The Australian Journal was one of Australia's most successful and influential magazines, running for ninety-seven years from 1865 to its final issue printed in 1962. The magazine began as 'A Weekly Record of Amusing and Instructive Literature, Science and the Arts', but gradually became a more focussed publication of popular short stories written by Australian writers for readers across both genders and age groups.
History
The Australian Journal began as a weekly publication for its first four years before stretching out to monthly issues. The monthly issues sold for 6d for a number of years, offering value for money in a marketplace where it was competing with publications from England. Each issue contained a variety or departments for both sexes and all ages, which attributed to its success. During the Depression and into World War II, the magazine maintained a circulation of around 100,000 in the 1930s and 40s and peaked at 120,000 in 1945. A circulation that was second only to The Bulletin. The Australian Journal supplied popular fiction to all Australians by offering a wide range of fiction of varying genres - adventure, romance, mystery, and crime/detective stories set in Australian cities or in the Bush. A typical issue of The Australian Journal was likely to include: a few serials headed by illustrations, a comic tale, half-a-dozen pages of advertisements, some full-page illustrations, several poems and short stories, a paper pattern illustration for a lady's frock, as well as a few non-fiction articles. The quality of the work varied throughout the issues, which likely played a part in the success of the magazine. The works ranged from the 'Sixpenny Dreadful' class of stories through to works of the highest literary standard. This allowed the journal a wide readership and works that would appeal to a whole family or peer group.
By the 1920s The Australian Journal was marketing itself as a literary magazine. The front cover of the August 1926 issue sports an illustration of a cowboy on horseback with a revolver in hand, with a line from a featured short story at the bottom of the page which reads - "'Shoot! And be d--- to you!' 'PARTNERS' - A Great Short Story in This Issue." The cover also advertises the inclusion of works by 'popular authors' Arthur J. Palk, W.D. Flannery, Rex Grayson, and H.G. Barwick. Although being aimed at both men and women, this particular issue seems to target adolescent boys. The journal had a wide range of subject matter on its covers over the ninety-seven years of its publication, with each issue perhaps targeting a specific audience to keep its readership as widespread as possible.
Later Era
In the 1950s editorial changes were made to modernise the magazine for a changing audience. Crossword puzzles were introduced, as well as a children's page, recipes, and fashion articles. This left less room for fiction works and blurred the magazine's focus. As the readership began to decline the size of the magazine reduced from eighty-two to seventy four pages, and again to sixty-six pages until it folded in 1962. Television has been accused of aiding in the magazine's decline, but it is more likely the magazine failed due to a combination of issues, including changing habits in its readership and the magazine's dilution of its original concept and features in an attempt to move with the times.
Notable Contributing Authors
Marcus Clarke
Charles Harpur
Thomas Alexander Browne
Ada Cambridge
Roy Bridges
Osmar White
Vance Palmer
Ernestine Hill
Olaf Ruhen
John O'Grady
Editors
Marcus Clarke
Marcus Andrew Hislop Clarke was born in London on the 24th of April, 1846 and died in 1881. His father was a barrister and his mother died a few months after his birth. In 1864, Clarke set off for Melbourne, initially staying with his uncle. After a short stint working at a bank, he moved out to work on a station and discovered the beauty of the Australian bush, which would have a great influence on his writing. He continued to write and sketch, being a talented cartoonist and illustrator as well as a writer, and had his work published under the pen name Marcus Scrivener. It is said that Clarke lost this job as a station hand in part because his influence over the other workers was showing in their eagerness to take more regular breaks to read novels under a tree. Whether this is true or not, Clarke's time as a station hand would have reached its end sooner or later as his literary ambitions began to grow. Not long after leaving the station, Clarke found work in Melbourne as a member of the literary staff of the Argus journal.