The Bulletin Covers: 1886

Showing posts with label 1886. Show all posts

Saturday, February 6, 2021

At Christmas by V.J.D.

Uncredited artist, At Christmas by V.J.D., The Bulletin, Vol. 7 No. 360 (25 Dec 1886, p.3) http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-734275510

Daylight Robbery—the Demons of Trade and Their Victim

Daylight Robbery—the Demons of Trade and Their Victim | Hop

Livingston Hopkins, Daylight Robbery—the Demons of Trade and Their Victim, The Bulletin, Vol. 7 No. 359 (18 Dec 1886, p.3) http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-507991654

Daylight Robbery—the Demons of Trade and Their Victim
Suggested by the Recent Short-Weight Investigations.

Vogel’s Snore

Vogel’s Snore | Phil May

Phil May, Vogel’s Snore, The Bulletin, Vol. 7 No. 358 (11 Dec 1886, p.3) http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-507988796

Vogel’s Snore
What is this? This is an illustration for the prospectus of a company to be formed to acquire the right of Sir Julius Vogel’s snore: the idea being to telephonically lay the snore aforesaid on to all N.Z. and Australian lighthouses as a fog-signal.

Darley’s Sacrifice

Livingston Hopkins, Darley’s Sacrifice, The Bulletin, Vol. 7 No. 357 (4 Dec 1886, p.3) http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-507986300

Darley’s Sacrifice
Plain Bill, (to Darley): “See here, Old Boy. If you go in there you’ll have to leave at least half of that bundle behind.”

The Governor's Reply

Livingston Hopkins, The Governor's Reply, The Bulletin, Vol. 7 No. 356 (27 Nov 1886, p.3) http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-507939999

The Governor's Reply
Chorus of free and independent voters (to Lord Carington, a casual spectator): “Hi, there! Stop ‘im—catch ‘im—unharness ‘im, hell-he'll ruin us!”
Lord C: “I’ll have nothing to do with him. You harnessed him and you must take the consequences. If you let him alone, he'll die a natural death in two years!”
Hostile press: “Yes, and in the meantime, he’ll kick the cart to pieces!

“Cut Out?”

Livingston Hopkins, “Cut Out?”, The Bulletin, Vol. 7 No. 355 (20 Nov 1886, p.3) http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-513408178

“Cut Out?”
“Mr J.P. Abbott has declared for Protection and took the chair at the big Sydney demonstration.” —N.S.W. paper.
Treasurer Jennings (loq) “Yes Dibbs you see he’s gone gone and collared my best girl.”
Colonial secretary Dibbs: “Pooh! I don’t believe he has any serious intentions—he’s always carrying on with somebody.”

The New Joan of Arc

The New Joan of Arc | Hop

Phil May, The New Joan of Arc, The Bulletin, Vol. 7 No. 354 (13 Nov 1886, p.3) http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-507937855

A Fellow Feeling Makes Us Wondrous Kind

Livingston Hopkins, “A Fellow Feeling Makes Us Wondrous Kind.”, The Bulletin, Vol. 7 No. 353 (6 Nov 1886, p.3) http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-507935658

That Yellow Pup

That Yellow Pup | Phil May

Phil May, That Yellow Pup, The Bulletin, Vol. 7 No. 352 (30 Oct 1886, p.3) http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-507933569

That Yellow Pup

[Henry] Parkes (sol.): “Poor little Toby! Poor little devil!
You were quite a different dog before they tied that cursed kettle to your tail.”

The Mosquito Season

Phil May, The Mosquito Season, The Bulletin, Vol. 7 No. 351 (23 Oct 1886, p.3) http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-507931152

The Mosquito Season
“That Political Insect, the O’Sullivan.” —[Henry] Parkes

Those Honorable Grinners, the Ministry

“Those Honorable Grinners, the Ministry.”

Phil May, “Those Honorable Grinners, the Ministry.”— Quotation From Jawbone Neild, The Bulletin, Vol. 7 No. 350 (16 Oct 1886, p.3) http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-507928546

Two Views of His Lordship

Livingston Hopkins, Two Views of His Lordship, The Bulletin, Vol. 7 No. 349 (9 Oct 1886, p.3) http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-507924388

“Gillies’ Smile”

Phil May, “Gillies’ Smile”, The Bulletin, Vol. 7 No. 348 (2 Oct 1886, p.3) http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-507920333

“Gillies’ Smile”
An Instantaneous Photograph.
Premier Gillies ‘smile,’ said an Hon. member, “is a cross between the smile of a cherub and the yawn of an earthquake.” —Melbourne Paper.

[Ed. Duncan Gillies was the Premier of Victoria between 1886 and 1890. See Margot Beever, 'Gillies, Duncan (1834–1903)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/gillies-duncan-3617]

Asleep on the Battle-Field

Asleep on the Battle-Field | Hop
Livingston Hopkins, Asleep on the Battle-Field, The Bulletin, Vol. 7 No. 347 (25 Sep 1886, p.3) http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-507915266

Asleep on the Battle-Field
“We have a good army and plenty of fight in us, but where is our General?” —Sydney Globe

"Like a Thief in the Night"

Phil May, "Like a Thief in the Night", The Bulletin, Vol. 7 No. 346 (18 Sep 1886, p.3) http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-507914940

"Like a Thief in the Night"

“A move is being made in the direction of having Mr. Garrett appointed to the Leadership of the N.S.W. Opposition in place of Sir Henry Parkes,”—Daily Paper.

Parkes (Loq.): “Good Gracious, [Tom] Garrett, Is It You? I Thought It Was [Joseph] Abbott.”

[See G. A. Price, 'Garrett, Thomas (1830–1891)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/garrett-thomas-3596 | Wikipedia: Thomas Garrett (Australian politician)]

Friday, February 5, 2021

The Financial “Policy” of the Future—What It May Come To

Livingston Hopkins, The Financial “Policy” of the Future—What It May Come To, The Bulletin, Vol. 7 No. 345 (11 Sep 1886, p.3) http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-507929060

Caption

The Financial “Policy” of the Future—What It May Come To

“The Walker Estate will under the Stamp Duties’ Act bring the welcome sum of £80,000 into the empty N.S.W. Treasury.”—Daily Paper.
Future Treasurer (to Physician in, charge of Moribund Millionaire): “Well, how is our patient today?”
Physician: “Why he has rallied a bit, and I am now going to give him a dose which we only give in extreme cases.’
Treasurer: “Ah—hum ah, doctor, if you gould manage just to let them have it rather stronger than usual—you see the public exchequer is so depleted, and this estate is such a very large one.” (It is really too horrible to think of.)

Saturday, January 23, 2021

Sir Patrick and His Centenary “Skeleton.”

[Source: Livingston (Hop) Hopkins, Sir Patrick and His Centenary “Skeleton.”, The Bulletin, Vol. 7 No. 344 (4 Sep 1886 p.3) http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-507919499]

The Celebration of The Centenary.

The Proposals of The Government.

"In the Legislative Assembly last night, Sir Patrick Jennings, in accordance with his promise to Sir Henry Parkes, made a statement in regard to the mode in which the Government propose to celebrate the centenary of New South Wales. It will be seen that the suggestions made the other day by Sir Henry Parkes are to a certain extent to be carried into effect.

"Sir Patrick Jennings said:—'lt is not my intention to go beyond a skeleton or sketch of the programme which I have made a memorandum of, thinking it the most appropriate way of celebrating what will be the most important event in our history—the celebration of our birth. The Government have, of course, been inundated with suggestions with regard to what is conceived to be the best way of signalising this event. The House, as we are aware, has been moved by propositions that have been brought before it from time to time as to what is conceived to be the best way of signalising this event. We acknowledge the great importance of the event. We acknowledge that everything done should be worthy of the occasion, and we, as a Government, have endeavoured to give that consideration to this question, which is undoubtedly one of great importance, and I shall now proceed, without attempting to make any reference further to the great importance of the occasion—for I do not conceive it to be the time to make a speech about that—to inform the House what are the intentions and what are the wishes of this Government in order to signalise the celebration of the event in question.'" Daily Paper.

Contexts

Although the first issue of The Bulletin was published on 22 January 1880, it was not until the 4 September 1886 issue that the editors gave Livingston Hopkins (or 'Hop') the freedom to create full-page illustrations for the editorial or 'masthead' cover. Before 1886, this page mostly consisted of topical news and, typically, a biography of a local or visiting 'celebrity', including a perfunctory engraved portrait. Why The Bulletin changed its visual format and style after 4 September 1886 is a complex question that I address in a separate section.

The historical background to Hopkins' (or 'Hop'), Sir Patrick and His Centenary“Skeleton", was the controversy over the plans and funding for the public commemoration of the Centenary of the founding of the Colony of New South Wales. The newspaper caption included in illustration was originally printed in the Sydney Daily Telegraph. It reported the verbatim speech of the Premier, Sir Patrick Jennings, to the NSW Legislative Assembly, the popularly elected 'lower house' of a bicameral parliamentary system, concerning the planned Centenary celebrations. In the speech, Jennings, nominated 23 January 1788 as the 'birth' of the Colony. This was when the site for the permanent British settlement was found at Sydney Cove by members of the party seeking to establish a penal colony for British subjects. This event is nowadays celebrated annually on 26 January as Australia Day.

The Daily Telegraph article also describes a 'skeleton' proposal put to the Legislative Assembly, including an invitation for the Prince of Wales—the heir to Queen Victoria—to officiate events. One of the foreshadowed events was the opening of the sewerage system designed to release untreated wastewater off the shores of Bondi beach! Here Hopkins uses a human skeleton doing a handstand as a trope to not only subdivide the image into regions for self-contained units, or 'cartoonlets' as he would refer to them, but also an symbolic inversion of the celebratory 'birth' metaphor introduced by Premier Jennings.

Detail: 'That the Prince of Wales be invited to open the Bondi Sewer'

Hopkins thus contrasts the aspirations of the ruling Colonial elites to celebrate their achievements, against the fate of the workaday inhabitants of New South Wales who suffered from official neglect, maladministration and corruption. Where this neglect involved public health, such as providing sanitation infrastructure for the expanding population of Sydney and other urban centres, the outcomes included actual death and disease. By inverting of the symbolic-order from 'birth' to 'death', and the social-order from 'elite' to the 'workaday' population, Hopkins was also to extract humour from a utilitarian event, such as the opening of a sewerage pipeline. This is best illustrated in the central 'cartoonlet' involving the imagined opening of the sewerage works by the Prince of Wales (see above).

Notes

Caption text, see "The Celebration of the Centenary." Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW: 1883-1930), 28 August 1886, p. 5. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article237292874.
Wikipedia contributors, "Bondi Ocean Outfall Sewer," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bondi_Ocean_Outfall_Sewer