The Australian Journal

The Australian Journal was one of Australia's most successful and influential magazines, running for ninety-seven years from 1865 to its final issue printed in 1962.

The magazine began as 'A Weekly Record of Amusing and Instructive Literature, Science and the Arts',[1] but gradually became a more focussed publication of popular short stories written by Australian writers for readers across both genders and age groups.

The front cover of the August 1926 issue sports an illustration of a cowboy on horseback with a revolver in hand, with a line from a featured short story at the bottom of the page which reads - "'Shoot!

The journal had a wide range of subject matter on its covers over the ninety-seven years of its publication, with each issue perhaps targeting a specific audience to keep its readership as widespread as possible.

He continued to write and sketch, being a talented cartoonist and illustrator as well as a writer, and had his work published under the pen name Marcus Scrivener.

[3] It is said that Clarke lost this job as a station hand in part because his influence over the other workers was showing in their eagerness to take more regular breaks to read novels under a tree.

[3] Whether this is true or not, Clarke's time as a station hand would have reached its end sooner or later as his literary ambitions began to grow.

Not long after leaving the station, Clarke found work in Melbourne as a member of the literary staff of the Argus journal.

Clarke's first (although unfinished) novel, Long Odds, appeared in serial form in the Colonial Monthly, yet he was only able to write a few chapters before being thrown from his horse and fracturing his skull.

Under Clarke's leadership of The Australian Journal, the magazine lent a focus toward accepting submissions set in the colonies and by domestic writers.

[2] Marcus Clarke greatly assisted the popularity of The Australian Journal by publishing his celebrated work, His Natural Life in serial format.

The Bulletin published a short article following Clarke's death stating their willingness to accept subscriptions in aid of his widow and children.

In the decades before he was appointed editor, the magazine relied on a mixture of domestic work as well as syndicated fiction from overseas, in particular England and the United States.