The New Zealand Postcard Society has declared the Queensland writer, keen collector and researcher, Gary Davies , above , winner of
the Charles Lilley Memorial
Award for the best article published in its journal, Postcard
Pillar
Entitled OFFENSIVE TO EVERYONE
, it dealt with
early postcards which today
are regarded as
offensive , straight out
racist , not politically correct
, relating to women , Maoris , Aborigines , even footballers.
Davies covered
the subject with sensitivity , drawing
on his extensive research . The same article
was run in
a leading British
postcard journal , after the editor
was
at first reluctant to publish it because of the delicacy of
the subject. However, after
close study of the text , the editor described it as brilliant
and published the article last month in the Picture Postcard Monthly, listed on the cover as Rude Aussie postcards.
Davies wrote the use of "humour or the attempt at it" was an effective tool to reinforce stereotypes , refresh propaganda , trivialise, attack or demean the depicted subjects , while the purchaser of the card could simply retreat under the guise of ,"I didn't write or draw this-isn't it awful!"
The extensive article , illustrated with 16 postcards, backgrounds the social and political situation in Australia in the first two decades of the 2Oth century. Government policies , newspapers and postcards reflected the prevailing attitudes.
He cites a report in the Sydney Bulletin of October 27,1900 under the heading : A policy for the Commonwealth-the federated-Chinaman. It said it was essential to keep out the " British nigger and the British Chinaman" . The Bulletin moved a resolution that under federal law it would be absolutely illegal for any black , brown or yellow man to settle in this country , whether a British subject or not.
Davies went on to point out that if you were female or male, old or young, over or under weight, short or tall, Jewish, Chinese , White , Aboriginal, a missionary or politician, or had trouble managing money, alcohol, in-laws or your secretary, you were a perfect subject for an early Australian "comic" card. However offensive or basic these cards may appear, they were a disconcerting record of Australian and New Zealand social history.
A man of diverse interests , Davies supplied pen picture details of the artists who drew the postcards and the subjects.
There is a drawing of a Queensland Kanaka cutting sugar cane with a rhyming caption saying his labor and upkeep is cheap ; a woman with a 19 inch waist is better than a smart one with a high forehead ; one shows a chaotic Melbourne scene when trains are abolished on Sunday , except for those going to church ; an unusual one put out in 1908 to mark Leap Year is designed for Men- the devils- who only want board , beer and cuddles , in which salesmen , Cupid and Hymen , set out the kind of men available for women, including suffragettes ; there is reference to the Maori land grab by pakehas , many postcards of the time maligning the Maoris as drunkards, greedy and incapable of looking after themselves ; ditto Australian Aborigines .
Davies lives on Magnetic Island where he runs a nursery and landscaping business . At the present moment he is trying to identify the artists who drew WW11 Australian postcards which were printed by John Sands . On a recent visit to Melbourne he called on a prominent postcard dealer , Lloyd Holyoake , of Abracadabra Postcards and associated bookshop at Kew, and swapped notes . A book from Gary's library , compiled by Kiwi soldiers during WWl , was the subject of a recent post in Little Darwin.
There is a drawing of a Queensland Kanaka cutting sugar cane with a rhyming caption saying his labor and upkeep is cheap ; a woman with a 19 inch waist is better than a smart one with a high forehead ; one shows a chaotic Melbourne scene when trains are abolished on Sunday , except for those going to church ; an unusual one put out in 1908 to mark Leap Year is designed for Men- the devils- who only want board , beer and cuddles , in which salesmen , Cupid and Hymen , set out the kind of men available for women, including suffragettes ; there is reference to the Maori land grab by pakehas , many postcards of the time maligning the Maoris as drunkards, greedy and incapable of looking after themselves ; ditto Australian Aborigines .
Davies lives on Magnetic Island where he runs a nursery and landscaping business . At the present moment he is trying to identify the artists who drew WW11 Australian postcards which were printed by John Sands . On a recent visit to Melbourne he called on a prominent postcard dealer , Lloyd Holyoake , of Abracadabra Postcards and associated bookshop at Kew, and swapped notes . A book from Gary's library , compiled by Kiwi soldiers during WWl , was the subject of a recent post in Little Darwin.
