By Lachlan Abbott
Celebrated cartoonist Michael Leunig, a long-time contributor to this masthead, has died at the age of 79.
“The pen has run dry, its ink no longer flowing – yet Mr Curly and his ducks will remain etched in our hearts, cherished and eternal,” a post on Leunig’s Instagram account said.
Michael Leunig photographed in 2014.Credit: Jay Cronan
“Michael Leunig passed away peacefully today, in the early hours of December 19, 2024. During his final days, he was surrounded by his children, loved ones, and sunflowers – accompanied as ever, by his dear old friends, Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven.”
Since his first cartoon for The Age in September 1969, Leunig’s artwork has gained broad acclaim. It remained popular with readers until his final cartoon in The Age’s Spectrum section this year.
“Leunig was a master of his craft and a near-permanent fixture on the fridge doors and dining tables of the nation,” The Age editor Patrick Elligett said on Thursday night.
“His passing will be mourned by millions, and felt acutely by readers of The Age, who for 55 years had the privilege of enjoying his work and wit.
“We are thinking of his friends and family at this difficult time. Farewell, Michael.”
In 1997, the National Trust named Leunig as one of Australia’s 100 living treasures, alongside the likes of Sir Donald Bradman and Slim Dusty.
Leunig described his cartoons as regressive, humorous, messy, mystical, primal and vaudevillian.
Cathy Wilcox, president of the Australian Cartoonists Association and a contributor to this masthead, said she was saddened to hear of Leunig’s death.
“He flourished in, and somewhat embodied, a golden era in newspaper cartooning,” she said.
“He brought a modernity of style and perspective that challenged the blokey ‘larrikin’ masculinity of our culture, introducing poetic vulnerability, whimsy and insight, commenting more about our condition as humans than on the ephemera of daily politics and news.
“As one whose work was deeply personal (while also obscuring of the person), in later years he waged his own battles with social change and fell foul of the polarising identity politics of our time. He did not surrender the stage willingly to younger voices, although to this young aspiring cartoonist years ago he was kind.
“He will be remembered as a great and influential cartoonist, artist, poet and philosopher who clearly lived to draw, as he did so to the very last. Vale.”
Michael Leunig in his studio in 2006.Credit: Jason South
Artist Jim Pavlidis, his former colleague at The Age, said: “Whimsy, philosophical reflection, and the views of the outsider are the bread and butter of cartoonists today, but that’s Michael’s legacy.
“Michael was a wonderful and inquisitive conversationalist. He was 19 years older and a hero but never talked at me, he always asked lots of questions and made me feel an equal, even though we clearly weren’t.”
Born in East Melbourne on June 2, 1945, the second eldest of five children, Leunig went to Footscray North Primary School and Maribyrnong High School.
On his website, he described Enid Blyton and the Beatles as early creative influences, before “his political consciousness intensified radically” when he was conscripted to serve in Vietnam. Due to total deafness in one ear, he was ultimately knocked back from military service. He worked in an abattoir and factories before beginning work as a political cartoonist in 1969.
In a 1998 Good Weekend feature, his works were described as poignant, often controversial and “rarely fail[ing] to touch a chord”.
In the 21st century, his political cartoons opposed the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq amid the “War on Terror” after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
On his website, he described this period as a watershed moment in his daily cartooning career that caused particular controversy and left him “disillusioned and alienated”.
Later, a cartoon that suggested some mothers love their smartphones more than their children set off a social media storm as many labelled the work misogynistic, which Leunig denied.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns of 2021, Leunig’s cartoon comparing mandatory vaccinations to the iconic photo of a Chinese tank bearing down on a lone dissenter at the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests again proved controversial.
In recent years, Leunig was critical of The Age’s editorial decision making after a number of his cartoons were spiked, particularly during the pandemic.
When his weekly Spectrum cartoon was axed earlier this year, he labelled the publication “tacky” and said he was not surprised as he had “parted ways with The Age philosophically.”
Cartoonist Michael Leunig trying to think of an idea in 1986.Credit: The Age Archives
Broadcaster Phillip Adams, another of the National Trust’s 100 Australian Living Treasures, paid tribute to Leunig late on Thursday.
“Vale Mike,” Adams wrote in a post on X. “Yes, Leunig sometimes got things wrong – but when he was right he was magnificent. Friends for half a century.”
Leunig’s farewell cartoon.Credit: Leunig
On Thursday night, the media union, the MEAA, wrote on social media: “Love him or hate him – and there were plenty of both – Michael Leunig was a giant of Australian cartooning for more than half a century.”
In recent years, Leunig lived in northern Victoria near the town of Strathbogie and his work was often displayed at the Queenscliff Gallery.
In a speech at the gallery this year, Leunig paid tribute to other artists, writers, musicians and creators who had inspired him.
“In my growing up, you get inspired, and you think: ‘Oh, I’d love to be part of that world.’ Where people create something, and offer something, and it moves people,” he said. “Since I was young, I think I wanted to do something like that.”
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