12 months of Australian political cartoons
By Kim Bullimore
CANBERRA — The last 12 months have generated some of the most heated debates in recent Australian political history. Events such as Patrick's sacking of its entire work force, the growth of One Nation, the GST, Aboriginal reconciliation and the federal election have been the catalyst for some of the major news stories of 1998.
Some of the most incisive comments on these events, however, have come, not from journalists, but cartoonists. Throughout 1998, cartoonists provided a running commentary on the political twists and turns. A collection of these cartoons can currently be viewed as part of the National Museum of Australia exhibition: Bringing the House Down.
The exhibition, the third of is kind, is currently running at Old Parliament House. It is a collection of the year's best cartoons, divided into eight sections covering the political gamut. Sections carry titles such as "A taxing time", "War on the waterfront", "Black and white" and "Neighbours". In addition, the exhibition includes a number of sculptures and figures from the rubbery year series.
One of the most frightening or funny sculptures, depending on your sense of humour, is the six-foot sculpture by John Shakespeare of John Howard in jogging gear.
David Rowe's sculpture Howard's Monster also deserves a mention for its clever depiction of Howard as a modern Dr Frankenstein, assisted by Peter Costello to create the GST monster. The GST monster is none other than former Liberal Party leader John Hewson, whom Rowe depicts with six arms, one of which is holding the infamous GST cake.
While the majority of cartoons are from the mainstream media, cartoonists who draw for the alternative media do get a look in. Green Left Weekly cartoonists John Butcher and Chris Kelly, along with Heinrich Hinze, get a showing. Kelly's "And What's the Plan"(election promises) and Butcher's "A noisy uninformed rabble" (One Nation) join two of Hinze's cartoons — one on Patrick and one depicting Howard's battler's car.
The exhibition is strong and very funny but lacks the radio and television satire it included in the last two exhibitions. In previous exhibitions, visitors were able to hear and view samplings from radio and television, which fleshed out the exhibition and added an extra dimension to the political satire.
Despite this, the exhibition has attempted to cover all the major political issues of 1998, offering visitors a chance to laugh and nod knowingly at the insight of cartoonists such as Pryor, Tandberg, Nicholson, Leak and Petty, who have provided in many cases a more "truthful" reporting of events than was often contained in the "news" pages.
My personal favourites include Patrick Cook's election cartoon entitled "Scare Campaign", which has a television voice-over saying, "The following scare campaign contains scenes that may patronise some viewers", and Rod Clement's "Dog talk", depicting the waterfront dispute.
The exhibition runs until March 15.