FOX POINT RAILWAY

 

Fox’s  Point Scenic Railway.

There is always something new to discover up in the Dandenong Ranges, and when I say new, of course I mean old. For a while now on local history pages, I’ve seen promotional postcards and advertising of a scenic railway at a place known as Fox’s Point. The railway was privately owned and was on the Mt. Dandenong Tourist Road at the edge of Kalorama and ran 200 feet (61 metres) up the Northern side of the mountain to a lookout platform that gave amazing views, and had a kiosk and museum. According to an article in Melbourne Walker Magazine in 1956, it states that through an astronomical telescope at the lookout, it enabled you:  “…to see planes at Essendon airport…and…to tell time by the Lilydale clock five miles away”.

1961 Melbourne Walker

 Built in the early 1950s by Neil Foxcroft it began operation in 1953 as a tourist adventure after he constructed the rail as a way to transport building materials to site when he was building his house further up the mountain on the less truck friendly Scenic Avenue, where the house proper was. It was reported that visiting engineers to the site: “Expressed surprise and admiration at the enterprise and ingenuity of Mr. Foxcroft in designing and constructing the whole concern single handed.” This was faint praise as the railway was forced to close around 1960/61 as it had been declared unsafe for passenger use by authorities. The railway had already escaped damage from the 1958 bushfires but would not have survived the  infamous 1962 fires that devastated the area and destroyed Mr. Foxcroft’s house. In 1965 the tracks were removed, and the scenic railway faded into oblivion.

But as usual, I had to check it out for myself. There just may be some evidence left.

For a change, the original site was easy to find. Records show it was a mile (1.6 Km) past the Montrose township and was accessible on the Croydon to Mt. Dandenong bus. This was convenient as the bus stop and the bus route still exist today. In one of the early photos, the siding for the bus stop is visible. To make things even easier, when the road was realigned curbing was built and a driveway/crossover was conveniently placed where the railways entrance was.

An original film of the ride cica: late 1950s

Now, this sounds all  well and good for finding the site, but much has happened to that side of the road since then. Besides the entire railway being removed in 1965, bushfires also hit the area again in 1972,73,74,83 and 1997.  In addition, during the early 1970s landslides occurred, with the main road becoming blocked. Though repairs were made by the Government, further slippages required major restoration of the road, and additional drainage was built into the hillside to avoid slips reoccurring in the future.

The site now

The site 1960

It was believed that these landslides were the result of the land being cleared for the railway infrastructure and previous bushfires.

To complete the picture, the area from the road up to where the platform had been, was purchased and integrated as part of the Dandenong Ranges National Park in 1987.

After all that, I really wasn’t expecting to find a lot, but I am an optimist.

As usual, I brought my trusty assistant, Madelyn, because on a site as steep as this with questionable stability and hugging the side of the highway (not to mention it rained the night before) , my ambitions and ability are totally mismatched. I need Madelyn to remind me of this before I create a new gymnastic routine whilst stumbling down the mountain and breaking countless bones. And all this before I get hit by a passing car.

Arriving at my destination, I was excited to see that where the crossover was, there seemed to be a track leading up the hill. It quickly became apparent that this was from earlier excavating work from years earlier. Whether it was for a fire track or temporary parking for trucks during old works was unclear as it was covered in thick bush and quickly became part of the steep incline. As I looked back towards the road, I also could see it didn’t align with the road as earlier pictures indicated. The whole face of the hill had changed dramatically. Knowing that the rails and infrastructure were long gone and that the area where the platform once was, wasn’t accessible, I concentrated on the lower level where the ride entrance used to be.

Rummaging down near the road and a few metres up the hill and to the side I started to notice that some of the rocks were of a different colour and more square in appearance. It was then I realised it was weathered and dirty concrete. Either from the stairs from the base ride entrance or the platform above. With the landslides and excavation work, it was impossible to tell. But it was an artifact from the original scenic railway.

It was satisfying that the mountain still was willing to give up some of its past for today.

References:

 I can’t recommend highly enough the website https://bpadula.tripod.com/foxpoint/ which was an invaluable resource in this adventure.

Originally published in the BBCN November 2023 Issue 327

Why is local history important?

Why is local history important?

To me, local history is a passion, one that grew as I became acquainted with the area. Local history helps us understand the development of our community, the people who lived and still live there, and the events that shaped its character. By learning about the local history, we can gain a deeper appreciation of the area and the people who call it home. Preserving our history helps to keep alive the stories, traditions, and culture of the people who reside there, and helps to pass them down to future generations. Something that nearly every native culture has done throughout the millennia.

Local history helps to support the identity of a community. It provides a sense of place and belonging and helps to foster a sense of pride and attachment to the place they call home. When learning about the history of a community, we can gain insights into the social, economic, and political forces that have shaped our world today. It also provides an opportunity for education, not just via established educational institutes but by members of the community.

Published works and readily available resources can also be an important factor in tourism. Visitors are often interested in learning about the history of the places they visit, and local history can provide a unique and interesting perspective on a community.

We are lucky in this particular area of Melbourne thanks to the foresight of its residents, many, not necessarily scholars, recording our history, and even more locally with people like Ric Coxhill, the Knox Heritage Society, and the many clubs and societies who preserve the history of the area and their particular field. 

Who knows, we all have the chance of being mentioned in the future, either as a subject or as an author.

Previously published Boronia & the Basin Community News Issue 326 Oct 2023 as the Editorial

Chelsea Australian Garden Olinda.

 

Chelsea Australian Garden Olinda.

A woolemi Pine

Chelsea Australian Garden Olinda at the Dandenong Ranges Botanical Garden (DRGB) on Wurundjeri land has finally opened and for someone like me who needs no excuse to visit the old rhododendron Garden no matter what season, this was a long-awaited event, having watched its construction from afar since the park had reopened post CoVid. Based on Phillip Johnson’s Chelsea Flower Show Grand prize-winning garden from 2013, it is a beautifully designed showpiece.

Whilst many options were explored the perfect outcome was to bring it back to where the garden was originally designed and inspired. In Olinda where Johnson calls home. The new garden is 20 times larger than the original and has been incorporated into the DRBG seamlessly on land that was unused from the bordering golf course. Another factor that makes the garden appealing is the effort to introduce native plants as far-flung as Western Australia & Queensland. Including the world’s oldest and rarest tree the Woolemi

Pine. The centre piece is the Billabong with its waterfall and huge Waratah sculpture, but it is these introduced natives like the Boab or Bottle trees In another section, which I loved, where the Grass trees with their black spires shooting out the top and with Acacia waterfall trees they looked like something straight out of Dr. Seuss’ Whoville. The rich red volcanic soil of the area has made it possible to plant this type of flora, and as it is an experimental garden, hopefully, thrive. I cannot recommend the garden highly enough and suggest everyone take the opportunity to see it. It’s only up the hill, free to visit, and is going to be there forever.

Originally printed in the BBCN issue 325 Sept 2023

 

Boronia Now & Then Part 8 The Mall again

 Boronia Now & Then 

Part 8 the Mall again

Basket ball Jones Cheech & Chong

 Basket ball Jones Featuring Tyronne Shoelaces

Cheech & Chong

Things were a lot different in the 1970s.

As this video attests, Cheech & Chong were and I believe still are a popular comedy duo that based most of the humour on dope and counter culture life.

The sold many albums and had several successful movies.

Sung in falsetto by Cheech Marin, playing the title character Tyrone (as in "tie-your-own") Shoelaces, it tells the story of Shoelaces' love of basketball. It is a parody of the No. 16 Billboard Hot 100 song "Love Jones" by Brighter Side of Darkness. In the album version, the song is preceded by a mock interview with Jones' basketball coach named "Umgwana Kickbooti", in a parody of a Wide World of Sports interview conducted by a character named "Red Blazer".

The song's opening lyric, "basketball jones, I got a basketball jones", references "jones" as slang for craving or addiction. A "basketball jones" thus refers to loving basketball so much that it overtakes all other thoughts.

Musicians who appeared on the record included George Harrison,[2] Billy Preston, Tom Scott, Klaus Voormann and Carole King (so the record became the highest-peaking single on which she appeared during 1973). The Blossoms and Michelle Phillips (from The Mamas & the Papas) performed vocals as cheerleaders on the track.

The video was designed by animator Paul Gruwell who worked on many series, including The Banana Splits, Scooby-Doo, GI Joe, The Transformers, The Simpsons, and the film Heavy Metal.

The video is very risque compared to todays standdards and features many -what would be deemed these days  -highly offensive.

Look out for a guest appearance from the Beatles and the Singing Nun near the end.

Source: Wikipedia

Mystic Mountain Memories Part 2

 

 Mystic mountain discovery.

In search of the thunderbox steps.

 

After writing about Stella Patrone’s inspiring life in the New Mystic Lake estate last issue. I decided with information supplied by Stella’s grandson Gary Pope, I would head back up to the estate to use my very amateur archaeology and sleuthing skills to rediscover some history.

The day we chose couldn’t have been any better for climbing around the site. 18 degrees in February, dry but overcast meant at least we could be comfortable in protective clothing. This was needed due to the grasses being long (some sharp). broken branches and stumps both visible and hidden that were a burden on exposed skin. Armed with clues that may point us towards some hidden treasure we walked up into what once was Stella’s home for 15 years. On entering Alamein Ave., we were surrounded by butterflies, if it had been a warmer sunnier day, I dread to think how many more there would be. It’s just one of the charms of being up in this part of the woods in February. Moving down the road they flittered and fluttered in front of us until we reached the bend in the road that landmarked the property entrance.  Here, we could identify the flat area, known as the bottom landing that sat in front of the large gum tree, that in another age was where a table was set up for outside meals. It was clearly still there for anyone to find complete with a rock surround, and I was amazed it wasn’t bulldozed away back in the 1980s during the reclamation. Up where the front fence and top landing have been was now overgrown and were destroyed with any trace of the foundations for the floor supports.

One thing we were specifically looking for was the remains of the outback toilet, a standalone structure further up the block, something Gary had rediscovered on a visit with his wife Betty after reading the Mystic Estate article in the BBCN last year.

Misreading the orientation of the house and where it faced on the block we were looking further back than we needed to be when my sharp-eyed assistant Madelyn discovered a piece of cast iron just below the surface in an area surrounded by rocks of various sizes, almost perfect for a garden border. We identified it as a flue transition from an old wood stove, coincidently almost identical to one I have as an ornament in my own garden.

Getting our bearings thanks to Gary’s reference and the massive gum that is the one remaining tree that still can be identified from old photos, we moved a bit deeper into the block where we found the partially covered steps leading up the hill. I started to clear away the grass, dirt and fallen trees that covered them. I was using my little hand spade to clear the area when just as I was bringing it down to find an edge of a step, a reptilian head popped out and I smacked the face of the blade right on its head. At this point, I was ready to give up completely. However, my trusty assistant, Madelyn, who is a keeper at the Mt. Evelyn Nocturnal Zoo and handles these things on a daily basis was more concerned for the reptile which to my mind was a giant anaconda but she had wisely identified it as a blue tongue lizard. By now it had recovered from its bonk on the head and decided to turn around showing its body and legs and go back into its hole. When we (I) recovered we unearthed eight steps, all flat concrete and spaced evenly. This took a bit longer than anticipated because instead of hitting a lizard I had to avoid Madelyn who kept getting in the way trying to retrieve the reptile. The steps look so out of place amongst the natural flora.

 How the bulldozers removed all traces of introduced vegetation but missed these is a mystery, but proof still exists that life was once vibrant up this now closed-off and abandoned street. On consultation, the piece of cast iron didn’t belong to the house,  as Stella had an open brick fireplace and chimney but it was confirmed that the area it was found in was a garden bed and was full of found pieces to house cactus and smaller plants.

I have a theory of why after 35 years Lot 61 still has some traces left. The main aim was to remove structures and evasive flora. Other items not bulldozed would be reclaimed by nature and since the Pope property was higher on the mountain, the other two established sites referred to in the last issue faced the Mountain highway and with widening and reinforcing of the road, a lot more area was eventually removed. Ironically, the one property that blatantly stands out with its set of stairs leading up to a flat pad was never built beyond that point and is clearly visible from the highway today.

 

I have discovered that the New Mystic Lake estate is a piece of history that just keeps giving and there is still so much to explore but that’s it for now.

It's wonderful to point out that thanks to ladies like Stella, the Basin and the Mountain still had women with a pioneer spirit right up to the middle of the last century.

Mystic Mountain Memories.

 Mystic Mountain Memories.

Since writing the article on the New Mystic Lake Estate (BBCN issues 111 &112) I have had the pleasure of people contacting me with their own stories. The most notable is The Basin resident Gary Pope, a gentleman with a history that spans the entire timeframe of the estate's existence.  Conversations with Gary have filled in so many gaps in the estate's history and what he knows could easily fill a book and here’s hoping one day he makes that a reality. He has inspired me to go back up the mountain and dig a bit deeper, literally, this time into Gary’s family’s home at the New Mystic Lake Estate.

If anyone is interested in what the legendary Mystic Lake looks like, there is a wonderful black and white picture hanging in the Chocolate Dragonfly at the Basin shops that displays it beautifully.

Gary, Yola and Bill with Stella in the back.

But first some background.

Gary’s parents: Bill and Yola Pope, bought and began building on their plot in 1953.

It was for Gary’s nana Stella Patrone, who was a single independent woman who craved solitude and simple living away from the city. Stella moved into Lot 61 Alamein Avenue New Mystic Lake Estate in 1955, also there to celebrate the move was a six-month-old Gary.

Stella thrived in her new abode, with no electricity or running water, a kerosene fridge, and an open fireplace for cooking that doubled for heating. She enjoyed her own company, except for her soul mates, her rescue pups Monty and then Whiskey, where she spent her time reading and establishing a garden in the sparsely populated estate. Every fortnight Bill, Yola, and Gary would travel up from Blackburn South -then on the outskirts of the metro area- to visit, bring wood and continue working on the house which in time became known as “ The Ranch”.

Lot61 Alamein Avenue. 1950s

The house afforded amazing views and looked directly up at the mountain in a time where Stella could watch the remaining transmission towers being erected on top. Not that it interested her. Stella never had a television the entire time she occupied the home. She had a battery-powered transistor radio that gave her all her entertainment and information needs.

The house’s construction helped accommodate these views with the street frontage being 14 feet (4.2 metres) high on the east elevation and 8 feet (2.4 metres) on the West tapering down to nothing at the back door due to the fall of the block.

As the years progressed Gary spent many weekends and holidays at Alamein Avenue, exploring the area and getting to know the other brave souls who built on the steep and solitary blocks in the isolated and quiet estate. One exception was the house on the opposite side of the road. The weekender owned by the Meisel family faced the Mountain Highway. A large two-level house built for entertaining, with a large room underneath to accommodate parties, the house also sported a swimming pool. Not only was this a place to have a cool dip for Gary, but it was also an opportunity for employment for Stella, who cleaned the house up during the week after parties the previous weekend. Shopping was usually dropping into the nearby general store or catching the bus a short walk down the highway to the Basin or Boronia.

Staying up in the estate was not without its drama. Stella enjoyed walking her dogs and early in 1959 unwittingly passed by the infamous murder site of another resident of the estate; Dr. Annie Yoffa, a Doctor in her late 60s who had purchased land on the estate but insisted on living in a tent. Stella thought something was odd when her dog Monty reacted strangely and was in some discomfort when approaching the tent. Days later Dr. Yoffa’s body was discovered. She had been murdered by one of her ex-patients who was later deemed insane.

Mr Meisel's house with Gary in the pool.
Stella on the left behind him,

During her time at the property, Stella planted close to a hundred pine trees around its borders and grew some amazing rhododendrons and azaleas, as well as a large arbor that supported a climbing rose outside the home and fruit trees. The property was littered with garden beds.  Gary recalls how he and Stella would visit the ruins of Ferndale property as a kid, and aware of the fabulous gardens of its heyday when an army of gardeners serviced the property. Many of the 3-leaf clover-shaped metal tiles which were used as garden bed ornate frames still remained, and since the properties were only a short distance apart some found their way to Lot 61. Hexagonal ceramic tiles, anything you could scrounge up from the stuff people used to throw out along the 1-in-20 ( Mountain Highway) in those days that his Nanna would improvise into some sort of free decoration in the garden.

Both house and the garden narrowly survived two bushfires in 1962 (the one that took out Ferndale) and 1968 which made Stella appreciate the CFA and formed a close relationship with them. Electricity came to the estate in the late 1960s and for a short time Stella even had a telephone but by then she was preparing to leave.

Stella had to move out in 1971 when her health made it too difficult to live by herself and she moved in with the family in Blackburn South. where she lived until she passed away in 1976. The house then continued as a family holiday home. Gary even spending his honeymoon there, until it was sold in the early 1980s to the final owner, who in turn gave it up when the Forestry Commission claimed back the area as National Park. With that reclamation meant everything had to go, all the introduced trees and plants, the buildings, and all traces of human habitation.

Thanks to my conversations with Gary, I found that to be not quite true. So, with this information in hand, I was heading back to the estate to use my very amateur archaeology and sleuthing skills to rediscover some history.

To be continued.

originally published in BBCN issue 322 June 2023

Aussie Comics & Cartoons in 1970s a very brief history. Part Two

Aussie Comics & Cartoons in 1970s a very brief history.

Part Two

Part One

IS ANYBODY MAKING AUSSIE COMICS ANYMORE?

So, was there anyone who did a standard-type Australian original comic that was so popular in the era before the 1970s? It seemed everyone was vying to be an editorial cartoonist. Let’s face it. It was where all the money was being made. One exception was Skippy by Fauna Productions, it was based on the popular TV series and was drawn by Keith Chatto and A. Cubi. But it only ran for six issues between April 1970 and July 1971 because it was realised that having a comic of a show that was no longer in production didn’t help sales all that much. If Skippy had not been canceled just before the first edition it may have been more sustainable.

But there were still some creators out there with original characters and ideas, they just weren’t appearing in the standard comic format.

The Saga of Iron Outlaw was produced by Greg and Grae, (Written by Graeme Rutherford and drawn by Gregor MacAlpine) two young men just out of Swinburne Uni that was published by the flailing Melbourne Sunday Observer. Not to be confused with the Maxwell Newton owned enterprise which followed four years later. The colour strip was a satire on Australian life, language as well as Federal and State politics where a Ned Kelly type superhero fights the forces of evil. The comic would be in present times, considered highly inappropriate due to its language (racist) and storylines (also racist). The page continuous comic started in June 1970 and transferred to the Nation Review where it ran as a black and white full-page comic and retitled Iron Outlaw and Steel Shelia when the Sunday Observer folded in February 1971. Attempts have been made to make the 50-year-old strip into a collection but the copyright owners just want to bury the strip in the past because of repercussions due to its content.

Another Ned Kelly continuous story Ned Kelly by Monty Wedd ran uninterrupted in the Sydney Sunday Mirror for two years in the early 1970s. It was eventually collected as a collection / graphic novel by ComicOz in 2014.

Captain Goodvibes  (aka Pig of Steel or Vibes) was created by Tony Edwards and first appeared in  Tracks a popular surfing magazine in March 1973. Goodvibes was a pig who came into being after a porkchop was irradiated by a nuclear plant accident. He was crass, vulgar, smoke drank, did drugs and surfed. Of course, this made him an instant success with the youth of the era. Goodvibes may have been relatable to his readership but it was the evolution of Edward's artwork and splash pages that lifted Captain Goodvibes the strip to a whole new level. Edwards's pen and ink line work were intricate as it was vast, incorporating fantasy islands and cityscapes sometimes making Goodvibes a minor player in the story. With his popularity, Goodvibes became a radio star and released a record, a disco single  Mutants of Modern Disco (all Edwards of course), in 1978. Captain Goodvibes also had a cinematic cameo in the 1973 surfing documentary, Crystal Voyager, appearing in a brief but spectacular animated sequence during the film. But most importantly Captain Goodvibe's popularity led to the publication of several Goodvibes comic books, including the Whole Earth Pigalogue (1975) and Captain Goodvibes Strange Tales (1975).  In 1982 Tony Edwards killed off Captain Goodvibes forever.

Notable one-off comics not associated with any larger publications (independent) were The Atomic Horror Comic in 1977 drawn by Phil Pinder and Blinky Bill Comes To Town 1976 by Sarah Curtis.  

 

ONE MAN STANDS ALONE

 

Gerald Carr started the 1970s running and was alone in the Australian comic scene for most of the decade, as an original creator of the traditionally formatted product.

Carr's first self-publication was a comic fanzine, a one-shot title, Wart's Epic, which was issued in 1970, containing a mix of adult science fiction, violence, nudity and psychedelic artwork. Wart's Epic was distributed in Melbourne and by mail order to the USA. Carr had already had another adult-style creation Fabula appear in 1969 with the David Syme paper Broadside. The same people who published The Age. 

With nobody producing comics locally Carr contributed shorter stories like Aussie Fan to Rats Satirical Magazine but soon became interested in producing his own, which he undertook all the writing and illustrating himself. His first attempt at self-printing in 1974 was modest, with the comic only being distributed in Victoria. In 1975 Carr added more material and had his comic, Vampire!,

professionally printed for distribution around Australia. Vampire! which ran for six issues between 1975 and 1979, was a black-and-white horror comic that capitalized on the popularity of similar American adult horror comics and has repeatedly been compared to titles such as Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella. During the Vampire! run, Carr produced Brainmaster (1977) – which Alternate World co-owner Peter Hughes said “Blew his mind” and was “a hallmark moment” for him. and Vixen (1977) which became Australia's first comic book superheroine and was eventually released overseas in 1992

THE ENDING

In conclusion, the period from 1970 to 1979 was a watershed decade for Australian comics. Artists found their identity but not in the usual format. The rules changed, style and layout evolved but nobody was prepared for how different the 1980s would turn out and bring life back to the  Australian comic scene.

 Panel by Panel was published in 1979 and it’s almost as if those who read it sighed a collective “What the…?” because as soon as the decade ticked over to 1980 we saw in that year alone the creation of Inkspots Anthology by Phillip Bentley. Tony Edwards Captain Goodvibes Porkarama and the emergence of ex-cop and motor enthusiast Brendan (BJ) Akhurst whose cartoons and strips would appear in all manner of auto magazines from bikes to cars to trucks as well as his oversize collections. Gerald Carr would restart his Bridgett strip for the Sydney Sun-Herald and continue his self-produced one-shots.

The 1980s would be a quantum leap from the experimental 70s as Australian comic books and publishers came back with a vengeance.

 

SOME REFERENCES:

Magazine Data File www.philsp.com

The University of Wollongong archivesonline.uow.edu.au

Panel by Panel John Ryan (Cassel 1979)

DownUnderground Phil Pinder (Penguin 1983)

Captain Goodvibes My life as a pork chop Tony Edwards ( Flying Pineapple Media 2011)

Daniel Best ohdannyboy.blogspot.com

The University of Queensland www.textqueensland.com.au

Peter Hughes & Joe Italiano Alternate Worlds Comic book shop

ComicOz website www.comicoz.com

The Inked In Image  Vane Lindesay (Hutchinson 1979

Aussie Comics & Cartoons in 1970s a very brief history. Part One

 

Aussie Comics & Cartoons in 1970s a very brief history.

PART ONE

AS IT WAS

The John Ryan penned Panel by Panel published in the late 1970s is a comprehensive and affectionate history of Australian cartoons and comics, that is till you reach the last chapter. It almost reads like an obituary as he brushes over the content creators of the 1970s and pins the future on collectors and fans, perhaps believing the local industry has surrendered to the high profile and vast quantity of imported US & UK publications.

Planet Comics published by KG Murray

In the 1970s Australian written and produced comics seemed to all but disappear from the scene altogether. The post-war boom had fizzled out for a myriad of reasons. From censorship, government policy changes and reader tastes among the many offered.  The readily available KG Murray (also published under a range of imprint titles including Climax Comics, Blue Star, Planet Comics and Murray Comic) DC reprints distributed via Gordon & Gotch were thick on the Milk Bar and Newsagent shelves, along with Grendown with their horror comics sourced from all over the world but packaged in Australia. Frew had never really ceased doing what they did best. Print Phantom comics verbatim. Later in the decade came the manic Maxwell Newton and his Newton Comics with their barrage of Marvel reprints. Which seemed to appear with gay abandon and with such regularity that it was impossible to keep up with releases.

Australian content can be described during the 1970s as “lacking”. Comics in the traditional 24/32-page issue seemed to phase out when it came to local talent with the aforementioned publishers filling the market with overseas products.

This did not mean that anything was happening. It just evolved in different directions and styles.

THE STREET & ALTERNATIVE PRESS

Geoff Hook of the Melbourne Sun

All through the 1960s and 70s editorial cartoonists became hugely popular in all states. William Green (WEG), Geoff (Jeff) Hook, Paul Rigby, Bruce Petty, and John Spooner became a major reason why some people bought the newspapers, and some artists like Larry Pickering and Patrick Cook were actually cited as increasing newspaper sales. We must remember this was when newspapers had morning and afternoon editions and Australian Television was just starting to escape its  5 AM to 11 PM daily constraints. These artists were continuing a long tradition of single panel cartoons that stretched back nearly a century with Smiths Weekly and the Bulletin.

Things were changing in Australia and the 1960s counter revolution was having a major effect on everyday life and the election of the first Labor government in decades gave the younger generation a new sense of freedom to explore and create. Comics in the traditional format may have slowed but new artists were lining up to contribute to the new alternative and street press that was having a major presence. Many of these publications appeared irregularly printed with no set release dates. They included inventive and distinctive graphics and designs as these papers encouraged new ideas and concepts and were a major drawcard for aspiring talent. One of the decade's very first papers was an offshoot of the popular music paper Go-Set called Revolution under the guidance of editor Phillip Frazer.

Revolution was a radical counterculture magazine published in eleven issues between May 1970 and August 1971. It was originally a rock music paper that included an eight-page supplement of the American music magazine Rolling Stone. It quickly morphed with the second issue into something more political after the Melbourne moratorium protest marches over Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam war and many music articles were replaced with political and social issues. Not to mention a fair bit of swearing and the odd boob and bum as well. This issue also had its first two-page mini poster by a young Michael Leunig. Martin Sharpe also makes an appearance along with Neil McClean, Bob Daly and Peter Dickie’s brilliant Zapeyes. With each issue, artists become more prominent in either set pieces (like Dickie) or accompanying feature stories. These artists would appear regularly throughout the decade in other publications, sadly so did many- I can assume unauthorized- cartoons by Robert Crumb. It was a time when it was so easy to appropriate others' works from another country when they had virtually no idea it was being used and few resources to stop it. Revolution was closed down by the new owners of Go-Set in 1971. Phillip Frazer then launched another Australian counter-culture magazine to succeed Revolution, called High Times which ran for

High Times replaced Revolution seemlessly.

ten issues between August 1971 and January 1972.  Frazer along with  Pat Woolley and Macy McFarland seamlessly morphed the two publications by placing the first cover of High Times over the last cover of Revolution. The one major difference with this paper was it came with Wooley’s Cobber Comix.

Cobber Comix was an anthology of unrelated cartoons and streams of conscience featuring Ernie Althoff, Neil McClean, Bob Daly, Adrian Frog, Mike Hassall and a lot of artists not credited or did not sign their artwork. But it was a true comic book. High Times #3 replaced Cobber with Chameleon Comix which ran exclusively Chris Grosz cartoons.

The demise of High Times was quickly filled by another Melbourne short-lived wonder but probably one of the best. Rats Satirical Magazine  (nine issues between November 1972 and July 1973) was very much like the nearly minted National Lampoon in the USA. With Photo Funnies (strip cartoons but using photographed models), magazine parodies, comics that ran for several pages, and prose including comedy and science fiction. The brainchild of Piotr Olszewski, Rats was a bright burning but short-lived star in a Melbourne waking up to years of 6 PM closings and barren city streets every Sunday. As a magazine, it was funny, insightful and provocative but more importantly gave comic creators a lot more space to show off their wares. It was not uncommon for comics to run up to eight pages  and run in consecutive issues. Artists included Laurel Olszewski drawing to her brother’s scripts. Neil McClean, D R Rigby, Andre Dzatiek and the mysterious and prolific MOLL. Colin Stevens’ Purity Pecker and Jon Parkridge’s WOMB-MAN ran in multiple issues as well as Gerald Carr’s Aussie Fan. A smarter version of Barry McKenzie whose hilarious adventures involved supernatural and Sci-Fi themes and was so very Aussie.

High Times demise was short-lived because Phillip Fraser released the similar The Digger

The Digger was a counterculture magazine published once again in  Melbourne in 48 issues between August 1972 and December 1975. It was a natural progression for the editor/publisher. The Digger was more political than the previous publications, whilst still addressing counterculture issues such as lifestyle and music with less emphasis on comics/cartoons. Sure there were the odd Ron Cobb and Peter Dickie editorial panels but the extent of new talent was lacking with the first two years only having a full-page comic drawn by Ian McCausland. This model was interrupted all so briefly when in issue #3 of 1973 a two-page cavalcade of comics appeared featuring Patrick Cook, Bob Daly, MOLL, Neil McClean, Peter Lillee and Ken Murray and a few more. This was never to be repeated. As it continued even the editorial cartoons vanished and it was reported that Neil McClean wouldn’t contribute due to the ”black ball” censorship of his work by the editorial group. Meaning only one had to disapprove and the work was rejected. After issue 19 McCausland no longer contributed and the final page comic was taken over by various artists such as Carol Porter. Neil McClean and Martin Sharpe made the odd appearance then Bob Daley who ran with it almost exclusively until the closure of the paper

Double page poster from LIVING DAYLIGHTS by Ian McCausland 

Another counter culture street press of the period, which many had high hopes for was Living Daylights, due to the involvement of Richard Neville and Martin Sharpe freshly back from finishing OZ Magazine in London. Returning home after a crippling court case for obscenity charges closed it down. The Living Daylights was a national paper that included a major capital city gig guide that was established also in Melbourne and only ran from  October 1973 till April 1974 but made better use of the talent available to other papers like The Digger. Martin Sharpe, Ian McCausland, and Neil McClean (all who left The Digger to work on the paper) supplied full page sometimes middle-page spreads of splash page comics which doubled as pin-ups. Martin Sharpe during this period would draw some of his iconic pieces. Eternity, Land of Sweeping Plains, and Bennelong’s Revenge. The paper also featured Peter Dickie as the editorial cartoonist whose work was becoming a cross between Gerald Scarfe and Ralph Steadman with his brutal caricatures and harsh bold pen work and was a highlight of the paper along with the wonderful poster work. For some unknown reason, the paper also featured one-offs in the early issues of a single-page horror comic by Dave Gibbons of Watchman fame and a random page from a  Gilbert Shelton Furry Freak Brothers comix from Rip Off Press.

The Living Daylights ceased when it was incorporated into the Nation Review which was its parent publication. Other papers of the time were Loose Licks a free press broadsheet that ran from Autumn 1975 till Spring 1976 by Rats creator Piotr Olszewski and featured a full-page comic by Ian McCausland.

Cane Toad Times No.5 The infamous 

Phantoad cover 1978

Meanwhile, in 1977 in the state of Queensland, Punk attitudes and the rule of Premier Joh Bjelke Petersen inspired writers and cartoonists to publish their own counter-culture/ revolutionary paper, The Cane Toad Times. The paper was named after an ugly introduced pest, which many associated with Bjelke Petersen who was born in New Zealand. Its first issue was a mix of reviews, views and cartoons. The comic section featured reprints of classic Krazy Kat and Robert Crumb strips. But also featured local artists Bill Thorpe and Matt Mawson. Just placed at the bottom of the page as a filler in this issue is a Gerald Carr half-page comic ridiculing Princess Anne and her then-husband Mark Phillips. He signed it “Gerald Carr Republic”. The trend of using US comics continued in the following issues with Zippy creator Bill Griffiths. By issue #3 things almost become anthology-like, with Bill Thorpe taking the lead with a six-page sequential story called Rugby League Uranium Match and Damian Ledwich and Matt Mawson running one-page comics. The paper became a tabloid-sized publication by its fourth issue in late 1977 and new artists and their works were aplenty. Most being single-page comics. Works by Robert Wyatt and Tim Low joined Matt Mawson who seemed to do most of the heavy lifting with three and a half pages. Just about every strip political in nature. The paper ran out of steam by late 1978 when main creative Matt Mawson left. The paper made a resurgence in 1983 and ran to 1988 folding after witnessing the fall of the Bjelke Petersen Government it rallied against so hard.

THE FUNNY PAGES

On the serious side of the daily newspapers, the editorial cartoonists were booming but it was not what the kids were looking at. During the 1970s the Australian newspaper comics held their own. Stacked neatly on top of each other in single rows of two or more panels Aussie strips were mingled evenly with syndicated giants such as Garth, Fred Bassett, Hagar the Horrible, Footrot Flats, Peanuts, B.C and the Wizard of ID.

Snake Tales by SOLS Sunday Supplement version Mid 70s

Mainstays during this period would include Basil by Gerrard Lants, Ben Bowyang by Peter Russel Clarke, and The Potts by Jim Russell in the Melbourne Herald.  Bluey & Curley by Les Dixon, Ossie by Geoff Augustine, Snake byAlan Salisbury (Sols) in the Melbourne Sun.  Lucky Cat by Theo Batten, the Warrumbungers by Ken Emerson in the Sydney Sun-Herald. The Digeridoos by Ralph Peverill and On the Rocks also by Ken Emerson in the Sydney Sun and Lafferty by Stephen Stanley in the Adelaide Advertiser. To name but a small few as the list is huge. Things even got better on Sundays when the funny pages usually became a four to eight-page coloured cartoon fest with extended panels for popular strips like Snake and the more elaborate comics like Monty Wedd’s Ned Kelly and Bold Ben Hall getting a run. Snake was so popular it had a successful run of collected works in paperback that sold massive amounts. It would be remiss of me not to mention the legendary John Dixon, whose AirHawk also was a major feature of the Sunday supplements. It was the strip that he left comic books in the 1960s to concentrate on.

Characters like Ginger Meggs, Bluey & Curley, and Ben Bowyang continued after their original creators either retired or died such was the popularity of the comic strip.

Whereas today newspaper strips have just about all but disappeared. Soon it may even be the newspapers themselves.

End of Part One

References at end of Part Two