Bluey and Curley

[2] Following Gurney's death in 1955, the strip was taken over by Norm Rice in early 1956, but he died in a vehicle accident that year.

It was syndicated across Australia and appeared in New Zealand, New Guinea, and Canada (but was considered too Australian for American newspapers).

In late 1939, following the outbreak of World War II, he created his most famous characters, Bluey and Curley,[4] which first appeared in the Picture-News magazine.

[12] Gurney was in England in June 1946, as part of an Australian Press Syndicate sent specifically to view the Victory Parade.

As well as sending caricatures of various eminent people involved in that parade back to Australia for distribution through the press, he also used the opportunity to have Bluey and Curley attend the parade, and a number of his Bluey and Curley comic strips reflected that event.

[15] Although Bluey and Curley were popular with Australians because they related to the slang, attitude, and the lack of respect towards authority exhibited by the main characters,[16] the strip lost some of its appeal and readership when the pair returned to "civvy street".