Smith's Weekly

Smith's Weekly was an Australian tabloid newspaper published from 1919 to 1950. An independent weekly published in Sydney, but read all over Australia, Smith's Weekly was one of Australia's most patriotic newspaper-style magazines.

It took its name from its founder and chief financer Sir James Joynton Smith, a prominent Sydney figure during World War One, conducting fund-raising and recruitment drives. Its two other founders were theatrical publicist Claude McKay and journalist Clyde Packer, father of Sir Frank Packer and grandfather of media baron Kerry Packer. Sir Frank later formed the mighty Australian Consolidated Press, chief rival to Rupert Murdoch's News Limited.

Mainly directed at the male (especially ex-Servicemen) market, it mixed sensationalism, satire and controversial opinions with sporting and finance news. It also included short stories, and many cartoons and caricatures as a main feature of its lively format.

One of its chief attractions in the 1920s was the Unofficial History of the A.I.F. feature, whose cartoons and contributions from returned soldiers helped perpetuate the image of the "digger" as an easy-going individual with a healthy disrespect for authority. It also worked hard to ensure that promises made to soldiers during hostilities were not swept aside in peacetime. Of particular concern was men affected by shellshock, a condition which was being minimised by some "experts" as deserving scorn rather than sympathy. Staff cartoonists associated with this feature included the succession of Cecil Hartt, Frank Dunne and Lance Mattinson.

It also had a special Investigation department staffed by journalists with a bent for sleuthing. One of its many exposures is credited with dealing a fatal blow to the New Guard, an incipient fascist movement of the 1930s.

Smith's Weekly staff included notable poet Kenneth Slessor as Editor, and cartoonists of the stature of George Finey, Emile Mercier and Stan Cross. It was a launching pad for two generations of outstanding Australian journalists and cartoonists.

In the 1930s Dick Randall submitted articles for publication in Smith's Weekly, of which he became finance editor. In 1966, as Sir Richard Randall, he became Secretary to the Treasury, Canberra.

Three rare Lovecraftian stories were originally published by the well-known "Witch of the Cross" in Sydney, Rosaleen Norton in Smith's Weekly. They were later reprinted as, Three Macabre Tales (US: Typographeum Press, 1996).