The Bulletin (Australian periodical)

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The Bulletin was an Australian weekly magazine based in Sydney and first published in 1880. It featured politics, business, poetry, fiction and humour, alongside cartoons and other illustrations.

The Bulletin exerted significant influence on Australian culture and politics, emerging as "Australia's most popular magazine" by the late 1880s.<ref>Reinecke, Carl (2021). Books that Made Us. ABC Books, ISBN 9781460713501.</ref> Jingoistic, xenophobic, anti-imperialist and republican, it promoted the idea of an Australian national identity distinct from its British colonial origins. Described as "the bushman's bible", The Bulletin helped cultivate a mythology surrounding the Australian bush, with bush poets such as Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson contributing many of their best known works to the publication. After federation in 1901, The Bulletin changed owners multiple times and gradually became more conservative in its views while remaining an "organ of Australianism". Although its popularity declined after World War I, it continued to serve as a vital outlet for new Australian literature.

It was revived as a modern news magazine in the 1960s, and after merging with the Australian edition of Newsweek in 1984<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> was retitled The Bulletin with Newsweek. Its final issue was published in January 2008, making The Bulletin Australia's longest running magazine.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Early history

J. F. Archibald and John Haynes, imprisoned in Darlinghurst Gaol in 1882 for not paying the costs in the Clontarf libel case

The Bulletin was founded by J. F. Archibald and John Haynes in Sydney, New South Wales, with the first issue being published on 31 January 1880.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The original content of The Bulletin consisted of a mix of political comment, sensationalised news, and Australian literature.<ref name="AustLit The Bulletin">Template:Cite web</ref> For a short period in 1880, their first artist William Macleod was also a partner.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The publication was folio size and initially consisted of eight pages, increasing to 12 pages in July 1880, and had reached 48 pages by 1899. The first issue sold for four pence, later reduced to three pence, and then, in 1883, was increased to six pence.<ref>Stuart, Lurline (1979) Nineteenth century Australian periodicals: an annotated bibliography, Sydney, Hale & Iremonger, p.52. Template:ISBN</ref> It is the namesake of the Sydney lane Bulletin Place, where the journal was published between 1880 and 1897, the year it moved to newer and larger offices in George Street.

During its first few decades, The Bulletin played a significant role in fostering nationalist sentiments in Australia. Its politics were also anti-imperialist, protectionist, insular, racist, republican, anti-clerical and masculinist—but not socialist. It mercilessly ridiculed colonial governors, capitalists, perceived snobs and social climbers, the clergy, wowsers (puritanical moralists), feminists and prohibitionists. It upheld trade unionism, Australian independence, advanced democracy and White Australia. It ran cartoons mocking the British, Chinese, Japanese, Indians, Jews, and Indigenous Australians.<ref name=Thompson2013>Template:Cite web</ref> The Bulletin decried the mistreatment of Indigenous people and regretted that, apart from the perpetrators of the Myall Creek massacre, offending colonists had escaped justice.<ref>The Bulletin (15 April 1882), "The Newsletter", p. 10</ref> Even so, The Bulletin assumed that their "black brothers" would soon die out regardless, viewing them as an inferior race unfit "for the ordeal of civilisation", and any efforts to ameliorate their condition as futile.<ref>The Bulletin (9 June 1883), "Our Black Brothers", p. 6</ref> In the early 20th century,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> editor James Edmond changed The BulletinTemplate:'s nationalist banner from "Australia for Australians" to "Australia for the White Man". An 1887 editorial laid out its reasons for choosing such banners:<ref>The Bulletin, 2 July 1887</ref>

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The "Bulletin School"

Henry Lawson
Mary Gilmore

Template:Blockquote From its outset, The Bulletin aimed to serve as a platform for young and aspiring Australian writers to showcase their works to large audiences. In 1886, it opened to submissions from all readers, calling for "original political, social or humorous matter, unpublished anecdotes and paragraphs, poems and short stories". Archibald encouraged contributors to "Make it short! Make it snappy, make it crisp, boil it down to a paragraph!" This resulted in what became known as "Bulletinese", described by P. R. Stephensen as "a clipped kind of slangy jargon [that] laid on local colour, not with a brush, but with a trowel."<ref>Stephensen, P. R. (1936). The Foundations of Culture in Australia.</ref> The Bulletin subsequently became the focal point of an emerging literary nationalism known as the "Bulletin School", characterised by colloquial Australian language, energetic verse, dry humour and hard-edged realism. Popular with people who lived in the Australian bush, The Bulletin frequently reflected the life of the bush back to them, and by 1888, it was widely referred to as "the bushman's bible".<ref>Biressi, Anita (2008). The Tabloid Culture Reader. McGraw-Hill Education, ISBN 9780335219315. p. 306</ref> "The Bulletin brought the world to the bush, and made the bush part of the world", wrote Ann Curthoys and Julianne Schultz.<ref>Curthoys, Ann; Schultz, Julianne (1999). Journalism: Print, Politics and Popular Culture. University of Queensland Press, ISBN 9780702231377. p. 90</ref> It was unique for publishing the contributions of ordinary bush people side by side with those from professional writers, and among folklorists and linguists, it is said to be without comparison as a source of Australianisms and bush lore.<ref>Baker, Sidney (1976). The Australian Language. Sun Books. pp. 410–411</ref>

Critics of the Bulletin School found much of its output to be amoral, pessimistic and parochial. Vincent Buckley alleged that it was "a debilitating force in Australian culture" that "saw men as no different from, and with no more soul than, the gibber-plains, mulga, soil erosion, crows, dead sheep and withered outback mountains which regularly appeared in their poems."<ref>The Bulletin (9 September 1961), "Poetry in Corners". p. 5.</ref> The journal Australian Woman's Sphere, published by suffragist Vida Goldstein, wrote that there were two types of Bulletin School verse: "one a clothes-horse on which to hang bush terms, and the other an echo from the grave, with blighted love and regret in it". While commending the Bulletin School for being "racy of the soil" and displaying "unconventional local genius", Arthur Patchett Martin considered the defects of their verse to be "an absence of lucidity and an excess of expletives". English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson read some Bulletin School poetry but declined to finish it, saying, "Unlike John the Baptist, I cannot live on locusts and wild honey."<ref>Patchett Martin, Arthur (1898). The Beginnings of an Australian Literature. H. Sotheran, pp. 43–46</ref>

A number of leading members of the Bulletin School, often called bush poets, have become giants of Australian literature. Notable writers associated with The Bulletin during this period include:

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Will Dyson and Norman Lindsay

Although cartooning featured in earlier Australian newspapers and journals, The Bulletin was the first to place heavy emphasis on it, and in the estimation of Bernard Smith, helped make Australia "one of the most important centres of black-and-white art in the world".<ref>Smith, Bernard (1945). Place, taste and tradition: a study of Australian art since 1788. Ure Smith.</ref> Many artists contributed illustrations to The Bulletin, including: Template:Div col

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Cultural impact

In Charles Conder's 1888 painting A holiday at Mentone, two people have copies of The Bulletin, identifiable from its pink-red covers.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

According to The Times of London, "It was The Bulletin that educated Australia up to Federation".<ref>The Times, 31 August 1903, quoted in, Murray-Smith, Stephen (1987), The dictionary of Australian quotations, Melbourne, Heinemann, p.267. Template:ISBN</ref> In South Africa, Cecil Rhodes regarded The Bulletin with "holy horror" and as a threat to his imperialist ambitions.<ref>Hebdon, Geoffrey (2022). Zero Hour: A Countdown to the Collapse of South Africa's Apartheid System. Interactive Publications Pty, Limited, ISBN 9781922830043. p. 218</ref> In a piece on Rhodes, W. T. Stead wrote that "The Bulletin he thus honoured by his dread is indeed one of the most notable journals of the world": "It is brilliant, lawless, audacious, scoffing, cynical, fearless, insolent, cocksure".<ref>Stead, William Thomas (1905). The Review of Reviews, p. 471</ref> English author D. H. Lawrence felt that The Bulletin was "the only periodical in the world that really amused him", and often referred to it for inspiration when writing his 1923 novel Kangaroo.<ref>Game, David (2016). D.H. Lawrence's Australia: Anxiety at the Edge of Empire. Taylor & Francis, ISBN 9781317155058, p. 177</ref> Like Lawrence, the novel's English narrator considers it "the momentaneous life of the continent", and appreciates its straightforwardness and the "kick" in its writing: "It beat no solemn drums. It had no deadly earnestness. It was just stoical and spitefully humorous."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In The Australian Language (1946), Sidney Baker wrote: "Perhaps never again will so much of the true nature of a country be caught up in the pages of a single journal".

Bulletin School writers Henry Lawson, Mary Gilmore, and Banjo Paterson are among the four historical figures who have been commemorated on the Australian ten-dollar note.

A Woman's Letter

The Bulletin was seen to be lacking a "gossip column" such as that conducted by "Mrs Gullett" in The Daily Telegraph.<ref name=half>Template:Cite news</ref> W. H. Traill, part-owner of the Bulletin, was aware of the literary talents of his sister-in-law Pattie Lewis, who had been, as "Mab", writing children's stories for the Sydney Mail. He offered the 17-year-old a column to be called A Woman's Letter, which involved reporting on the comings and goings of notable Sydney socialites. In time the column became quite popular, and reportedly the first item looked for in the magazine by both men and women. When Lewis married, it was she who recommended her successor, Ina Wildman, the audacious "Sappho Smith". Seven women wrote the "Woman's Letter" for The Bulletin:<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Later era

File:The Bulletin Feb2007.jpg
Front cover of the 13 February 2007 edition

The Bulletin continued to support the creation of a distinctive Australian literature into the 20th century, most notably under the editorship of Samuel Prior (1915–1933), who created the first novel competition.<ref name="AustLit The Bulletin"/>

The literary character of The Bulletin continued until 1961, when it was bought by Australian Consolidated Press (ACP), merged with the Observer (another ACP publication), and shifted to a news magazine format.<ref name="AustLit The Bulletin"/> Donald Horne was appointed as chief editor and quickly removed "Australia for the White Man" from the banner. The magazine was costing ACP more than it made, but they accepted that price "for the prestige of publishing Australia's oldest magazine".<ref name=Thompson2013/> Kerry Packer, in particular, had a personal liking for the magazine and was determined to keep it alive.<ref name="Packed It In: The Demise of The Bulletin">Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1974, as a result of its publication of a leaked Australian Security Intelligence Organisation paper discussing Deputy Prime Minister Jim Cairns, the Whitlam government called the Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security.<ref>Coventry, CJ. Origins of the Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security (2018: MA thesis submitted at UNSW).</ref>

In the 1980s and 1990s, The BulletinTemplate:'s "ageing subscribers were not being replaced and its newsstand visibility had dwindled".<ref name="Packed It In: The Demise of The Bulletin"/> Trevor Kennedy convinced publisher Richard Walsh to return to the magazine. Walsh promoted Lyndall Crisp to be its first female editor, but James Packer then advocated that former 60 Minutes executive producer Gerald Stone be made editor-in-chief. Later, in December 2002, Kerry Packer anointed Garry Linnell as editor-in-chief. The magazine by this stage was dropping in circulation and running at a loss. On one occasion, Kerry Packer called Linnell to his office, and, when Linnell asked what Packer wanted for The Bulletin, Packer said: "Son, just make 'em talk about it."<ref name="crikey.com.au">Template:Cite news</ref> When former Prime Minister Paul Keating sent Linnell a letter criticising the magazine and calling it "rivettingly mediocre", Linnell published the letter in the magazine, promoted that "Paul Keating Writes for Us", and awarded Keating with "Letter of the Week", with the prize for that being a year's subscription to the magazine.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2005, Linnell offered a $1.25-million reward to anyone who found an extinct Tasmanian tiger.<ref name="Packed It In: The Demise of The Bulletin"/>

Kerry Packer died in 2005, and in 2007 James Packer sold controlling interest in the Packer media assets (PBL Media) to the private equity firm CVC Asia Pacific.<ref name="Packed It In: The Demise of The Bulletin"/> On 24 January 2008, ACP Magazines announced that it was shutting The Bulletin. Circulation had declined from its 1990s' levels of over 100,000 down to 57,000,<ref name=Thompson2013/> which has been attributed in part to readers preferring the internet as their source for news and current affairs.<ref name="SMH24012008">Template:Cite news</ref> The Bulletin was awarded several Walkley Awards for its excellence in journalism; Asia Correspondent Eric Ellis in 2003, political correspondents John Lyons in 1999 and John Edwards in 1987, and headline writers Hal Greenland (2005/2007) and Donna Maegraith in 1999.

Editors

J. F. Archibald

The Bulletin had many editors over its time in print, and these are listed below: Template:Div col

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Columnists and bloggers

Regular columnists and bloggers on the magazine's website included: Template:Div col

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See also

References

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Further reading

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