Sydney’s Smith’s Weekly influenced the style of newspapers in the 20th century
Sydney’s brash, biased, racist and sexist Smith’s Weekly was founded a century ago today by a hotelier and two newspapermen as the voice of the common man
The war was over, soldiers were returning from the front and Australia was battling an epidemic of influenza. These were tumultuous times. Three men, dissatisfied with major newspapers of the day and worried the concerns of the common man were being overlooked, decided to launch a new, independent paper.
A century ago today Smith’s Weekly first hit the news stands. With its mix of sensationalism, humour and satire, the paper quickly became popular with readers tired of the stuffy, sometimes self-important tone of other papers.
Smith’s Weekly was often racist, sexist, fiercely nationalist and anti-communist, but it also fought for the little battler against the rich and powerful.
It was known for its lively cartoons, the most famous of which was a 1933 Stan Cross offering showing two men about to fall off a high scaffold. One man is pulling off the other’s pants trying to prevent himself from falling, with the pantsless man saying “For gorsake stop laughing: this is serious”.
The paper ran for decades, its brash style influencing other newspapers, for good or ill, but ultimately it was a wealthy businessman who brought the common man’s paper undone.
The founder was Sir James Joynton Smith. Born in London in 1858, he was no newspaper man. After a varied career that included running away to sea as a boy, operating a pub in New Zealand, gambling away his savings and becoming a union organiser, he had made his fortune in hotels in Sydney and the Blue Mountains. He also ran racecourses at Rockdale, Glebe and Zetland.
A keen sportsman, Smith backed the new breakaway rugby league in 1908 and also funded matches between the union’s Wallabies and the league’s Kangaroos, later serving as president of the NSW Rugby League.
By then he was also dabbling in politics. He failed an attempt at election as an independent to the NSW Legislative Assembly in 1901, but in 1912 he was nominated for the Legislative Council. During World War I he worked with newspaper editor Robert Clyde Packer selling war bonds and the two became friends.
In 1917 he was elected Sydney’s lord mayor, but after being ousted in 1918 he looked for something new. He had enjoyed working with newspapers to mobilise support for bonds during the war, so he decided to start his own paper to pursue causes and air his political views.
With like-minded friend Packer as manager, and journalist Claude McKay as editor, they founded Smith’s Weekly. The first edition, dated March 1, 1919, featured news about the flu epidemic on its front page, as well as a mention of the ongoing peace conference and legislation concerning proportional representation, all of it told with a sense of humour.
While it was not the first irreverent periodical to hit the news stands, following in some ways the lead of the Bulletin, it set new standards for its attacks on sacred cows and figures of authority.
The paper quickly gained readers and by 1921 was making a good profit, so good in fact that Smith gave a third of the paper’s ownership to Packer and McKay. Smith and Packer used various promotions to kick along circulation, starting the first Miss Australia contest in 1926.
While the paper was pro ex-servicemen and anti-communist, it also deplored fascism. In 1931 the paper published an expose, listing the military officers involved in Australia’s right-wing paramilitary group The New Guard. The group was also mercilessly pilloried by cartoonists and satirical commentators, but at least one dig at the New Guard had an unintended result. In 1932 Smith’s Weekly jokingly suggested that instead of protesting Labor premier Jack Lang opening the Harbour Bridge they should join the dignitaries and beat Lang to the cutting of the ribbon. Captain Francis de Groot did just that and later said he got his inspiration from the newspaper.
The paper suffered a serious blow to its reputation in April 1932 when it published an attack on the reputation of a murder victim Frank Wilkinson, which was later proven to be false.
In 1939 poet Kenneth Slessor took over as editor. During World War II it recovered some readership, through its support for the war and the soldiers. But in 1947 the paper was taken over by wealthy industrialist Bill Smith who sold it for a profit in 1950.
The new owners ceased publication and closed the Phillip St offices of the paper, which was worth more sold off as real estate.
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