administration building, located on New South Head Road in the Sydney suburb of Double Bay in the Municipality of Woollahra, New South Wales, Australia. Built in 1863 in the Victorian Italianate style, the building has served as the administration offices for the Municipality of Woollahra since the 1940s and is also known as the Woollahra Council Chambers. The building and its environs are listed on the Municipality of Woollahra local government heritage register.