130 Australian Geographic
ILLUSTRATION BY BEN SANDERSers, an astonishing figure. And the
subscribers kept coming, topping
200,000 by 1995.
A 2006 study titled Red Earth, Blue
Sky: Australian Geographic’s image of
Australia, by Anna Warr of the Univer-
sity of Sydney, analysed the journal’s
photographic and editorial style. Anna
found that the content did more than
simply attract readers; it also shaped
Australians’ perceptions of themselves
and their country. By presenting
Australian subject matter in a positive
fashion, AG “enables a process of
identification and affirmation in its
readers, which...reinforces a sense of
belonging”, Anna wrote, adding that
the use of photography and “aestheti-
cally pleasing and informative images”
inspired pride in Australia.
As a writer, I believe that AG’s text
played as great a role as photography in
this process. Part of its power undoubt-
edly lay in the style that contributors
were explicitly instructed to follow.
Using first-person pronouns (‘I’, ‘me’,
‘we’, ‘us’), they were to be subjective,
offering opinions and describing
feelings when reporting.
As far as Dick is concerned, AG’s
most significant impact was on the
powers that be. It successfully cam-
paigned for the protection of the
Coongie Lakes area in South Australia
and against the building of a resort
in Wilpena Pound. By championing
nature in all its forms, this journal has
encouraged Australians to cherish and
safeguard it. So the doomsayers were
way off the mark, and Halley’s Comet
turned out to have been a lucky star.W
HEN AUSTRALIAN
GEOGRAPHIC made its
debut in January 1986,
I was dazzled. I took a copy with me
on a road trip and got my first good
look at it as I sat in bushland beside the
Deua River, in south-eastern NSW.
I joined its staff a few months later
and stayed for eight years, becoming an
associate editor. I still regularly write
for AG, and I’ve watched it grow into
an institution that has not only
influenced the way Australians see
Australia, but also gained the clout
to play an active role in protecting
environmentally significant places. It
did that despite early scepticism about
its approach and the fact that it was
born under an ominous portent.
At the time, Halley’s Comet was back
after a 76-year absence. The first issue
carried a 10-page article celebrating its
return. Comets were once feared as
harbingers of doom, but that didn’t faze
founder Dick Smith. In his inaugural
column, he wrote that we needed a
publication “that not only shows
Australia in a positive way, but inspires
our young people to share in the great
adventure of being Australian”.
Dick was confident this buoyant
vision would excite readers and instil a
sense of pride in their youthful nation.
It would do that by depicting
Australia’s iconic landscapes, its people,
animals and plants through stunning
photography and meticulously
researched articles. It would revere
national archetypes – the battler, the
bushman, the digger – and emphasise
the virtues of a gritty life on the land,
and the values of the intrepid pioneers.
Not that this editorial approach was
new. AG was filling a gap left by the
demise of Walkabout magazine, which
took a similar line during its 1934–74
lifetime. Although AG was not mod-
elled on National Geographic, there was
an overseas magazine that Dick
acknowledges influenced his publishing
philosophies. If he emulated anything,
he says, it was Canadian Geographic.
Aside from these inspirations, for Dick
the biggest driver towards a positive
approach was what he saw as a negativ-
ism pervading Australia’s media. He’d
had enough of negative stories. He was
going to publish good news, even
though experts warned him that people
didn’t want it and it wouldn’t sell.
Optimism was in the air in the
mid-1980s. Political and economic
transformation was revitalising a
stagnant nation preparing to celebrate
its 200th birthday. The stock market
was booming, house prices were
soaring, Advance Australia Fair had been
decreed the national anthem, Australia
had won the America’s Cup yacht race,
and Tasmania’s Franklin River had
been saved from damming. Dick
himself had taken part in anti-dam
protests, ferrying radio gear to cam-
paigners by helicopter (AG 117). By
the time of AG’s fifth issue, in January
1987, it had amassed 90,000 subscrib-PETER MEREDITH
is an award-winning journalist,
author and editor. His stories
have featured in more than 20
publications both here and
overseas.Born under
a lucky star
Since its inception in 1986, AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHIC has
had a significant influence on how we perceive Australia,
says former associate editor PETER MEREDITH.
PARTING SHOT