Aussie: The Australian Soldiers' Magazine
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Aussie: The Australian Soldiers' Magazine was a magazine printed in the field on the Western Front, in France, during World War One by the Australian Imperial Forces Printing Section. The publication was an incredible endeavour that helped to celebrate the distinctive Australian identity at war, as well as shaping a sense of community and played a significant role in articulating what it meant to be a 'digger'.
Editor: Lieut. Phillip Harris |
First Issue Published: January 18, 1918. |
Ceased Publication: 1932. |
It was started in 1918 by Lieut. Phillip L. Harris, a former journalist who was to become its first and only editor.[1] Harris acquired a small printing plant and accessories from various firms in Sydney and Melbourne in 1914, and the press was first used on the troopship Ceramic to produce a small regimental paper, Honk![2] The plant consisted of a Platen press, type and accessories, and a small amount of paper. In 1916 the press was then used to produce a paper called The Rising Sun, which was only in print for three months, following which Harris presented the idea of making a magazine for Australian troops on the front-line.[2] Despite facing the extreme difficulties of finding an adequate supply of paper and skilled help, Harris was able to print 10,000 copies of the first issue of Aussie in the field at Flêtre.[3] The thirteen issues of the magazine were sold to the troops for ten centimes a copy, with much of the proceeds going to the A.I.F Trust Fund,[2] and to raise money for Australia's national War Museum.[2]
The magazine contained some biographical clips and works by well-known Australian writers such as 'Banjo' Paterson, Henry Lawson, C.J Dennis, Louise Mack and John Le Gay Brereton. Most of the troops would have been familiar with these writers due to the popularity as contributors to The Bulletin. But the majority of Aussie's content came from the diggers (soldiers) themselves. Harris claimed that the articles within the magazine were stories from the soldiers, and he "merely caught them and put them on to paper".[2] Aussie was a magazine for Australian soldiers, made by Australian soldiers and as Sir Colin Hines put it, the magazine "shows in its humour, pathos, and tales of comradeship, the spirit which created the entity of the Australian at War" (Harris, i)[2]