Newsgroups: fur.artwork.misc Subject: Early Australian Cartoonists -- D. H. Souter -- intro During the 60 years surrounding the end of the 19th century, Australia was the host to a well-established Fantasy and Anthropomorphic creative movement. It gave us some of our most famous characters and works of literature: "Binky Bill", "Snugglepot and Cuddlepie", "The Magic Pudding", and even "Felix the Cat"; created and illustrated by the likes of May Gibbs and Norman Lindsay, also critically regarded as amongst my country's finest artists. During that period what they had going was not much different from what we today call a "fandom"-- with many artists forming clubs to publish their works, and extremely popular public conventions and exhibitions being held. (There was even a sizable and "open" erotica scene! Don't believe everything you hear about Edwardian culture..) - - - One of my favourite artists from that period was D. H. Souter (1862-1935). Born in Scotland, he abandoned being an apprentice house-painter for a career as a journalist. Emigrating to South Africa and then Australia, in 1888 Souter founded the Sydney-based "Brush Club" and was soon associated with the Art Society of New South Wales, serving a term as president for Australia's Council of the Society of Artists. He started cartooning for the prestigious newspaper "The Bulletin" in 1895, and was a regular weekly contributor for over forty years. There's a story (probably apocryphal) of how Souter started into anthropomorphics. Early into his tenure with The Bulletin he had an inking accident that left a big black blob on an urgent assignment, so with a bit more ink he turned the blob into a cat, and got away with it (see dhs_daddy.gif). Some people thought it was clever (the joke would've been new back then!) so henceforth Cats of an intentional origin were a hallmark of Souter's work. Often their presence was as the cynical observer, in others as a familiar for "The Souter Girl" deftly batting "catty" rejoiners at the Australian male. In time they became quite popular by themselves, with the obligatory merchandising and everything! Later, the general popularity of his Art Nouveau felines and the success of other artists like Lindsay (whom he worked alongside at The Bulletin) lead him into publishing children's story books. In 1905 Souter invented the "Kat-garoo" (see dhs_katgaroo.gif and dhs_bushbabs.jpg), a marvelous idea I think as not unlike Taral Wayne's "House Gammins" being something that really deserved further development. There was a possibility of these becoming a national icon like a certain koala, had he not put it off pursuing the "Bush Babs" stories until only a few years before his death. Another thing Souter did that appeals to me is his Bulletin cartoons rejecting the media-dominating "Honest rural Aussie Bush-Digger stuck in the 19th century with over-accentuated male attributes" national legend (a bogosity we still have to put up with today!). His subjects were cosmopolitan and a part of the modern world; depicting gender issues, city social life, and technological change[!]. - - - All the images I'm about to post are in the public domain. They're freed according to the Copyright Laws of the time, and the book I scanned them from only declares a compilation copyright. Further research failed to find any renewed copyrights or trademarks. -- Chris Baird,,