Dictionnaire Infernal
The Dictionnaire Infernal is a famous book on demonology written by Jacques Collin de Plancy; first published in 1818. Illustrations are designed by theFrench painter Louis Le Breton and engraved by M. Jarrault.
Read More →Buzz a Buzz
Widely celebrated by art historians as the "Forefather of Comics," Wilhelm Busch's work bridged the gap between single-image political caricatures and the modern sequential comic strip.
Read More →Blackbird
Man's inhumanity to man rose to new heights in Australia's blackbirding era [1863-1904]
Read More →Nona
Nona Gaprindashvili: the legendary fifth Women’s World Chess Champion and the first woman ever to be awarded the FIDE Grandmaster title.
Read More →The Footy Record
The AFL Record, originally known as the Football Record, is the official match-day programme of the Australian Football League and stands as one of the oldest continually published magazines in Australia.
Read More →Bunyip
3 feet long and very hairy, with a long neck surmounted by a remarkable pair of floppy ears. The most unusual thing about it was that it had no head....
Read More →Proclamation
Australia's first cartoon? Van Dieman's Land, Aborigines, hanging, Governor Arthur
Read More →Kurt Vonneguts Bluebeard
Lest we forget the stupidity of killing in war. Vonnegut, Karabekian, Armenian genocide
Read More →Dame Slap
Assault & Hostages: Excerpts from "The Enchanted Wood" by Enid Blyton - Dame Slap
Read More →A flood of little men from Mars
In a wheat field he saw a little whiskered man just under 4ft. tall
Read More →Hungarian Goulash
Everyday Signs of Incipient Madness - Dr. George S. Bunn - brain specialist, of Boston, USA
Read More →Drawn On Redon
Odilon Redon (1840-1916) sought to evoke a sense of mystery equivalent to that which he felt in the presence of nature.
Read More →The jolt of Holt's bolt
Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt disappears into the surf in 1967.
Read More →The Squall of Paul's Fall
Paul Morphy, [born New Orleans 1837], is considered by many, including Bobby Fischer, to have been the strongest chess player who ever lived.
Read More →Crying In The Sane
One of the most curious facts connected with madness is the utter absence of tears amid the insane.
Read More →Us Fellas
Jim Bancks first drew “Us Fellers” comic strip in 1921 and it became “Ginger Meggs” in 1939. It's one of Australia’s favourite comic strips.
Read More →Pillock, Parrot & Pussy Pound Pacific
William Willis. 1954 - A cat, a parrot and a 61-year-old American cross the Pacific Ocean on a raft.
Read More →The Raven
Edgar Allan Poe’s poem ‘The Raven’, with captivating steel engraved illustrations by Gustav Dore.
Read More →Jitterbugs
NOBODY ever knows what a jitterbug will do next - even those Hollywood animated cartoonists
Read More →Black Berry Wednesday
Graham Berry was a Premier of Victoria who fought against the “securely entrenched men of property” who made up the Legislative Council in the 1870s.
Read More →Goanna Oil
Goanna Oil is credited with properties speedily curative of rheumatism. Goanna oil has many uses and is particularly valued as a lubricant for delicate machinery and gun locks.
Read More →World War 1 Footy
Aussie Rules football during the war years 1914-1918. The game reached it's lowest point...
Read More →Plastic Man and Woozy Winks
Plastic Man is a favourite comic book character. Jack Cole created Plastic Man for ‘Police Comics’ in August 1941. Featuring Woozy Winks.
Read More →Heartburnings and bickerings briskened
Victorian Football League. The 1910 VFL football season.
Read More →Xenophobic Deja Vu
White Australia Policy. Alfred Deakin. Dictation test. Racism. Immigration Restriction Act 1901.
Read More →Hirdy Girdy Hugs Mug
AFL - James Hird-Round 3, 2004-the best last quarter performance by any individual in footy history.
Read More →Too much of a mao-ful
China bans wordplay in attempt at pun control . President Xi Jinping 2018
Read More →Hopalong Cassidy
Hopalong Cassidy, the TV ‘good-guy’ cowboy who wore a black hat visited Australia in 1954.
Read More →Flick Schtick
AFL. VFL. The Flick Pass. The legality of the flick pass has varied throughout the history of the game of Aussie Rules.
Read More →Cyclorama
Melbourne Cyclorama in Fitzroy displays 360-degree oil paintings, measuring 122m long x 15m high.
Read More →Daily Doctor
The Daily Doctor was a comic strip appearing in The Argus and Daily Mirror in the 1950s
Read More →Vumps Stumped
“Vumps” was Australia’s first comic book (1908) and featured Claude Marquet, Henry Lawson.
Read More →Word Of The Day #5
SHICER: a noun [informal, dated] A worthless thing, or person, especially a swindler.
Read More →Word Of The Day #2
quisling noun a traitor who collaborates with an enemy force As in… the quisling Pig Iron Bob exported our iron to Japan
Read More →Word Of The Day #4
KIRKED. The term 'kirked' stems from the noun ‘kirk’ which originally referred to the Church Of Scotland.
Read More →Word Of The Day #3
Hamartia: A noun - a fatal flaw leading to the downfall of a hero or heroine.
Read More →Word Of The Day #1
Word Of The Day #1. "Quotidian". An adjective meaning occurring daily, ordinary, mundane, commonplace, not exceptional in any way.
Read More →Rub a dub grub
The Witchetty grub is a tasty meal and a favourite food of Australian Aborigines.
Read More →To Marquet to draw a Fat Pig
Claude Marquet - 'The Worker' newspapers' great Australian cartoonist - The Blood vote, Anti-conscription.
Read More →Molly Dooker
Molly Dooker - being left-handed has come a long way -these days it’s even considered the sign of a creative mind.
Read More →You can’t kill an ideal with a bullet
To my knowledge there has only been one significant assassination attempt on an Australian in ‘high political office’.
Read More →Bunter
Billy Bunter, dubbed by his companions at Greyfriars School ‘the Fat Owl of the Remove'. C. H. Chapman is the definitive Bunter artist.
Read More →Hooked on the Colliwobbles
AFL footy team Collingwood’s amazing ability to lose Grand Finals led to the term the ‘Colliwobbles’
Read More →A Whiff of Jolliffe
Eric Jolliffe (1907 – 2001) – Australian cartoonist - deadpan gags, Aborigines, pathos and earthiness
Read More →Pig Iron Bob
"Pig Iron Bob" was a derogatory nickname given to Robert Menzies, who served as the 12th prime minister of Australia from 1939 to 1941 and from 1949 to 1966.
Read More →Artists’ Black and White Ball
Australian cartoonists and artists - Black and White Ball 1920s. Cecil Hartt: The founding President of the Black and White Artists’ Club in 1924.
Read More →Kicking Behinds
AFL. Good old Geelong. At last they’ve done it. They have won a semi-final for the first time in their career.
Read More →Nerdy Purdy
Cecil Purdy; Australian chess champion and correspondence chess wizard - published 'Australasian Chess Review'.
Read More →Bodgie, Widgie
Australian Bodgies and Widgies in the 1950s. Cornel Wilde, jiving, jitterbugging.
Read More →A Pox on the Boks
Springbok rugby tour of Australia, 1971. Violent Anti-Apartheid demonstrations
Read More →5th Beatle
ex-Beatle Jimmy Nicol leaves Beatles Australian tour 1964, after standing in for Ringo Starr
Read More →A Blethyn In Disguise
VFL. Essendon’s Geoff Blethyn played senior level footy wearing spectacles, 1972
Read More →Unshackle Haeckel
Ernst Heinrich Haeckel (1834 – 1919). Chimera, Max Klinger, Darwinism, Monism, beautiful drawings
Read More →Thanks Bancks
J. C. Bancks : Creator Of "Ginger Meggs" and "Us Fellas". Australian comic and cartoon artist, caricaturist, Sunbeams.
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