The Critic (Adelaide)

The Critic was an Adelaide weekly magazine that ran from 1897 to 1924. It is remembered as the paper in which C. J. Dennis began his literary career, and was later its editor.

History

The first issue was published 25 September 1897, of 18 pages price 6d. The first two pages consisted of advertisements and the rest summaries of the week's news, a gossip page, sports, theatre reviews, and a page devoted to mining investment and a full page editorial cartoon by Amb Dyson.^[1] The publishers' offices were in 71, Brookman's Building, Grenfell Street, Adelaide.

The last issue, subtitled "The Federal Weekly" was published 28 May 1924. Its head office was at 110 Franklin Street, Adelaide. It was of 26 pages and priced at 6d. On page 1 was an announcement that the next issue was to be on sale 5 June priced 4d.^[2] This turned out to be a new weekly "Gossip", and an attempt to recover the fortunes of a style of newspaper, described by a contemporary as a "society paper", which had been largely displaced by the larger dailies, which had their own gossip and society pages, sports, theatre and investment pages at a lower price.^[3]

Editors included C. J. Dennis c. 1904,^[4] succeeded in 1905 by Conrad Eitel.^[5]

Digitization

Issues from Vol. I No.1 (may be viewed here) to Issue No. 1370 of 28 May 1924 (may be viewed here) are available on-line and accessible via Trove, a service of the Australian National Library.

See also

• The Gadfly, magazine founded in Adelaide by C. J. Dennis that ran from February 1906 to February 1909

References

1. "With his bloomin' honors thick upon him". The Critic. 25 September 1897. p. 11. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
2. "The Critic — The Federal Weekly". The Critic. 28 May 1924. p. 1. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
3. "Literary Notes". The Southern Cross. Vol. XXXVI, no. 1803. South Australia. 13 June 1924. p. 4. Retrieved 28 March 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
4. "The Insect". The Newsletter: an Australian Paper for Australian People. Sydney. 18 November 1905. p. 13. Retrieved 8 January 2016 – via National Library of Australia. The writer has a poor opinion of Mr. Dennis.
5. Conrad Constantine Eitel (c. August 1880 – May 1947), who was born in Hong Kong to a naturalised German-born father (a minister and lecturer at University of Adelaide) and English mother née Eaton, was later (August 1911) appointed secretary for Douglas Mawson's Antarctic Expedition, enlisted in 1914, two days after war was declared, joined the Expeditionary Force (a six month contract) and embarked for Rabaul on 19 August 1914. He applied for a commission, but was barred from service on account of his German parentage. He changed his name to Lionel Lambert Eaton and enlisted in August 1915. He was discharged in February 1916 on the grounds of giving a false answer in his application.