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Melbourne Punch (from 1900, simply titled Punch) was an Australian illustrated magazine founded by Edgar Ray and Frederick Sinnett, and published from August 1855 to December 1925. The magazine was modelled closely on Punch of London which was founded fifteen years earlier. A similar magazine, Adelaide Punch, was published in South Australia from 1878 to 1884.

Beginnings
Melbourne Punch, a colonial version of the London Punch, began as the joint enterprise of Frederick Sinnett, a journalist working for The Argus newspaper, and Edgar Ray, the proprietor of a Melbourne printing office at 66 Collins Street from which he published the daily Auction Mart Advertiser. Sinnett became the editor of the new venture and "wrote the greater part" of the first issue which was published on 2 August 1855. The first issue of Melbourne Punch was almost entirely illustrated by a Mr. Gill (using the pseudonym 'Quiz') and was "as crude and ineffective as might have been expected of an amateur".

The first issue included the magazine's first full-page cartoon, drawn by 'Quiz' and engraved by Frederick Grosse, anticipating and imagining the departure from the colony of Victoria's governor, Sir Charles Hotham, whose popularity as a government official had declined during his tenure. The cartoon depicts Hotham standing on the wharf with his wife, preparing to depart for England. The governor "wears a haughty scowl and carries a cash-box" and his cabin-trunk sitting on the wharf is marked 'Not Wanted'. Despite being a "poor drawing", the historian Marguerite Mahood wrote of the cartoon: "But in spite of its imperfections, it uses all the picturesque points of public gossip about an unpopular governor".



Melbourne Punch was published each week on a Thursday, initially as a quarto-sized, eight-page magazine costing sixpence, and was an acknowledged imitation of the London Punch. From its inception the magazine used the basic format of articles and illustrations on social and political topics as well as humorous and satirical writings, verse, jokes and cartoons. The issues constituting volume one of Melbourne Punch were published from 2 August 1855 to 31 January 1856. Although the pages in volume one were numbered consecutively, each weekly issue was undated. The dating of pages began with the 7 February 1856 issue, the first in volume two. In the early years of the magazine the method used for the reproduction of images was wood engraving, whereby the artist drew on a block of wood which was then given to an engraver to cut recesses which corresponded to the white areas of the image. The raised surface of the wood block could then have ink applied for printing. The quality of the finished image was dependent on the skill of the engraver and the time constraints of print deadlines.

By the second issue the artist Nicholas Chevalier had been engaged to provide the illustrations and James Smith, another journalist working for The Argus, joined the staff on a weekly contract "to supply a specified quantity of copy". Smith, writing in 1907, commented that Chevalier's early drawings were crudely rendered as the artist was unfamiliar with the woodblock process used by the magazine, but his drawings "gained force and facility by time and practice". During the remainder of 1855 Chevalier contributed most of the cartoons published in Melbourne Punch, with the occasional contribution from 'Quiz' (Mr. Gill). The engravers Frederick Grosse and Samuel Calvert produced the woodblocks for printing purposes.

On 22 September 1855 Augustus Bernal, previously a Victorian gold commissioner, appeared in the Melbourne Police Court to answer a complaint that he violently assaulted Frederick Sinnett at the Collins Street offices of Melbourne Punch two days previously. The circumstance leading to the incident was that a picture had been published in the current issue of Punch "which somewhat approached in appearance to Mr. Bernal, who fancied the sketch applied to himself". Bernal took offence at the picture and went the Punch office to request an apology from Sinnett, as editor, "for the unwarranted liberty which had been taken with his countenance". When Sinnett refused, Bernal "unceremoniously laid his whip across" the editor's shoulders. In court Bernal justified the assault and protested "against the right of any publication to make him public property". He explained that the annoyance to which he had been subjected "was perfectly unbearable". He claimed that boys in the street had asked him "to buy his own likeness" and he "was pointed out by men, women and children, as 'the man wot's in Punch'". The bench of magistrates found Bernal guilty of the assault ("on his own confession"), though they agreed it had been committed "under circumstances of great provocation" and inflicted a nominal fine of one shilling. After the court case a couple of sham advertisements were printed in the pages of Melbourne Punch. The first was addressed "To Pugilists and Others" and read: "Wanted an Editor – Literary qualifications not required, but he must be up to anything under twelve stone". The second advertisement was addressed to "Editors and Others", adding: "The recent decision of the Bench of Magistrates in the case of Mr. Bernal, emboldens Messrs. Colt and Bowie to call renewed attention to their very superior assortment of Requisites for an Editor's Room", beneath which was listed an assortment of weapons, including revolvers, "swordsicks, bludgeons and canes", and inkstands "with compartments for Bullets, Caps and Powder", concluding with "N.B. – A few very superior thorough-bred bull-dogs on sale".

During the first few years James Smith and Chevalier wrote and illustrated the bulk of the magazine's political satire. Other paid contributors in the early years of Melbourne Punch included R. H. 'Orion' Horne, Edward Whitty, James Stiffe, Charles Whitehead, Frederick Terry, W. Jardine Smith and the poet Henry Kendall. Nicholas Chevalier drew the cartoons in Melbourne Punch from August 1855 to 1861.

In early May 1856 Melbourne Punch moved premises from 66 Collins Street to 23 Collins Street, which involved the transfer of the printing machine, ink, paper and woodblocks to the new locality. The magazine's issue of 8 May 1856 included an account of the relocation as well as a cartoon depicting a triumphal procession down Collins Street with the printing machinery, directed by Mr. Punch. At the rear of the staff-members walking alongside is depicted the artist, Chevalier, with his folio under his arm and his engraver, Calvert, with a block and holding a bunch of gravers.

In May 1858 James Smith took over the editorship of Melbourne Punch after Sinnett left to become editor of the Geelong Daily News, a new publishing venture by Edgar Ray.

An annual, variously titled Punch Almanac, Melbourne Punch Almanack, Melbourne Punch's Office Almanack and similar, was published for a time. Review of the first almanac.

The 1860s
In early 1861 Edgar Ray sold Melbourne Punch to Captain Butler Stoney, who James Smith described as "a military officer with some literary ambition". Smith then purchased from Stoney the copyright of Melbourne Punch for four hundred pounds, including the stock of back numbers and engraved blocks. At about that time "a wave of commercial depression swept over the colony".

The colony of Victoria was experiencing "a wave of commercial depression" at the time, affecting sales of the magazine, as a result of which the issue of 7 February 1861 was published without any illustrations. The page where the usual feature cartoon was printed was left blank, which Smith entitled 'The Political Prospects of the Colony'. The opposite page stated the "honest truth": "Punch is suffering from the prevailing epidemic – impecunimonia – or tightness of the chest". The reason for the lack of illustrations was explained as: "He [Punch] is in arrears with his artist and engraver, and cannot blame them those worthy people for declining to pursue an unremunerative occupation".

Nicholas Chevalier, the principal artist at the magazine, "believing that the ship was sinking, quitted her". However, as Smith later related, the financial situation for the magazine began to improve soon afterwards "and all liabilities were honestly met". Montague Scott replaced Chevalier and remained as artist at Punch until at least the end of 1864. In February 1863 time James Smith was appointed librarian to the Victorian parliament. He departed as editor of Melbourne Punch and "parted with the copyright" for zero value to the new owner, William Lancelot Kelly.

Smith was replaced as editor by Charles Bright. When Bright took over the editorship he was also editor of The Examiner (a weekly newspaper that in 1864 was replaced by The Australasian). During his three years of editing Melbourne Punch, the magazine "enjoyed... phenomenal success" due to the "business energy and tact" of the proprietor Kelly and the popularity of the writer, Butler Cole Aspinall.

Possibly owned by Edgar Ray up until late March 1863, when it was sold to William Lancelot Kelly.

Oswald Rose Campbell began contributing illustrations to Melbourne Punch from about March 1865.

Kelly was the proprietor of Melbourne Punch from March 1863 until his death in May 1866. It was claimed that during his period of management the magazine "secured an amount of success which no former proprietor achieved". He "surrounded himself with the best available literary and artistic talent, and won the hearty co-operation of an able editor, contributors, artists, and engravers".

William Lancelot Kelly died on 11 May 1866 at Collingwood, aged fifty. After Kelly's death the ownership of Melbourne Punch passed to John Noble Wilson, an executor of Kelly's will. After Kelly's death Jardine Smith began negotiations with his executors for the ownership of Melbourne Punch. An agreement was reached between the parties on 1 July 1866, but not signed until the 27th of that month. In the interim the back copies in stock in twenty-one bound volumes were removed from the Punch offices. Smith contended that the volumes were included in the agreement and took the executors to court over the issue. The judge agreed with Smith and gave a verdict for the plaintiff of £19 19s, "to be reduced to one shilling on the delivery of the books". When Jardine Smith became owner of the magazine in late July 1866, he took on the role of editor (until 1869).

Tom Carrington (intermittently) and John Bede Dalley (1924).

The principal cartoonist for the publication was Oswald Rose Campbell, who was mainly responsible for the featured full-page illustrations on page five of the journal.

In September 1866 Tom Carrington joined the staff of Melbourne Punch, beginning the artist's association with the journal of more than twenty years.

Campbell left Melbourne Punch in May 1867 after which Carrington took on the responsibility of producing the full-page feature cartoon in each issue, as well as the smaller format cartoons.

The McKinley brothers
Alexander and James McKinley, whose father was a newspaper proprietor, had emigrated to Melbourne in about 1857. In April 1871 the McKinley brothers sold the Talbot Leader newspaper, which they had acquired in 1869, and purchased Melbourne Punch. The McKinley brothers were "staunch conservatives" who instigated a campaign in the pages of their magazine against the protectionist liberal faction that had become dominant in the Victorian Legislative Assembly.

From 8 January 1874 the number of pages in each issue of Melbourne Punch was increased from eight to ten pages.

In 1881 Alex McKinley bought out his older brother and Tom Carrington and became the sole owner of Melbourne Punch. He also acquired the Melbourne Bulletin, which was run from the Punch office.



In about 1880 Tom Carrington purchased a third share in Melbourne Punch, together with Alex and James McKinley. About a year later he sold his share and entered into a partnership with James McKinley and Edmund Finn (another Punch staff-member) to start a newspaper called the World, the first issue of which was published on 20 November 1881. The World was short-lived, however, and soon afterwards Carrington sold his share and purchased a part share of Punch from Alex McKinley.

In December 1882 a number of cartoons and illustrations by Tom Durkin were published in Punch Almanack 1883, the magazine's annual holiday-season publication. Durkin had become known as a leading Melbourne illustrator for his series of caricatures of prominent citizens published as coloured lithographic prints in The Weekly Times in the mid-1870s. A reviewer of the Almanack described Durkin as "well known for the special talent he possesses of delineating facial expression". His contributions included 'The Last Woman', depicting a semi-nude female figure addressing "Old Sol on the subject of departed fashion", against a background of "a heavy thunderstorm and impending chaos". Durkin contributed seven other large-format cartoons to the 1883 almanac, together with a number of "smaller etchings".

A weekly threepenny magazine called the Melbourne Bulletin began to be published in 1880, printed by the McKinley brothers at 61 Queen Street in Melbourne. The McKinley brothers acquired the magazine in 1882 and by 1886 they decided to amalgamate it with Melbourne Punch. On 4 March 1886 "the new series" of Melbourne Punch was launched, printed with a larger glossy format, incorporating "all the best features of the Melbourne Bulletin". It incorporated the Melbourne Bulletin in 1886, after which it became more involved with "society" news. In 1886 Alexander McKinley, who already owned the Melbourne Bulletin (established 1880), a rival to Punch, acquired sole proprietorship of the older paper, and Punch was transferred to the McKinley Brothers’ printing establishment at 59–61 Queen Street — a great advantage in production.

It was involved in the creation of The Ashes cricket trophy in 1883.

From 4 March 1886 the number of pages in each issue of Melbourne Punch was increased to twelve pages. In June 1886 it was reported that J. H. Leonard, the principal artist and cartoonist for the Adelaide satirical periodical The Lantern, had accepted an offer to join the staff of Melbourne Punch. Leonard's cartoons (signed 'Leo') were published in Punch until about 1891.

Tom Carrington's final cartoon for Melbourne Punch was the full-page 'The Good Santa Claus' (subtitled "The Ministerial Man of Ice Still Fills The Stockings of His Obedient Little Children"), published on 22 December 1887, which featured a caricature of the Victorian Premier, Duncan Gillies, as Santa Claus, together with members of his cabinet. Carrington's feature cartoons for "Melbourne Punch" during the period of May 1867 to December 1887 were described as "the long fusillade of pictures that wrought such havoc in the politics of the day".

From 2 February 1888 the number of pages in each issue of Melbourne Punch was increased to sixteen pages.

In 1888 the American-born Luther Bradley became chief cartoonist of Melbourne Punch after Tom Carrington resigned. Bradbury remained at Punch until 1893, with notable coverage of the Australian labor movement. He popularized Carrington's 'King Working Man' figure, a crowned giant representing organized labor.

James McKinley was the editor of Melbourne Punch from 1893 until his death in 1908.

Tasmanian-born artist Alfred Vincent began contributing political cartoons to Melbourne Punch in 1895 and was a staff cartoonist for several years before being appointed as the Melbourne artist for Sydney's Bulletin in April 1898.

The artist and designer, George Dancey, emigrated to Melbourne from England in 1891 and joined the staff of Melbourne Punch in 1894, becoming the chief cartoonist. In 1896 he relinquished the position due to ill health and was replaced by George Treeby (who used the pseudonym 'G. Bron'). In 1898 Dancey returned to the magazine, replacing Treeby as chief cartoonist. George Dancey remained as the leading cartoonist at Punch until his retirement in 1919. During much of his time with the magazine, Dancey worked with Alexander Sass.

From 4 June 1896 the number of pages in each issue of Melbourne Punch was increased to twenty pages. From 27 January 1898 the number of pages was increased to twenty-four pages.

A cartoon titled "BAIL-UP!" in 1900 was possibly the first published use of the Kelly Gang in a satirical context.

Ref.

The editor of Melbourne Punch, James McKinley, died at the magazine's offices at midday on 27 May 1908. McKinley suddenly complained of chest pains While he was reading some proofs. Medical aid was summoned but the editor died in the office of his brother Alexander.

In May 1920 it was reported that Alexander McKinley had sold Melbourne Punch to F. W. Hughes of Sydney, who intended to form a company to run the magazine.

The New Zealand-born artist Cecil 'Unk' White contributed to Melbourne Punch after coming to Australia in 1922.

Corporate takeover


On 18 December 1924 Melbourne Punch was acquired by The Herald and Weekly Times Pty. Ltd., a publishing company whose periodicals included Melbourne's daily newspaper The Herald. After the acquisition by The Herald publishing group the magazine was launched with an expanded format and a new cohort of literary and artistic staff-members including Percy Leason (chief cartoonist) and the writers Hugh McCrae and Kenneth Slessor, with John Dalley, a journalist with a previous long-standing association with The Bulletin magazine in Sydney, as editor.



The Australian artist Will Dyson, who had achieved international recognition as a political cartoonist in London, was induced back to Australia by Keith Murdoch, editor of The Herald, to join Percy Leason as a staff cartoonist for Punch. Dyson returned to Melbourne in March 1925. The editor of Punch, John Dalley, was willing to give Dyson full freedom to express himself, but the proprietors exerted pressure to limit his social and political satire. Eventually "Dyson was edged from his special field into the production of pleasant comic drawings, and he finally accepted this role of entertainer with a wry resignation".

Another of the artists published in Punch in its last year was Jimmy Bancks, at that time Australia's highest paid black-and-white artist whose output included the successful 'Us Fellers' comic-strip.

In December 1925 Punch was incorporated into the weekly magazine, Table Talk (which had been acquired by The Herald group in 1924). The final issue of Punch as a separate periodical was The Christmas Punch, dated 10 December 1925, costing sixpence and comprising 92 pages. From the issue of 17 December 1925 the masthead of Table Talk included the conspicuous phrase "with which is incorporated Punch". In January 1926 it was reported that the editor of Punch, John Dalley, had resigned his position to take up a newspaper position in London. On the 12 May 1927 and subsequent issues the previously prominent phrase under the Table Talk masthead was reduced to an insignificant "Incorporating Punch", a practice continued until the final issue of the magazine in September 1939.

homeless
Contributing artists included Ambrose Dyson and his brother Will Dyson, Alex Gurney, Hal Gye, Percy Leason, Emile Mercier, Alex Sass, Samuel Garnet Wells.

Writers included Charles Gavan Duffy, R. H. Horne, James Smith, Thomas Carrington and Nicholas Chevalier.