Australian Women's Weekly

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The Australian Women's Weekly is an Australian monthly women's magazine published by ACP Magazines, a division of PBL Media based in Sydney. Audited circulation in 2009 exceeded 500,000 copies monthly, making it the largest magazine in Australia.

History

The magazine was started in 1933 by Frank Packer as a weekly publication. In 1982, publication frequency was reduced from weekly to monthly. "Weekly" was retained in the name for reasons of familiarity and the fact that Women's Monthly just sounded "unseemly". The final weekly edition was dated December 15, 1982, followed by the first monthly edition dated January, 1983.

The magazine is usually 240 pages long and printed on glossy paper trimmed to A4 page size. It typically contains feature articles about the modern Australian woman. For many years, it included a lift-out TV guide.

It became responsible for introducing Mandrake to Australian audiences, when it unveiled their new comic strip character on December 1, 1934. Mandrake quickly became one of the Weekly's most popular features - a feat no doubt helped by the magazine's policy of replacing any mentions of American place names and idioms with their Australian equivalents, thus persuading readers that Mandrake was, in fact, an Australian character.

Mandrake's peak of popularity coincided with World War Two. When the Weekly was forced to reduce its page count as a wartime paper rationing measure, Mandrake was dropped from the magazine for a week - before readers' protests prompted the Weekly to bring him back in the next issue!

Daily

Original story title Start End Comments
"The Cobra" #1/12-1934 #18/5-1935 edited
"The Hawk (Mandrake Meets Narda)" #25/5-1934 #20/7-1935 edited
"The Monster of Tanov Pass" #27/7-1935 #12/10-1935 edited
"Saki, the Clay Camel" #19/10-1935 #21/3-1936 edited
"The Werewolf" #28/3-1936 #8/8-1936 edited
"The Return of the Clay Camel" #15/8-1936 #23/1-1937 edited
"The Slave Traders of Tygandi" #30/1-1937 #3/7-1937 edited
"Mandrake in the Lost World" #10/7-1937 #18/12-1937 edited
"In the Cobra's Grip" #25/12-1937 #11/6-1938 edited
"Mandrake in America" #18/06-1938 #26/11-1938 edited
"Mandrake in Hollywood" #26/11-1938 #11/2-1939 edited
"Sonny the Child Movie Star" #11/2-1938 #1/4-1939 edited
"Mandrake and the Haunted House" #1/4-1939 #3/6-1939 edited
"Blozz the Champion" #3/6-1939 #18/8-1939 edited
"Mandrake in Love" #18/8-1939 #25/11-1939 edited
"Visitors from Space" #25/11-1939 #10/2-1940 edited
"The Deep South" #10/2-1940 #1/6-1940 edited
"Mandrake in Cockaigne" #1/6-1940 #19/10-1940 edited
"Mandrake in North Africa" #19/10-1940 #5/4-1941 edited
"The Mountain Bandits" #5/4-1941 #17/5-1941 edited
"The Museum Mystery" #17/5-1941 #11710-1941 edited
"The Octopus Ring" #18/10-1941 #19/9-1942 edited
"Dr Griff's Invention" #26/9-1942 #27/2-1943 edited
"The Mystery of the Striped Orchid" #6/3-1943 #5/5-1943 edited
"The Great Grando" #12/6-1943 #11/12-1943 edited
"Lothar the Champ" #18/12-1943 #25/11-1944 edited
"The Rumor Factory" #25/11-1944 #25/11-1944 only first strip
"Baron Kord" #25/11-1944 #29/9-1945 edited

Consolidated Press, publishers of the Weekly, produced two large black & white Mandrake the Magician comic books. Numbering up to 72 pages, these two comics were published between 1938-1941. Later in the 40s Consolidated Press printed three more issues of Mandrake the Magician.

Sundays

Original story title Start End Comments
"Prince Paulo the Tyrant" #6/10-1945 #26/01-1946 edited
"The Treasure Hunt" #2/02-1946 #6/07-1946 edited
"The Lunar Trip" #13/07-1946 #14/12-1946 edited
"The Haunted Range" #21/12-1946 #15/02-1947 edited
"The Ghost Bear of Glass Mountain" #22/02-1947 #24/05-1947 edited, some extra panels added by unknown artist
"The Theatre Mysteries" #31/05-1947 #26/07-1947 edited, one extra panel added by unknown artist
"The Flame Pearls Pt.1: Attempted Assassination" #2/08-1947 #6/09-1947 edited
"The Flame Pearls Pt.2: Magnetic Island" #6/09-1947 #18/10-1947 edited, missing the strips of June 30 and July 7, 1940
"The Flame Pearls Pt.3: The Three Cows" #25/10-1947 #29/11-1947 edited
"The Swordfish (filler page)" #29/11-1947 #6/12-1947
"The Flame Pearls Pt.4: The Amazons" #13/12-1947 #14/02-1948 edited
"The Flame Pearls Pt.5: The Ghost Ship" #14/02-1948 #22/05-1948 edited
"The Flame Pearls Pt.6: The Witch of Tago" #22/05-1948 #10/07-1948 edited
"The Flame Pearls Pt.7: Land of the Giants" #10/07-1948 #23/10-1948 edited
"The Flame Pearls Pt.8: The Hungry Isles" #30/10-1948 #19/03-1949 edited
"The Singing Devils" #26/03-1949 #16/07-1949
"The Atalan Deep" #23/07-1949 #29/10-1949
"The Twins of Karana" #5/11-1949 #28/01-1950
"Roc Island" #4/02-1950 #29/04-1950
"Kingdom of Marvel" #6/05-1950 #2/12-1950
"The Blue Bandit" #9/12-1950 #24/03-1951
"The Prince Who Never Smiled" #31/03-1951 #5/05-1951
"City of Jewels Pt.1: The Polar Bear Pirates" #12/05-1951 #27/06-1951
"City of Jewels Pt.2: The Ice Demons" #4/07-1951 #22/08-1951
"City of Jewels Pt.3: Conclusion" #29/08-1951 #10/10-1951
"The Raft People" #17/10-1951 #28/11-1951
"Fear Island" #5/12-1951 #6/02-1952
"The Mystery of the Big Trees" #13/02-1952 #16/04-1952
"Jungle Adventure" #23/04-1952 #19/11-1952 in color from #2/07-1952
"The Ghost Whale" #26/11-1952 #14/01-1953
"The Department Store Mystery" #21/01-1953 #25/02-1953
"Curse of the Kavrun Emerald" #4/03-1953 #29/04-1953
"The Venus Flytrap" #6/05-1953 #10/06-1953