Tharunka
Encyclopedia
Tharunka is a student newspaper
published at the University of New South Wales
in Sydney
, Australia
. Established in 1953 at the then New South Wales University of Technology, Tharunka has been published in a variety of forms by various student organisations. At present, Tharunka is published 10 times a year by Arc @ UNSW Limited
.
The name Tharunka means "message stick
" in a Central Australian Aboriginal
language.
Until 1980, Tharunka was a weekly newspaper, switching to a fortnightly magazine format from 1981. In 2004 and 2005, Tharunka returned to a tabloid newspaper format. In 2006, Tharunka returned to the fortnightly magazine format.
Tharunka was published by the UNSW Students Union from 1953 until 1992, when that body was replaced by the University of New South Wales Student Guild. The Guild published Tharunka from 1993 until 2006. A new student organisation, Arc @ UNSW Limited
, took over publication of Tharunka from 2007, with Tharunka now published by a student team under the steerage of its Marketing Department.
Tharunka is managed by a small staff and a wider group of volunteers. Including staff wages, the publication's budget is under $40,000 per year.
It is traditional for a parody edition of Tharunka to be released as part of the university's annual Foundation Day celebrations . News satire is a regular feature of the publication.
In November 2004, the Guild was attacked by Daily Telegraph columnist Michael Duffy
for attempting to prevent the expression of support for voluntary student unionism
at UNSW. "Student politics is still notoriously corrupt and secretive," Duffy wrote, reporting that "the editors of the student union magazine Tharunka, have been told by the Guild Council ... not to publish articles in support of voluntary unionism."
In October 2010 the Arc withheld the final edition of Tharunka for the year even though 2000 copies had already been printed. The edition had originally included an article on the subject of BDSM sexual practices, which the CEO of Arc refused to publish. The editors complied by withdrawing the offending article, but printed in its place a mocking note making fun of censorship. As a result, the magazine was refused distribution.
Student newspaper
A student newspaper is a newspaper run by students of a university, high school, middle school, or other school. These papers traditionally cover local and, primarily, school or university news....
published at the University of New South Wales
University of New South Wales
The University of New South Wales , is a research-focused university based in Kensington, a suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
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...
, 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...
. Established in 1953 at the then New South Wales University of Technology, Tharunka has been published in a variety of forms by various student organisations. At present, Tharunka is published 10 times a year by Arc @ UNSW Limited
Arc @ UNSW
Arc @ UNSW Limited is the student organisation at the University of New South Wales and is a not-for-profit public company based in Sydney, Australia. The organisation supports the activities of student clubs, student volunteer programs such as orientation week, student publications, a student...
.
The name Tharunka means "message stick
Message stick
A message stick is a form of communication traditionally used by Indigenous Australians. It is usually a solid piece of wood, around 20–30cm in length, etched with angular lines and dots....
" in a Central Australian Aboriginal
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
language.
Until 1980, Tharunka was a weekly newspaper, switching to a fortnightly magazine format from 1981. In 2004 and 2005, Tharunka returned to a tabloid newspaper format. In 2006, Tharunka returned to the fortnightly magazine format.
Tharunka was published by the UNSW Students Union from 1953 until 1992, when that body was replaced by the University of New South Wales Student Guild. The Guild published Tharunka from 1993 until 2006. A new student organisation, Arc @ UNSW Limited
Arc @ UNSW
Arc @ UNSW Limited is the student organisation at the University of New South Wales and is a not-for-profit public company based in Sydney, Australia. The organisation supports the activities of student clubs, student volunteer programs such as orientation week, student publications, a student...
, took over publication of Tharunka from 2007, with Tharunka now published by a student team under the steerage of its Marketing Department.
Tharunka is managed by a small staff and a wider group of volunteers. Including staff wages, the publication's budget is under $40,000 per year.
Content
The content of Tharunka varies year to year in line with the priorities of student politicians, the editors and the wider contributor base. Tharunka's at times irreverent approach has seen copies seized by police, destroyed by political opponents and censored by the student organisation.It is traditional for a parody edition of Tharunka to be released as part of the university's annual Foundation Day celebrations . News satire is a regular feature of the publication.
Politics
As the journal of a political organisation, Tharunka's editorial direction was often influenced by the dominant faction within the student body at the time. Where the editors distanced themselves from the agenda of student representatives, conflict was often the result. A plan by then editor Michael Shane to devote an issue to coverage of issues facing men was met with fierce resistance by the Student Guild's governing council in 2000. Rules were enacted to give the Guild Women's Department a right of veto over content. With the end of the Guild and Union, and founding of Arc, Tharunka is now under the auspices of Arc's Marketing Department, rather than a political organisation. However, editorial remains edgy with Issue 1 of 2010 containing the word 'fuck' on its front cover.In November 2004, the Guild was attacked by Daily Telegraph columnist Michael Duffy
Michael Duffy (Australian journalist)
Michael Duffy is an Australian journalist and novelist. Duffy presents ABC Radio National's Counterpoint with Paul Comrie-Thomson, and writes for the Sydney Morning Herald and the Sun Herald...
for attempting to prevent the expression of support for voluntary student unionism
Voluntary student unionism
Voluntary student unionism is a policy, notable in Australia, under which membership of – and payment of membership fees to – university student organisations is voluntary....
at UNSW. "Student politics is still notoriously corrupt and secretive," Duffy wrote, reporting that "the editors of the student union magazine Tharunka, have been told by the Guild Council ... not to publish articles in support of voluntary unionism."
In October 2010 the Arc withheld the final edition of Tharunka for the year even though 2000 copies had already been printed. The edition had originally included an article on the subject of BDSM sexual practices, which the CEO of Arc refused to publish. The editors complied by withdrawing the offending article, but printed in its place a mocking note making fun of censorship. As a result, the magazine was refused distribution.
Other student media at UNSW
Tharunka is one of a number of periodicals that have emerged from the university.- Blitz is a weekly, 24 page full-colour campus events guide that evolved from newsletters circulated by the University of New South Wales Union in the 1970s. The name "Blitz" was adopted in mid-1988. In mid-1994, the Union introduced more editorial material to Blitz, hiring former Tharunka editor Alf Conlon to expand the range of content. In 2010, Blitz remains a "What's On" guide with content steered towards providing coverage to on-campus news and events, and also as a conduit of communication for the Student Representative Council. Blitz and Tharunka are now both published by Arc.
- Students at the university's College of Fine ArtsCollege of Fine ArtsThe College of Fine Arts is the creative arts faculty of the University of New South Wales and is located on Oxford Street, Paddington, Sydney, Australia.- History :...
produced regular zines under the titles Xerox Positive, and since 2005, Zing Tycoon' with 'COFAtopia' now launched, which retains the A5 format, "zine" feel. - Tharunka contributors were instrumental in the establishment of The Student Leader in 2004.
History
| Year | Volume | Editions | Format | Parody cover | Editors | Organisation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | 21 | 28 | Newspaper | Vicki Wootten and Brian Robins | Student Union | ||
| 1976 | 22 | 28 | Newspaper | Women's Weekly (Women's Weekly) | Steven Raper, Bradley Wynne, Olga Prokopvich and Geoff Turnbull | Student Union | |
| 1977 | 23 | Newspaper | Student Union | ||||
| 1978 | 24 | 28 | Newspaper | Benthouse (Penthouse Penthouse (magazine) Penthouse, a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictorials that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore. Penthouse is owned by FriendFinder Network. formerly known as General Media, Inc. whose parent company was Penthouse International... ) |
Juliette Sterne, Colin Israel and Gary Ross | Student Union | |
| 1979 | 25 | 28 | Newspaper | Kids' Stuff | Bruce Bradbury, Nicolette Dillon, Maryella Hatfield, Jeff Holten, Graeme Tubbenhauer | Student Union | |
| 1980 | 26 | 27 | Newspaper | Teresa Music, Bob Sheil, Bill McMahon and Stewart Lehr | Student Union | ||
| 1981 | 27 | 14 | Magazine | Eric Campbell, David Gibson, Ruth Hessey and Frances McDonald | Student Union | ||
| 1982 | 28 | The National Slimes (The National Times) | John Amy and Hector Hill | Student Union | |||
| 1983 | 29 | 15 | Magazine | Bradley Norington and Alex Cramb | Student Union | ||
| 1984 | 30 | 13 | Magazine | Wendy Carlisle, Alastair Walton, Susan Smith, Mark Cahill | Student Union | ||
| 1985 | 31 | 15 | Magazine | Helen Doyle, Tim Menzies, Isabelle Albert, Jan Bellis, David Cox, John Olip, Gordon Farrer, Kay Heycox | Student Union | ||
| 1986 | 32 | 14 | Magazine | The Drug Expensive (parody of Australian federal government "Drug Offensive" information kit) | Jan Bellis, Robert Cook, David Cox, Gordon Farrer, Jim Gleeson, Kay Heycox, Vicki Lee, Tim Menzies, John Olip, Michael Priest | Student Union | |
| 1987 | Magazine | Greed Weekend (Good Weekend) | James Adams, Jan Bellis, Gordon Farrer, Phillipa McGuinness, Toni Payne, Marisa Turanzas, Carol Walsh, Sherman Young | Student Union | |||
| 1988 | Up the TV Creek (TV Week); Bastard Review Weekly (Business Review Weekly) | James Adams, Frank Blanchfield, Jacinta Crimmins, Rowena Ivins, Gita Kemath, Joanne Mazzocchi, Paul Morehouse, Phillip Morrissey, Tim Nelson, Peter Rankin | Student Union | ||||
| 1989 | Student Union | ||||||
| 1990 | 36 | 14 | Magazine | Golly (Dolly) | Student Union | ||
| 1991 | 37 | 14 | Magazine | The Spew Age | Angus Crosby, Catriona Mackenzie, Elisia Yeo, Mary O'Connell, Nicos Souleles, Patrizia Montanari, Yvonne y Hoare | Student Union | |
| 1992 | 38 | 14 | Magazine | Who Cares? (Who magazine Who magazine Who is a celebrity news and entertainment weekly magazine published in Australia by Pacific Magazines. It was launched as a sister magazine to the United States weekly People, with a name change facilitated because of an existing Australian lad's mag of the same nameAs of 2006, Who had a... ) |
Thomas Tork, James Hooke, Daniel Grynberg, Annie Tennant, Sascha Kelso, Tara Gutman, Robi Stanton, Melissa McGrath, Alf Conlon, Nicos Souleles, Elias Hallaj | Student Union | |
| 1993 | 39 | Magazine | Stuart Guinness, Skye Reynolds, Natalie Osborne, Alf Conlon and Yaron Finkelstein | Student Guild | |||
| 1994 | 40 | 14 | Magazine | The Fake | Amanda Pullinger and Andy Cook | Student Guild | |
| 1995 | 41 | 13 | Magazine | The Typograph Error (The Telegraph Mirror The Daily Telegraph (Australia) The Daily Telegraph is an Australian tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, by Nationwide News, part of News Corporation.The Tele, as it is also known, was founded in 1879. From 1936 to 1972, it was owned by Frank Packer's Australian Consolidated Press. That year it was sold to... ) |
Pauly Wall and David Caspari | Student Guild | |
| 1996 | 42 | 14 | Magazine | Piss Weakend (Good Weekend) | Dale Harrison and Katie Kemm | Student Guild | |
| 1997 | 43 | 14 | Magazine | Crawling Home (Rolling Stone Rolling Stone Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J... ) |
Raj Khuman and Andrew Martin | Student Guild | |
| 1998 | 44 | Magazine | Trivial Geographic (National Geographic) | Philip Choi and Edward Carroll | Student Guild | ||
| 1999 | 45 | 14 | Magazine | Weekly UNSW News (Weekly World News Weekly World News The Weekly World News was a supermarket tabloid published in the United States from 1979 to 2007, renowned for its outlandish cover stories often based on supernatural or paranormal themes and an approach to news that verged on the satirical. Its characteristic black-and-white covers have become... ) |
Christian Harimanow | Student Guild | |
| 2000 | 46 | 14 | Magazine | Weekly UNSW News (Weekly World News Weekly World News The Weekly World News was a supermarket tabloid published in the United States from 1979 to 2007, renowned for its outlandish cover stories often based on supernatural or paranormal themes and an approach to news that verged on the satirical. Its characteristic black-and-white covers have become... ) |
Michael Shane Korogiannis and Marta Jary | Student Guild | |
| 2001 | 47 | 10 | Magazine | The Gorgeous Edition (Hello! Magazine Hello! Hello is a weekly magazine specializing in celebrity news and human-interest stories, published in the United Kingdom since 1988. Hello is sister magazine to ¡Hola!, the Spanish weekly magazine launched in Spain in 1944... ) |
Michelle Carmody and Nick Salzberg | Student Guild | |
| 2002 | 48 | Magazine | Ben's Health (Men's Health Men's Health (magazine) Men's Health , published by Rodale Inc. in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, United States, is the world’s largest men’s magazine brand, with 44 editions around the world. It is also the best-selling men's magazine on U.S. newsstands. It covers fitness, nutrition, sexuality, lifestyle and other aspects of... ) |
Anthony Levin and Alex Tyrell | Student Guild | ||
| 2003 | 49 | 13 | Magazine | Nude Scientist (New Scientist New Scientist New Scientist is a weekly non-peer-reviewed English-language international science magazine, which since 1996 has also run a website, covering recent developments in science and technology for a general audience. Founded in 1956, it is published by Reed Business Information Ltd, a subsidiary of... ) |
Calen Thurston | Student Guild | |
| 2004 | 50 | 17 | Newspaper | Foundation Day-Mart (Kmart Kmart Australia Kmart Australia Limited is a discount department store chain owned by Wesfarmers. It operates 172 stores in Australia and 15 in New Zealand, with its head office located in Mulgrave, Victoria. Wesfarmers uses the Kmart name under licence from Sears Holdings Corporation.-History:Kmart Australia... ) |
Joe Stella and Kathryn Small | Student Guild | |
| 2005 | 51 | Newspaper | Bowling Stoned (Rolling Stone Rolling Stone Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J... ) |
Christine Tran | Student Guild | ||
| 2006 | 52 | Magazine | Homeboy (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... ) |
Mansha Tandon and Patrick Coyte | Student Guild | ||
| 2007 | 53 | 10 | Magazine | Notional Geographic (National Geographic) | Sophie Braham and Tom Bowes | Arc @ UNSW | |
| 2008 | 54 | 10 | Magazine | Dumb Media (Drum Media Drum Media Drum Media is a free weekly tabloid-sized music and lifestyle magazine established in 1990 and based in Sydney, Australia. It is distributed throughout Sydney, Wollongong, Newcastle and Canberra, and surrounding districts. A separate weekly issue began circulating in Perth in September 2006. The... ) |
Chantel Cotterell, Chris Moore, Mirza Nurkic, Rory Thomas and Scarlet Wilcock | Arc @ UNSW | |
| 2009 | 55 | 10 | Magazine | The UnAustralian (The Australian The Australian The Australian is a broadsheet newspaper published in Australia from Monday to Saturday each week since 14 July 1964. The editor in chief is Chris Mitchell, the editor is Clive Mathieson and the 'editor-at-large' is Paul Kelly.... ) |
Bart Cummings, Sean Lawson, Su-Min Lim | Arc @ UNSW | |
| 2010 | 56 | 10 | Magazine | The Ecominous (The Economist The Economist The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843... ) |
Su-Min Lim, Matt Kwan, James Fehon, Matt Ward | Arc @ UNSW | |
| 2011 | 57 | 11 | Magazine | Shitz (Blitz) | Cameron McPhedran, Elizabeth Stern, Kylar Loussikian | Arc @ UNSW |
External links
- Tharunka website
- Interview with Wendy Bacon, Tharunka, vol. 46 (2000)
- Past issues of Tharunka are available for access at UNSW Archives