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Founded by George Warnecke and R. C. Packer and designed with the assistance of John Hill and the cartoonist William Ernest Pidgeon, the Australian Women's Weekly began in a newspaper format in June 1933. At first only available in New South Wales, it soon became so popular that editions were introduced to all states. By 1937, a New Zealand edition was also being produced.
Aimed at the home maker, the Australian Women's Weekly has provided information and entertainment to several generations of Australian women. The frequent notion in articles and fiction (especially in the 1940s and 1950s) that matrimony was the fulfillment of a woman's life and that such a life was subservient to the male bread-winner has been scrutinised by feminist critics in recent decades. Several book-length studies and many articles have been produced that explore the social dynamics that can be inferred by the content of the magazine in its long history.
Fiction was a large component of the magazine in its early years, but that has diminished markedly since the early 1970s. Issues from the 1930s contained lively debates in letters and articles about the value of literature, and many poets and fiction writers were profiled. A series on 'Famous Women' included biographies of George Eliot, Aphra Behn, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Harriet Beecher Stowe.
The magazine began a long series of condensed novels in October 1934, exposing readers to many overseas writers and a number of local products such as Frank Dalby Davison, Henrietta Drake-Brockman and E. V. Timms. Around 250 novels had appeared in condensed form by 1940. In the 1940s the Weekly also distributed a series of illustrated children's books by non-Australian authors, published by The Shakespeare Head press, under the series title, Australian Women's Weekly Children's Classics. Titles in the series included Fairy Bluebell and Rosamond by Elizabeth Keith and Dandy Lion by Percy G. Griggs.
In July 1952, an author profile and a condensed version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby was included. Readers continued to receive encouragement throughout the 1950s and 1960s with competitions, quizzes, advertisements and information about book clubs. Since 1970, the Australian Women's Weekly has continued to publish short stories and occasional poetry. The magazine has been a major sponsor of the Byron Bay Writers Festival since 2000.
Since 1970, the Australian Women's Weekly has undergone several changes of format and has included less conventional issues for the magazine such as contraception, sex and the environment. The Australian Women's Weekly remains one of the most dominant popular magazines for women in Australia, maintaining one of the world's highest circulations per capita.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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“Women Are Born Diplomats” : Women, Politics and the Cold War in the Australian Women’s Weekly, 1950–1959
2020
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , vol. 44 no. 3 2020; (p. 367-383)'In the 1950s, the Australian Women’s Weekly represented the popular face of femininity, publishing features on the home, motherhood and romance. Among articles about raising children and cooking a family dinner, however, were regular discussions of Cold War politics. How, then, did a strong political awareness of global events fit in with 1950s ideals of femininity, when politics was still very much the domain of men? This article puts forward a framework of “feminised politics” to discuss the ways in which the Weekly adapted, generated and fused contemporary ideas about womanhood with discourse on global events to encourage women’s increasing participation in the politics of the Cold War. As Australian society grappled with the myriad changes brought about by the end of World War II and new power struggles between East and West, the government and media often presented conservatism as the antidote to the fear generated by these widespread changes. Therefore, this article suggests that the magazine’s framing was necessary to alleviate anxieties surrounding women’s changing place in the postwar world. Understanding the Weekly’s feminised politics reinforces recent scholarship on the complexities of womanhood in the 1950s and illustrates the diverse formulation and expression of femininity in the 20th century.' (Publication abstract)
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Writing, Water and Woe : the Natural Environment in Australian Women’s Weekly Feature Articles on Flood, 1934-2011
2018
single work
criticism
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue Website Series , October no. 51 2018;'By taking as its starting point the concept of magazine exceptionalism, this essay argues that popular magazines such as the Australian Women’s Weekly play an important, if not always obvious, role in influencing perceptions of the natural environment. This occurs partly through feature articles on what commonly is called natural disaster, which tell stories of human interactions with nature when it behaves in unwelcome ways. Interrogating these stories over time can inform and challenge writing practice. To illustrate, the essay examines Australian Women’s Weekly feature articles on exceptional floods from 1934 to 2011. It identifies recurring tropes, most notably metaphors of warfare as well as, in some articles, a more ecocentric perspective. Findings are aligned with a growing body of interdisciplinary scholarship concerned with the ways in which writers conceptualise non-human others. That scholarship calls for a posthumanist sensibility at a time when anthropogenic climate change will make humans’ relations to the natural environment more fraught.' (Publication abstract)
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An Unexpected Bequest
2015
single work
essay
— Appears in: Griffith Review , April no. 48 2015; (p. 79-82) -
Editing Too Tough for Women? History Says No
2012
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 20 July 2012; (p. 8) The Age , 20 July 2012; (p. 6) -
Making Room For An Icon
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: Inside History , May-June no. 10 2012; (p. 32-33)
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'Good Reading' in the Australian Womens's Weekly, 1933-1970
2002
single work
criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 1 no. 2002; (p. 32-43) -
Women's Weakly?
2003
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Age , 20 September 2003; (p. 8) The Sydney Morning Herald , 20-21 September 2003; (p. 33) Cameron explores the changes to The Australian Women's Weekly over its 70 year publication history. -
The Australian Women's Weekly : Depression and the War Years Romance and Reality
1973
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Refractory Girl , Winter no. 3 1973; (p. 9-13) - y The Weekly : A Lively and Nostalgic Celebration of Australia Through 50 Years of its Most Popular Magazine Ringwood : Penguin , 1982 Z1091174 1982 single work criticism
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Ita Buttrose on Celebrity
2008
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian Magazine , 4-5 October 2008; (p. 33)
PeriodicalNewspaper Details
Has serialised
- The Year of the Angry Rabbit, single work novel satire science fiction
- The Lonely Shore, single work novel historical fiction
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Crime of Silence,
single work
novel
crime
'A child has been kidnapped. His father, Evan Kiley, a reporter on the local newspaper in this small Australian city, telephones the home of the Wintons. They are a well-to-do family whose small daughter had been abducted - and returned - a year or so earlier. The Wintons had paid the ransom demanded without calling in the police. Because he cooperated with the criminals, Kiley accuses Winton of complicity in their crime. The men who took Robin Kiley, just a toddler, followed the same pattern as that of the earlier kidnapping of Winton's little girl. Had Winton notified the authorities, the criminals would have been caught and Robin would have been spared, Kiley says. Winton feels guilty and sorry for Kiley so he agrees to help him in his time of need. Gradually, the two men are drawn together in a plot to thwart the kidnappers and to get Robin Kiley back. But something goes wrong and a murder is committed.' (Source: Trove)
- The Case of Come-Hither Bend Murder of a Nymph, single work novel crime detective
- Murder Was Her Welcome Murder to Welcome Her, single work novel crime detective