Categories Youth Total circulation unknown | Frequency monthly First issue 1932 | |
Editors Penelope Webster and Inez Penrose, Michael Quirk Company University of Queensland Union | ||
Semper Floreat (Latin: "May it always flourish") is the student newspaper of the University of Queensland, in Brisbane, Australia. It has been published continuously by the University of Queensland Union (UQ Union) since 1932, when it began as a fortnightly newsletter of only a few pages, produced by one editor. The current Editors-in-Chief of Semper Floreat are Penelope Webster and Inez Penrose and the Deputy Editor in Chief is Michael Quirk. In 2014, Semper has become a 48-page, monthly magazine that employs a full-time editor, deputy editor and 8 part-time editors The editors are elected annually by the student body.
'Semper' occupied an important position in Brisbane's cultural and radical history, and has been closely connected with such cultural icons such as 'Time Off' . Semper editor, Alan Knight (1973), was a founding Director of 4ZZZ FM (1975). A number of important Australian writers, critics, historians and social commentators have been associated with the newspaper including John Birmingham, Clinton Walker and Humphrey McQueen. In 2005 the magazine was edited by Daniel and Sarah Spencer who went on to form the influential underground rock band Blank Realm.
The University of Queensland Library holds the most complete collection of the newspaper and archival issues are available through UQ eSpace; copies are also held in the State Library of Queensland, the Queensland Parliamentary Library, and the National Library of Australia in Canberra. Archival issues are also available from UQ eSpace.
The first student magazine for the University was called Queensland University Magazine (later known as Galmahra). It continued to publish alongside Semper Floreat until the 1950's.
Art of Shoplifting controversy
In 1995, Semper reprinted a controversial article from Rabelais Student Media, its La Trobe University counterpart, entitled The Art of Shoplifting – one of seven student newspapers to do so. Although the Rabelais editors responsible for the original article were prosecuted for ignoring a ban on publication issued by the state's Chief Censor; the editors of the other seven newspapers were not targeted by the authorities. Charges against the Rabelais editors were later dropped.