Melbourne Punch (from 1900, simply titled Punch) (2 August 1855 – December 1925) was an Australian illustrated magazine founded by Edgar Ray and Frederick Sinnett, modelled closely on Punch of London which was founded fifteen years earlier. A similar magazine, Adelaide Punch, was published in South Australia from 1878 to 1884.
Contents
History
Ray and Sinnett published the magazine 1855–1883, followed by Alex McKinley 1883.
Staff artists included Nicholas Chevalier 1855–1861, Tom Carrington 1866–1887.
Contributing artists included J C Bancks, Luther Bradley, O R Campbell, George Dancey, Ambrose Dyson and his brother Will Dyson, S T Gill, Alex Gurney, Hal Gye, Percy Leason, Emile Mercier, Alex Sass, Montague Scott, Alf Vincent and Cecil "Unk" White.
Editors included Frederick Sinnett 1855–1857, James Smith 1857–1863, Charles Bright 1863–1866, William Jardine Smith, John Bede Dalley 1924.
Writers included Butler Cole Aspinall, Charles Gavan Duffy, R.H. Horne, James Smith, Thomas Carrington and Nicholas Chevalier.
It was involved in the creation of The Ashes cricket trophy in 1883.
It incorporated the Melbourne Bulletin in 1886, after which it became more involved with "society" news.
A cartoon titled "BAIL-UP!" in 1900 was possibly the first published use of the Kelly Gang in a satirical context.
It was acquired by The Melbourne Herald in 1924 and amalgamated with Table Talk in 1926.
An annual, variously titled Punch Almanac, Melbourne Punch Almanack, Melbourne Punch's Office Almanack and similar, was published for a time.
Literature
Mahood, Marguerite The Loaded Line 1973