Australian Playboy was an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n imprint of Playboy

Playboy

Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...

magazine that was published between February 1979 and January 2000 for a total of 252 editions.

Content

Australian Playboy featured similar content to the lead US edition, and included interviews, feature articles and entertainment reviews. The magazine would rely heavily on the US edition for pictorials, and thus reprinted many pictorials featuring popular US Playmates

Playmates

"Playmates" may refer to:*Playmates , written in 1940*Playmates , directed by Mauritz Stiller*Playmates , starring Oliver Hardy*Playmates , starring Diana Serra Cary...

 and celebrities including Pamela Anderson

Pamela Anderson

Pamela Denise Anderson is a Canadian-American actress, model, producer, author, activist, and former showgirl, known for her roles on the television series Home Improvement, Baywatch, and V.I.P. She was chosen as a Playmate of the Month for Playboy magazine in February 1990...

, Erika Eleniak

Erika Eleniak

Erika Eleniak is an American Playboy Playmate and actress, perhaps best known for her role in Baywatch as Shauni McClain. She also starred in the films Under Siege and The Beverly Hillbillies.-Early life:...

 and Anna Nicole Smith

Anna Nicole Smith

In 1992 Smith was chosen by Hugh Hefner to appear on the cover of the March issue of Playboy, where she was listed as Vickie Smith, wearing a low-cut evening gown. The centerfold was photographed by Stephen Wayda. Smith said she planned to be "the next Marilyn Monroe". Becoming one of Playboys...

.

An Australian Playmate of the Year would be crowned annually.

The first edition featured Rosemary Paul on the cover and featured her in pictorial. Notable Australian celebrities who have appeared in the magazine include:

• Rachel Hunter
  Rachel Hunter
  Rachel Hunter is a New Zealand born American model, actress and reality TV show host who now resides in the U.S. She is best known for her appearance in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues and her longtime marriage to singer Rod Stewart, which ended in 2006...
  
  : supermodel (New Zealander)
• Emma Harrison
  Emma Harrison
  Emma Harrison is an actress, model and dancer, best known for the role of Joanna Hartman in the Australian soap-opera Neighbours.-Early life:...
  
  : Neighbours
  Neighbours
  Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985. It was created by TV executive Reg Watson, who proposed the idea of making a show that focused on realistic stories and portrayed adults and teenagers who talk openly and solve their problems...
  
  actress
• Melissa George
  Melissa George
  Melissa Suzanne George is an Australian film and television actress who has worked in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Melissa is perhaps best known for her role as Angel Parrish on the Australian soap opera Home and Away...
  
  : Home and Away
  Home and Away
  Home and Away is an Australian soap opera that has been produced in Sydney since July 1987 and is airing on the Seven Network since 17 January 1988. It is the second-longest-running drama and most popular soap opera on Australian television...
  
  actress
• Dannii Minogue
  Dannii Minogue
  Danielle Jane "Dannii" Minogue is an Australian singer-songwriter, actress, television personality, radio personality, fashion designer and model...
  
  : international popstar and X Factor and Australia's Got Talent
  Australia's Got Talent
  Australia's Got Talent is an Australian reality television talent show which premiered on 18 February 2007 on the Seven Network. The show was based on the Got Talent series format that originated in the United Kingdom with Simon Cowell...
  
   judge
• Fiona Horne
  Fiona Horne
  Fiona Horne is an Australian singer, rock musician, radio and television personality, actress and author. She is famous for her public promotion of Witchcraft and as the singer in Australian band Def FX...
  
  : celebrity witch, writer, later contestant on Celebrity Survivor
  Celebrity Survivor
  Celebrity Survivor, also known promotionally as Celebrity Survivor: Vanuatu and Australia's Celebrity Survivor, was an Australian television series that screened on the Seven Network in 2006, based on the popular reality television show, Survivor...
  
  
• Kym Wilson
  Kym Wilson
  Kym Wilson is an Australian actress.Wilson was born in Brisbane, Australia. She completed her secondary education at Stella Maris College, Manly. Her first major role was in the television mini-series Brides of Christ and she remains best known for playing Darcy Hudson in A Country Practice...
  
  : actress
• Gabrielle Richens
  Gabrielle Richens
  Gabrielle Richens is a British model and TV presenter. She was born in Kent of British, Indian and Chinese extraction although her parents are from South Africa. Richens has worked as a model since she was fifteen when she signed with the Elite modeling agency...
  
  : model, actress, TV presenter
• Wendy Botha
  Wendy Botha
  Wendy Botha is a four-time world surfing champion. She won her first title as a South African citizen in 1987, then she became an Australian citizen and won three more titles in 1989, 1991, and 1992). She also posed nude for Australian Playboy for the September issue of 1992...
  
  : surfer
• Lynda Stoner
  Lynda Stoner
  Lynda Stoner is an Australian actress and animal rights activist.In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Stoner was known for several roles on Australian television and was popularly regarded as a sex symbol...
  
  : actress
• Joanne Capper: wife of Warwick Capper
  Warwick Capper
  Warwick Capper is a retired high profile professional Australian rules football full-forward who played with the Sydney Swans with a short stint at the Brisbane Bears in the VFL ....
  
  
• Jodie Young: TV presenter
• Tracy Lee: model
• Bindy Paxton: infamous for appearing on A Current Affair

One notable omission was Elle MacPherson

Elle Macpherson

Elle Macpherson is an Australian model, actress, and businesswoman nicknamed "The Body". She is perhaps best known for her record five cover appearances for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue beginning in the 1980s...

, who posed nude for the US magazine, but was not featured in Australian Playboy. To date the biggest selling edition of Australian Playboy is the one with Dannii Minogue

Dannii Minogue

Danielle Jane "Dannii" Minogue is an Australian singer-songwriter, actress, television personality, radio personality, fashion designer and model...

 on the cover.

Demise

Australian Playboy ceased publication in late 1999 due to declining sales and increasing competition from lad's mags such as FHM

FHM

FHM, originally published as For Him Magazine, is an international monthly men's lifestyle magazine.- History :The magazine began publication in 1985 in the United Kingdom under the name For Him and changed its title to FHM in 1994 when Emap Consumer Media bought the magazine, although the full For...

and Ralph.

Further reading

— an early photo-essay on Australian eroticism (as opposed to pornography), featuring Playboy photographer Rico Mettbach. Includes some background into the magazine's readership and editorial history.

External links

• Australian Playboy Cover Database
• Australian Playboy Covers at PBCovers.com