Smith's Weekly

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Smith's Weekly was an Australian tabloid newspaper published from 1919 to 1950. An independent weekly published in Sydney, but read all over Australia, Smith's Weekly was one of Australia's most patriotic newspaper-style magazines.

It took its name from its founder and chief financer Sir James Joynton Smith,[1] a prominent Sydney figure during World War One, conducting fund-raising and recruitment drives. Its two other founders were theatrical publicist Claude McKay and journalist Clyde Packer, father of Sir Frank Packer and grandfather of media baron Kerry Packer. Sir Frank later formed the mighty Australian Consolidated Press, chief rival to Rupert Murdoch's News Limited.

Mainly directed at the male (especially ex-Servicemen) market, it mixed sensationalism, satire and controversial opinions with sporting and finance news. It also included short stories, and many cartoons and caricatures as a main feature of its lively format.[2]

One of its chief attractions in the 1920s was the Unofficial History of the A.I.F. feature, whose cartoons and contributions from returned soldiers helped perpetuate the image of the "digger" as an easy-going individual with a healthy disrespect for authority. It also worked hard to ensure that promises made to soldiers during hostilities were not swept aside in peacetime. Of particular concern was men affected by shellshock, a condition which was being minimised by some "experts" as deserving scorn rather than sympathy.[2] Staff cartoonists associated with this feature included the succession of Cecil Hartt, Frank Dunne and Lance Mattinson.

It also had a special Investigation department staffed by journalists with a bent for sleuthing. One of its many exposures is credited with dealing a fatal blow to the New Guard, an incipient fascist movement of the 1930s.

Smith's Weekly staff included notable poet Kenneth Slessor as Editor, and cartoonists of the stature of George Finey, Emile Mercier and Stan Cross. It was a launching pad for two generations of outstanding Australian journalists and cartoonists.

In the 1930s Dick Randall submitted articles for publication in Smith's Weekly, of which he became finance editor. In 1966, as Sir Richard Randall, he became Secretary to the Treasury, Canberra.[3]

Three rare Lovecraftian stories were originally published by the well-known "Witch of the Cross" in Sydney, Rosaleen Norton in Smith's Weekly. They were later reprinted as, Three Macabre Tales (US: Typographeum Press, 1996).

Demise of Smith's Weekly

On 5 April 1932 Francis Barndy Wilkinson and his girlfriend Dorothy Ruth Denzel, were victims of a callous double murder by William Cyril Moxley at Moorebank.[4][5] In the issue dated 30 July 1932, Smith's Weekly published a barrage of ugly allegations against Wilkinson, including attempted extortion and being a police informant. These were quickly proven false, a fact that was seized on by the daily newspapers.[6] Smith's Weekly never fully recovered from its loss of reputation.[2]

Its fortunes revived somewhat during WWII, once again doggedly supporting the men at the front, but at war's end rising costs and lack of capital (new owners seeing its value as real estate rather than a business) accelerated its decline, and the last issue, dated 28 October 1950 was a tired tabloid of a mere 24 pages.[2]

Some noteworthy employees

[2] Editors-in-Chief

  • Claude McKay 1919-1927
  • Frank Marien 1928-1936
  • Harry Cox 1938-1939
  • Kenneth Slessor June–September 1939
  • Claude McKay 1939-1950

Editors

  • Reg Moses 1930-1935
  • Kenneth Slessor 1935-1939
  • George Goddard 1939-1947
  • Edgar Holt 1947-1950

Artists

Crime reporters

  • Vince Kelly, who also wrote:
Guarded Pearls (1948)
The Shadow - Australia's underworld cop (1954) - about Frank Fahy
The Bogey Man - the exploits of Sergeant C J Chuck, Australia's most unpopular cop (1956)
Rugged Angel - the amazing career of policewoman Lillian Armfield (1961, 1995? ISBN 0-646-23680-6)
The Shark-arm Case (1963, 1975 ISBN 0-207-13212-7)
The Charge is Murder (1965)
  • Harry Maddison

Writers and reporters

Sports writers

  • Jim Donald (boxing)
  • Tom Foley (racing)
  • Cliff Graves (racing)

Advertising

  • Ernie Brewer
  • Hugh Dash (later press secretary to Prime Minister Menzies)
  • William Gasnier (later father of Rugby League star Reg Gasnier)

References

  1. ↑ Headon, David (October 1999). "Up From the Ashes: The Phoenix of a Rugby League Literature" (pdf). Football Studies Volume 2, Issue 2. Football Studies Group. Retrieved 2009-07-07. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Blaikie, George Remember Smith's Weekly Angus & Robertson, London 1967
  3. ↑ Australian Dictionary of Biography
  4. ↑ Sydney Morning Herald 14 June 1932 p.6
  5. ↑ Canberra Times 16 June 1932 p.3
  6. ↑ Canberra Times 11 August 1932 p.1
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