Frequency Bimonthly Year founded 1986 Country Australia | ||
Website www.australiangeographic.com.au | ||
Australian Geographic is a media business that produces the Australian Geographic magazine, DMag magazine, specialist book titles, travel guides, diaries and calendars and online media. It published editions of the Australian Encyclopaedia. It previously operated the Australian Geographical retail chain stores and Australian Geographic Travel and Australian Geographic Adventures.
Contents
Australian Geographic magazine, originally titled Dick Smith's Australian Geographic, is a bi-monthly geographical journal created by Dick Smith in 1986. The magazine focuses mainly on stories about Australia, or about Australian people in other countries. The six editions published each year are available by subscription and on newsstands. They include posters or sheet maps in each edition, as well as photographs and detailed technical illustrations.
Australian Geographic also has a website that includes the entire magazine digital archive.
Each year, a portion of the profits is provided to the Australian Geographic Society, which Australian Geographic claims is the non-profit arm of Australian Geographic. Members of the public were invited to become members and make financial contributions to the Society. In a circular relationship, the magazine was represented to be the "official journal of the Australian Geographic Society". Through its Society, Australian Geographic supports scientific research as well as environmental and community projects. Funds are also used to highlight and support Australian adventurers and produce related diaries, calendars and books.
History
The Australian Geographic magazine, originally titled Dick Smith's Australian Geographic, was initially published by Australian Geographic Pty Ltd, a private company controlled by Dick Smith. Smith, the founder of Dick Smith Electronics and Dick Smith Foods, included his name on the magazine cover at its establishment. After two years he removed his name from the magazine cover. Australian Geographic Pty Ltd also operated the Australian Geographic chain of retail stores. The publication's offices were originally based in Terrey Hills north of Sydney. Smith wanted the publication to focus on accuracy by exclusively including articles that were peer-reviewed. Australian Geographic acquired rights to the Australian Encyclopaedia and published editions in 1988 and 1996. In 1995, when subscriptions totalled more than 200,000, Smith sold the business to Fairfax Media.
In December 1998, the business was bought out by its management.
From September 2000 to December 2001, Australian Geographic published a bimonthly science and technology magazine known as Newton Graphic Science. There were, however, only eight issues published before the magazine went permanently out of print.
In November 2006, PBL Media's ACP Magazines (now Bauer Media Group) purchased the Australian Geographic publishing division. Today the Australian Geographic magazine is based at Park Street Sydney. The current editor-in-chief of Australian Geographic is Chrissie Goldrick, while the editor is John Pickrell.
In September 2007, Australian Geographic Retail, which operates an online store and retail stores selling products including Australiana, weather stations, telescopes, books and toys, was sold separate to the publication business. From 2007 to 2016 Australian Geographic Retail was owned by Myer Family Investments but after large operating losses it was sold in August 2016 to The Co-op, a retail supplier to universities.
Awards
The Australian Geographic Society Adventure Award has been awarded since 1987 and is Australia's longest-running award for adventure. It is judged on merit and therefore not all of the categories are awarded annually. The award is a celebration of achievement and is not a competition. The award is given in two categories – Adventurer of the Year, and Young Adventurer of the Year.