Cartoon Nation: Australian Editorial Cartooning – Past, Present, and Future
Australian Research Council Discovery Project, Project ID: DP230101348
This landmark study aims to facilitate a new scholarly and public appreciation of Australian editorial cartooning: something often celebrated but seldom studied seriously. At a moment when the art-form is transitioning, the study will elucidate its enduring democratic and cultural significance, revealing diverse stories told through cartoons. Expected project outcomes include: pioneering new scholarship; the enhancement of cross-institutional networks; and improved capacity for collaboration between academia and industry (professional bodies and collecting institutions). The project will benefit the nation, providing a truer understanding of the defining Australian sense of humour, press, and political culture, across more than 200 years.
The Investigatory Team combines expertise in history, literary and critical theory, media studies and journalism, with industry experience. So too, the project design and methodology see considerable crossover from traditional scholarly research and curatorial/information technology approaches to knowledge creation/dissemination.
Chief Investigators:
- Professor Richard Scully, The University of New England
- Professor Robert Phiddian, Flinders University
- Dr Stephanie Brookes, Monash University
Partner Investigator:
- Mr Lindsay Foyle, Australian Cartoonists’ Association, Inc.
Cartoon Symposium, February 2025, Adelaide South Australia:
In February 2025, academics, cartoonists, archivists and curators from overseas and interstate came together for a 2-day symposium in Adelaide at the State Library of South Australia to discuss the state of political cartooning in Australia and internationally. Cathy Wilcox, political cartoonist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, spoke on this topic in the Balcony Room at Parliament House of South Australia. Megan Herbert, freelance cartoonist, graphically recorded the symposium.
Recent project-specific outputs:
2025 - Stephanie Brookes, Nicolette Snowden, Rebecca Carpenter-Mew, Lindsay Foyle, Robert Phiddian, and Richard Scully, ‘“Creativity, Innovation, Wit and Style”: Editorial Cartoons as Boundary Objects in Australia’s Journalism Awards, 1958-2024’, Journalism Practice, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17512786.2025.2496944#abstract.
2024 - Richard Scully, ‘Germany in the Melbourne Punch: British Entanglement or Autonomous Developments?’, Australian Historical Studies [published online 23 October – volume, number, pp. pending).
2023 - Robert Phiddian, Stephanie Brookes, Lindsay Foyle, and Richard Scully, “For Gorsake, Stop Laughing: This is Serious!”—Australia’s Fragile Cartooning Archive, [with ], Journal of Australian Studies, 47: 1, pp. 200-220 [published online, 2 November 2022].
2024 - Richard Scully, Robert Phiddian and Stephanie Brookes, ‘The National Cartoon Gallery has been closed down. Where to next for Australia’s valuable cartoon heritage?’, The Conversation, 20 March.
2023 - Richard Scully, ‘Review – Best Australian Political Cartoons 2022’, Inkspot, Summer/Autumn, pp.26-27.
2023 - Robert Phiddian, Richard Scully, and Stephanie Brookes, ‘Cartoon detectives: how Australia’s most famous cartoon was lost and found – twice’, The Conversation, 15 February.
2023 - Lucien Leon and Richard Scully, ‘Talking Pictures (and cartoons, videos, memes, etcetera)’, in Anika Gauja, Marian Sawer, and Jill Sheppard (eds), Watershed: The 2022 Australian Federal Election, Canberra: Australian National University Press, pp.145-178.
2023 - Virginia Sandell, '"Under the Dome": Shaping cultural attitudes and behaviours at the Sydney International Exhibition of 1879 through Sydney Punch', Journal of Australian Colonial History, 25, pp.131-156.
2022 - Richard Scully, ‘“For gorsake, stop laughing! This is serious”: The British World as a Community of Cartooning and Satirical Art’, in Jatinder Mann and Iain Johnston-White (eds), Revisiting the British World: New Voices and Perspectives, Bern: Peter Lang, pp.139-175.
2022 - Richard Scully, ‘2022: the year even right-leaning cartoonists had a gutful of Scott Morrison’, The Conversation, 1 November.
2022 - Richard Scully, ‘Solemnity and celebration: how political cartoonists have handled the death of a monarch, from Victoria to Elizabeth II’, The Conversation, 13 September.
2022 - Robert Phiddian and Richard Scully, ‘From ScoMo to Albo: how a new cast of characters poses a challenge for cartoonists’, The Conversation, 22nd June.
