Smith's Weekly
Encyclopedia
Smith's Weekly was an Australia
n tabloid newspaper published from 1919 to 1950. An independent weekly published in Sydney
, but read all over Australia, Smith’s Weekly was one of Australia’s most patriotic newspaper-style magazines.
It took its name from its founder and chief financer Sir James Joynton Smith
, a prominent Sydney figure during World War One, conducting fund-raising and recruitment drives. Its two other founders were theatrical publicist Claude McKay
and journalist Clyde Packer
, father of Sir Frank Packer and grandfather of media baron Kerry Packer
. Sir Frank later formed the mighty Australian Consolidated Press
, chief rival to Rupert Murdoch
's News Limited
.
Mainly directed at the male (especially ex-Servicemen) market, it mixed sensationalism, satire and controversial opinions with sporting and finance news. It also included short stories, and many cartoons and caricatures as a main feature of its lively format.
One of its chief attractions in the 1920's was the Unofficial History of the A.I.F. feature, whose cartoons and contributions from returned soldiers helped perpetuate the image of the "digger
" as an easy-going individual with a healthy disrespect for authority. It also worked hard to ensure that promises made to soldiers during hostilities were not swept aside in peacetime. Of particular concern was men affected by shellshock, a condition which was being minimised by some "experts" as deserving scorn rather than sympathy. Staff cartoonists associated with this feature included the succession of Cecil Hartt
, Frank Dunne
and Lance Mattinson.
It also had a special Investigation department staffed by journalists with a bent for sleuthing. One of its many exposures is credited with dealing a fatal blow to the New Guard
, an incipient fascist movement of the 1930s.
Smith's Weekly staff included notable poet Kenneth Slessor
as Editor, and cartoonists of the stature of George Finey
, Emile Mercier
and Stan Cross
. It was a launching pad for two generations of outstanding Australian journalists and cartoonists.
Three rare Lovecraftian
stories were originally published by the well-known "Witch of the Cross" in Sydney, Rosaleen Norton
in Smith's Weekly. They were later reprinted as, Three Macabre Tales (US: Typographeum Press, 1996).
.
In the issue dated 30 July 1932, Smith's Weekly published a barrage of ugly allegations against Wilkinson, including attempted extortion and being a police informant. These were quickly proven false, a fact that was seized on by the daily newspapers. Smith's Weekly never fully recovered from its loss of reputation.
Its fortunes revived somewhat during WWII
, once again doggedly supporting the men at the front, but at war's end rising costs and lack of capital (new owners seeing its value as real estate rather than a business) accelerated its decline, and the last issue, dated 28 October 1950 was a tired tabloid of a mere 24 pages.
Editors
Artists
Crime reporters
Writers and reporters
Sports writers
Advertising
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 tabloid newspaper published from 1919 to 1950. An independent weekly published in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, but read all over Australia, Smith’s Weekly was one of Australia’s most patriotic newspaper-style magazines.
It took its name from its founder and chief financer Sir James Joynton Smith
James Joynton Smith
Sir James John Joynton Smith KBE, commonly referred to as simply Joynton Smith was an Australian hotelier, racecourse and newspaper owner, and Lord Mayor of Sydney....
, a prominent Sydney figure during World War One, conducting fund-raising and recruitment drives. Its two other founders were theatrical publicist Claude McKay
Claude Eric Fergusson McKay
Claude McKay was an Australian journalist and publicist of Scottish descent born in Kilmore, Victoria.He worked on the Kilmore Advertiser as jack-of-all-trades then as a journalist in Seymour, Melbourne, Warrnambool and Bendigo before moving to Brisbane in 1902, where he was deputy music and...
and journalist Clyde Packer
Robert Clyde Packer
Robert Clyde Packer was the founder of Australia's Packer media dynasty, which used to own Publishing and Broadcasting Limited now owns Consolidated Press Holdings and Crown Limited....
, father of Sir Frank Packer and grandfather of media baron Kerry Packer
Kerry Packer
Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer, AC was an Australian media tycoon. The son of Sir Frank Packer and Gretel Bullmore, the Packer family company owned controlling interest in both the Nine television network and leading Australian publishing company Australian Consolidated Press, which were later...
. Sir Frank later formed the mighty Australian Consolidated Press
Australian Consolidated Press
ACP Magazines , a subsidiary of the Nine Entertainment Co., is an Australian media company. It publishes the Australian Women's Weekly and the Australian edition of Woman's Day....
, chief rival to Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
's News Limited
News Limited
News Limited is one of Australia's largest diversified media companies. The publicly listed company's interests span newspaper and magazine publishing, Internet, Pay TV, National Rugby League, market research, DVD and film distribution, and film and television production trading assets.News Limited...
.
Mainly directed at the male (especially ex-Servicemen) market, it mixed sensationalism, satire and controversial opinions with sporting and finance news. It also included short stories, and many cartoons and caricatures as a main feature of its lively format.
One of its chief attractions in the 1920's was the Unofficial History of the A.I.F. feature, whose cartoons and contributions from returned soldiers helped perpetuate the image of the "digger
Digger (soldier)
Digger is an Australian and New Zealand military slang term for soldiers from Australia and New Zealand. It originated during World War I.- Origin :...
" as an easy-going individual with a healthy disrespect for authority. It also worked hard to ensure that promises made to soldiers during hostilities were not swept aside in peacetime. Of particular concern was men affected by shellshock, a condition which was being minimised by some "experts" as deserving scorn rather than sympathy. Staff cartoonists associated with this feature included the succession of Cecil Hartt
Cecil Hartt
Cecil Lawrence Hartt was an Australian cartoonist, born in Prahran, Victoria.He joined the 18th Battalion of the First AIF early in 1915, shortly after the outbreak of WWI and was wounded twice at Lone Pine. He had been contributing cartoons and sketches to The Bulletin before enlisting, and...
, Frank Dunne
Frank Dunne (cartoonist)
Lawrence Francis Dunne , generally known as "Frank" but also as "Beau" was an Australian cartoonist, born in Boorowa, near Harden, New South Wales....
and Lance Mattinson.
It also had a special Investigation department staffed by journalists with a bent for sleuthing. One of its many exposures is credited with dealing a fatal blow to the New Guard
New Guard
The New Guard was a fascist movement in Australia formed in 1931. It was opposed to communism and democracy, called for class collaboration to replace class conflict, and engaged in street fighting against opponents and in plans for a coup d'etat against the Australian government...
, an incipient fascist movement of the 1930s.
Smith's Weekly staff included notable poet Kenneth Slessor
Kenneth Slessor
Kenneth Adolf Slessor OBE was an Australian poet and journalist. He was one of Australia's leading poets, notable particularly for the absorption of modernist influences into Australian poetry. The Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry is named after him.-Life:Slessor was born Kenneth Adolphe...
as Editor, and cartoonists of the stature of George Finey
George Finey
George Edmond Finey was an Australian black-and-white artist born in Parnell, New Zealand, noted for his unconventional appearance and left-wing politics....
, Emile Mercier
Emile Mercier (cartoonist)
Emile Mercier was an Australian cartoonist.He was born in New Caledonia and settled in Australia after World War I. His popularity reached its height during the 1950s. Emile Mercier died in Sydney from Parkinsons Disease....
and Stan Cross
Stan Cross
Stanley George Cross was born in the United States but was known as an Australian strip and political cartoonist who drew for Smith’s Weekly and The Herald and Weekly Times...
. It was a launching pad for two generations of outstanding Australian journalists and cartoonists.
Three rare Lovecraftian
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
stories were originally published by the well-known "Witch of the Cross" in Sydney, Rosaleen Norton
Rosaleen Norton
Rosaleen "Roie" Norton , who used the craft name of Thorn, was an Australian artist and occultist, in the latter capacity adhering to a form of pantheistic Neopagan Witchcraft or Wicca which was devoted to the god Pan...
in Smith's Weekly. They were later reprinted as, Three Macabre Tales (US: Typographeum Press, 1996).
Demise of Smith's Weekly
On 5 April 1932 Francis Barndy Wilkinson and his girlfriend Dorothy Ruth Denzel, were victims of a callous double murder by William Cyril Moxley at MoorebankMoorebank, New South Wales
Moorebank is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Moorebank is located 27 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Liverpool....
.
In the issue dated 30 July 1932, Smith's Weekly published a barrage of ugly allegations against Wilkinson, including attempted extortion and being a police informant. These were quickly proven false, a fact that was seized on by the daily newspapers. Smith's Weekly never fully recovered from its loss of reputation.
Its fortunes revived somewhat during WWII
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, once again doggedly supporting the men at the front, but at war's end rising costs and lack of capital (new owners seeing its value as real estate rather than a business) accelerated its decline, and the last issue, dated 28 October 1950 was a tired tabloid of a mere 24 pages.
Some noteworthy employees
Editors-in-Chief- Claude McKay 1919-1927
- Frank Marien 1928-1936
- Harry Cox 1938-1939
- Kenneth Slessor June-September 1939
- Claude McKay 1939-1950
Editors
- Reg Moses 1930-1935
- Kenneth Slessor 1935-1939
- George Goddard 1939-1947
- Edgar Holt 1947-1950
Artists
- Stan CrossStan CrossStanley George Cross was born in the United States but was known as an Australian strip and political cartoonist who drew for Smith’s Weekly and The Herald and Weekly Times...
- Les DixonLes DixonLeslie "Les" Dixon , was an Australian cartoonist and commercial artist.Dixon was born Leslie Charles Brailey in Sydney, New South Wales on 25 July 1910 and adopted by Charles and Lillian Dixon when he was only six months old...
- George Donaldson
- Frank Dunne (cartoonist)Frank Dunne (cartoonist)Lawrence Francis Dunne , generally known as "Frank" but also as "Beau" was an Australian cartoonist, born in Boorowa, near Harden, New South Wales....
- John Endean
- George FineyGeorge FineyGeorge Edmond Finey was an Australian black-and-white artist born in Parnell, New Zealand, noted for his unconventional appearance and left-wing politics....
- Charles Hallett
- Cec HarttCecil HarttCecil Lawrence Hartt was an Australian cartoonist, born in Prahran, Victoria.He joined the 18th Battalion of the First AIF early in 1915, shortly after the outbreak of WWI and was wounded twice at Lone Pine. He had been contributing cartoons and sketches to The Bulletin before enlisting, and...
1919–1930 also pub. Humorosities (1920?) - Mollie Horseman
- Eric JolliffeEric JolliffeEric Jolliffe was an Australian cartoonist who contributed to The Bulletin and Smith's Weekly. He was particularly fond of "bush" subjects.-Biography:...
- Joe JonssonJoe JonssonNils Josef Jonsson was an Australian cartoonist born in Halmstad, Sweden.At age 18 he went to sea for nine years, painting in his spare time...
- Alex King
- Joseph Lynch
- Lance Mattinson
- Emile MercierEmile Mercier (cartoonist)Emile Mercier was an Australian cartoonist.He was born in New Caledonia and settled in Australia after World War I. His popularity reached its height during the 1950s. Emile Mercier died in Sydney from Parkinsons Disease....
- Syd Miller
- Norm Mitchell
- Joan Morrison
- Jim Phillips Walkley awards 1960, 1962
- Virgil Reilly
- Jim Russell
- Alex Sass (also commonly Alec or Alek) (real name Alexander Phillip Williams) Art Editor
Crime reporters
- Vince Kelly, who also wrote:
- Guarded Pearls (1948)
- The Shadow - Australia's underworld cop (1954) - about Frank Fahy
- The Bogey Man - the exploits of Sergeant C J Chuck, Australia's most unpopular cop (1956)
- Rugged Angel - the amazing career of policewoman Lillian Armfield (1961, 1995? ISBN 0646236806)
- The Shark-arm Case (1963, 1975 ISBN 0207132127)
- The Charge is Murder (1965)
- Harry Maddison
Writers and reporters
- George BlaikieGeorge BlaikieGeorge Neil Blaikie was an Australian author and journalist.He was born in Sydney and educated at Sydney Grammar School and Melbourne University. He joined Smith's Weekly in December 1931. His bank manager father had impressed on its owner Joynton Smith, a customer, what an asset the boy would...
1931–1950 - Clem Cleveson
- Reg Harris (later press secretary to several Federal Ministers)
- Bernard Hesling
- Errol Knox (later Sir Errol of the The (Melbourne) ArgusThe Argus (Australia)The Argus was a morning daily newspaper in Melbourne established in 1846 and closed in 1957. Widely known as a conservative newspaper for most of its history, it adopted a left leaning approach from 1949...
) - Henry LawsonHenry LawsonHenry Lawson was an Australian writer and poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period and is often called Australia's "greatest writer"...
- Lennie LowerLennie LowerLeonard Waldermar Lower was an Australian humourist who is still considered by many to be the comic genius of Australian journalism.-Life and career:...
- Ronald McCuaig
- Alex MacDonald (previously scriptwriter for 'Mo' Roy ReneRoy ReneRoy Rene , born Harry van der Sluys, was an Australian comedian and vaudevillian. As the bawdy character Mo McCackie, Rene was one of the most well-known and successful Australian comedians of the 20th century. Roy Rene was born in Adelaide in the 15 of February 1892 with the name Harry van der...
) - Adam McKay (literary editor)
- Reg Moses 'Mo' (satirist) 1920–1935
- John O'Donnell
- John Quinn (poet) 1945–1947
- Kenneth SlessorKenneth SlessorKenneth Adolf Slessor OBE was an Australian poet and journalist. He was one of Australia's leading poets, notable particularly for the absorption of modernist influences into Australian poetry. The Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry is named after him.-Life:Slessor was born Kenneth Adolphe...
- Gus Walker
Sports writers
- Jim Donald (boxing)
- Tom Foley (racing)
- Cliff Graves (racing)
Advertising
- Ernie Brewer
- Hugh Dash (later press secretary to Prime Minister MenziesRobert MenziesSir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....
) - William Gasnier (later father of Rugby League star Reg GasnierReg GasnierReg Gasnier AM is an Australian former rugby league footballer and coach, regarded as one of the 20th century's finest players. He played in the centres for the St. George Dragons from 1959 to 1967...
)