Dean Alston

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Dean John Douglas Alston (born 1950) is an Australian cartoonist who joined The West Australian newspaper in 1986.

Dean Alston was born in South Perth, Western Australia in 1950, and grew up in Mount Pleasant. In 1967 he started a cadetship in cartography with Western Australia's Lands and Surveys Department. In 1980, he bought into the Carine Glades Tavern, running it until 1984. That year, he married his wife, Lisa, with whom he has had one son (David) and one daughter (Deanie). The couple spent the next eighteen months in England, where Alston worked as a bus driver, drew graphics for British Gas, and produced a strip cartoon for a news and travel magazine. After returning to Western Australia in 1985, Alston was employed by The West Australian. He took over as cartoonist the following year. As of the December 2005, he has published nearly 10,000 cartoons, and won numerous awards, including a Walkley in 1991.

The final two frames of Alas Poor Yagan by Dean Alston

In September 1997 The West Australian published a Dean Alston cartoon entitled Alas Poor Yagan, which criticized that fact that the return of Yagan's head had become a source of conflict among the Indigenous Australians of Western Australia, instead of fostering unity. The cartoon could also be interpreted as casting aspersions on the motives and legitimacy of Indigenous people with mixed racial heritage. The content of the cartoon offended many Aboriginal people, and the elder Robert Bropho leveled accusations of racism against The West Australian. Eventually the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission ruled that the cartoon made inappropriate references to Noongar beliefs but did not breach racial discrimination law. This ruling was upheld on appeal by the Federal Court of Australia.