The Sydney Daily Telegraph’s “Real Leader” of the Opposition

Editor Ward: “Steady, Now, Barton. and I’ll Make You A Bigger

Man Than Old Dibbs, or Bust Something.” | Hop

Livingston Hopkins, The Sydney Daily Telegraph’s “Real Leader” of the Opposition, The Bulletin, Vol. 10 No. 512 (7 Dec 1889, p.3) http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-443530420

The Sydney Daily Telegraph’s “Real Leader” of the Opposition

Editor Ward: “Steady, now Barton and I’ll make you a bigger man than old Dibbs, or bust something.”

[Ed. 'Hop' depicts Edmund Barton on a pillar labeled "The D.T's Gutta Perchaman" (Gutta-percha is a plant-based flexible latex), while air is being blown into his body by Frederick Ward, the the editor of the Sydney Daily Telegraph (a leading conservative daily newspaper), in order that Barton can reach the height and girth of George Dibbs, the leader of the opposition in the NSW Legislative Assembly. The message, amplified by the caption, is that Barton can neither assume the public stature nor political position of Dibbs without the support of the powerful Sydney Daily Telegraph.]