The Boomerang

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The Boomerang was a weekly newspaper published in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. [1]

Contents

History

The Boomerang was a short-lived radical, illustrated, weekly newspaper, published in Brisbane, Queensland, in the late 19th century.

It's subtitle, in boomerang-shaped letters, promised, like the boomerang, to be 'true to the skilful hand that flings it forth. It flies in whirling circles to its destined mark'. [2]

The Boomerang was established by journalist, trade unionist and Utopian, William Lane in 1887, publishing its first issue on 19 November. [3] [4] It published stories, poetry, cartoons, social and sporting notes, reflecting a time of growing interest in radical ideas and politics.

Notable contributors included cartoonist E. H. Murray, [2] Annie Lane (nee Macquire, wife of William Lane), writing under the pen name ‘Lucinda Sharpe’, orator and unionist Gilbert Casey, Indigenous rights activist Carl Feilberg, poet and journalist Zora Cross, who worked for the paper for three years, [5] editor Gresley Lukin, writer and literary critic A. G. Stephens, agricultural writer, journalist and socialist, Alfred Yewen [6] and Henry Lawson (under pen name of ‘Joe Swallow') who contributed a column entitled ‘Country Crumbs’. [7] Leading radical feminist intellectual Leontine Cooper wrote both short-stories and essays for it [8] . A second key Queensland based feminist Elizabeth Grace Neill, journalist and writer and later senior labour advocate, was on the staff. [9] A.G. Stephens also worked as a sub-editor, but left in 1891 to become editor and part proprietor of the Cairns Argus . James Drake, future Attorney-General of Australia, was a shareholder, writer and joint editor. [10]

In 1891, Lane was approached to be the editor of The Worker, a newspaper being established by the local labour unions. As a consequence, Lane sold The Boomerang to Lukin. Lukin published the newspaper until 9 April 1892 after the company was voluntarily wound up. [11] [12] [13] [14]

No connection has been found between this newspaper and the 1894 Melbourne Boomerang weekly published by Edward Findley.

Publications

A eulogy by Francis Adams for Danish Australian journalist and Indigenous rights activist Carl Feilberg was published in the journal after his death in late 1887, [15] [16] followed by several of Feilberg's short stories. [17]

Access

A hand-written index to The Boomerang is held by the John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, and all issues (from No. 1 (Saturday, 19 November 1887) to No. 230 (Saturday, 9 April 1892)) are held in the Library, both on paper and microfilm. [18] The microform version is available for use at some other libraries. [19]

References

  1. ↑ Lukin, Gresley (1887), The Boomerang, Alfred Walker, for the Boomerang Newspaper Co, archived from the original on 17 January 2023, retrieved 15 September 2015
  2. 1 2 "The Letters of Lionel Lynx". The Worker . Vol. 29, no. 1441. Queensland, Australia. 12 December 1918. p. 5. Retrieved 16 April 2025– via National Library of Australia.
  3. ↑ Thompson, Stephen (February 2013). "1893 The New Australia Colony Collection". Powerhouse Museum Migration Heritage Centre. Archived from the original on 13 March 2018. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
  4. ↑ "News of the Day". Toowoomba Chronicle and Darling Downs General Advertiser . No. 3899. Queensland, Australia. 22 November 1887. p. 3. Archived from the original on 17 January 2023. Retrieved 4 October 2017– via National Library of Australia.
  5. ↑ Adelaide, Debra (1988), Australian women writers : a bibliographic guide, Pandora, p. 42, ISBN   978-0-86358-148-9
  6. ↑ Campion, Edmund (1990). "Yewen, Alfred Gregory (1867–1923)". Australian Dictionary of Biography . National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Archived from the original on 14 February 2017. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  7. ↑ Evans, Raymond (2007). History of Queensland. Cambridge University Press. p. 119. ISBN   9780521545396.
  8. ↑ https://Austlit data base www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/search2/page?query=leontine+cooper+boomerang&token=FNsxjKc&facetSampleSize=0&facetValuesSize=0&blendMax=y&count=50
  9. ↑ Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2n5/neill-elizabeth-grace
  10. ↑ Gibbney, H. J. (1981). "Drake, James George (1850–1941)". Australian Dictionary of Biography . Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN   978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN   1833-7538. OCLC   70677943 . Retrieved 19 October 2007.
  11. ↑ "Letters to the Editor". The Telegraph . Queensland, Australia. 11 November 1946. p. 2. Archived from the original on 17 January 2023. Retrieved 4 October 2017– via National Library of Australia.
  12. ↑ "Odd Notes". The Mirror . No. 12. New South Wales, Australia. 15 September 1917. p. 14. Archived from the original on 17 January 2023. Retrieved 4 October 2017– via National Library of Australia.
  13. ↑ The boomerang, W. & F. Pascoe Pty. Ltd, 1887, archived from the original on 17 January 2023, retrieved 4 October 2017
  14. ↑ "Local and General News". Warwick Argus . Vol. XXVII, no. 2116. Queensland, Australia. 16 April 1892. p. 2. Archived from the original on 17 January 2023. Retrieved 4 October 2017– via National Library of Australia.
  15. ↑ Eulogy by Francis Adams, in The Boomerang 19 November 1887, p.13.
  16. ↑ Daley, Paul (21 September 2018). "'Wholesale massacre': Carl Feilberg exposed the ugly truth of the Australian frontier". The Guardian .
  17. ↑ "Carl Feilberg: Works by". AustLit . Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  18. ↑ "The Boomerang". State Library of Queensland catalogue. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  19. ↑ "Boomerang (Brisbane, Qld.)". State Library of Victoria catalogue. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
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