The Australian Women's Weekly

Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Australian English Template:Infobox magazine The Australian Women's Weekly, sometimes known simply as The Weekly, is an Australian monthly women's magazine published by Are Media in Sydney and founded in 1933.<ref name="Mumbrella June 2020">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="AFR 19 June 2020">Template:Cite news</ref> For many years it was the number one magazine in Australia before being outsold by the Australian edition of Better Homes and Gardens in 2014.<ref name="roymorgan1"/> Template:As of, The Weekly has overtaken Better Homes and Gardens again, coming out on top as Australia's most read magazine.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The magazine invested in the 2020 film I Am Woman about Helen Reddy, singer and feminist icon.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

History and profileEdit

The magazine was started in 1933 by Frank Packer and Ted Theodore as a weekly publication. The first editor was George Warnecke and the initial dummy was laid out by William Edwin Pidgeon who went on to do many famous covers over the next 25 years.<ref>Spearritt, Peter (2012). "Pidgeon, William Edwin (Wep) (1909–1981)". Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 18. Melbourne University Press. Online version Retrieved 29 September 2016.</ref> It was to have two distinctive features; firstly, the newspaper's features would have an element of topicality, and secondly the magazine would appeal to all Australian women, regardless of class, and have a national focus. Wanting it to appeal to a mass audience, Warnecke hoped The Weekly would be a sign that Australia finally was coming out of the Depression.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Jean Williamson was hired (moving from the Sydney Morning Herald) where she was surprised to find that she was the editor for "fiction". Soon letters were arriving from women who were obviously lonely and light fiction brought them comfort.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

In the coming decades, The Weekly became Australia's foremost publisher of light fiction, mostly from England but also Australian, and though its readership was mostly women, many men were avid readers. Australian authors who were well supported include Margot Neville, Mary Gilmore, Lennie Lower, Ross Campbell, Frank Dalby Davison and Henrietta Drake-Brockman. Australian artists who enlivened the prose included W. E. Pidgeon, Virgil Reilly and Wynne W. Davies.<ref name=Oxford>Template:Cite book</ref> The cartoon strip Mandrake the Magician was a longtime competitor to The Phantom in rival magazine The Australian Woman's Mirror. Both strips were the work of American cartoonist Lee Falk. From 1955-1959 the magazine awarded a contemporary art prize.<ref name=Warren2018>Template:CiteQ</ref>

By 1961, the publication had a circulation of 800,000.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The Weekly celebrated its 50th anniversary of publication in June 1983 and its 75th anniversary in the October 2008 issue was published by then Editor-in-Chief Robyn Foyster. The silver foil cover featured Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman with an exclusive interview about their upcoming film, 'Australia'. The 75th Birthday was marked with an anniversary party of 75 VIP guests at Fort Denison in Sydney. Robyn also re-introduced The Australian Women's Weekly Book Club which was launched at an event in Sydney in 2008 by award-winning writer Di Morrissey, who had begun her career as a cadet at The Australian Women's Weekly. Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL) launched Women's Weekly versions in Singapore (1997) and Malaysia in 2000. The magazine in each country follows the Australian WeeklyTemplate:'s writing style, while its content is idiosyncratic to the country. In 2012 the parent company of the magazine, ACP Magazines, a subsidiary of Nine Entertainment, was acquired by the Bauer Media Group.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="smh"/> Audited circulation under Nene King was 980,000. The 60th anniversary edition sold in excess of one-million. Audited circulation in June 2013 was 459,175 copies monthly.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Readership numbers for September 2014 were estimated to be 1,828,000.<ref name="roymorgan1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In mid-June 2020, the Sydney–based investment company Mercury Capital acquired The Australian Women's Weekly as part of its acquisition of Bauer Media's Australian and New Zealand magazine brands.<ref name="Mumbrella June 2020" /><ref name="AFR 19 June 2020" /> In late September 2020, Mercury Capital rebranded Bauer Media as Are Media, which took over publication of the Woman's Weekly.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="StopPress 2020">Template:Cite news</ref>

Cultural impactEdit

The overall popularity of the magazine between the 1930s–1980s meant that articles and advertisements published in it were widely read across Australia, not only by women, but men as well.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The magazine's power to influence and shape culture across the nation intersected with the rise of various women's and parenting issues. In a review of issues published between the 1930s–1980s, historians have argued that The Australian Women's Weekly promoted school uniforms for children at a time when school uniforms were not mandatory across the country.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> This promotion, mainly through targeted coverage of school aged children, shaped views of motherhood and child-rearing throughout Australia. Publications in the magazine focused on products, children's fashion, and celebrity children continue to shape readers views of motherhood and child-rearing.

Format and frequencyEdit

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

In 1982, publication frequency was reduced from weekly to monthly.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> "Weekly" was retained in the name for reasons of familiarity and because a woman's "monthly" was a slang term for menstruation. The final weekly edition was dated 15 December 1982,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> followed by the first monthly edition dated January 1983. The TV guide was discontinued on introduction of the monthly format.

EditorsEdit

Editors-in-chief of The Weekly over the years have included George Warnecke (1933–1939),<ref>Bridget Griffen-Foley, Warnecke, Glen William ('George') (1894–1981), Australian Dictionary of Biography, anu.edu.au. Retrieved 2 October 2020.</ref> Alice Mabel Jackson (1939–1950),<ref>Heather Radi, Jackson, Alice Mabel (1887–1974), Australian Dictionary of Biography, anu.edu.au. Retrieved 2 October 2020.</ref> Esmé (Ezzie) Fenston (1950–1972),<ref>Valerie Lawson, Fenston, Esmé (Ezzie) (1908–1972), Australian Dictionary of Biography, anu.edu.au. Retrieved 2 October 2020.</ref> Dorothy Drain (1972–1975), Ita Buttrose (1975–76),<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Jennifer Rowe (1987–1992),<ref>"How the quest was won", The Sydney Morning Herald, 11 July 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2020.</ref> Nene King, Dawn Swain (1994–2000), Deborah Thomas (1999–2015), Julia Zaetta (2005–06), Robyn Foyster (2007–2009),<ref>Robyn Foyster, linked.com. Retrieved 1 October 2020.</ref> Helen McCabe (2009–2016),<ref>"Former Australian Women's Weekly editor Helen McCabe moves to Nine", The Sydney Morning Herald, 11 July 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2020.</ref> Kim Wilson (2016–17), Juliet Rieden (who was acting Editor-in-Chief in 2016 and 2017 and then Editor before moving to Editor-at-Large from 2018) and Nicole Byers (2017–2023) and Sophie Tedmanson was appointed as the new Editor in October 2023.

Robyn Foyster, the editor-in-chief from 2007 to 2009 and later Group Publisher at ACP and Bauer, put Barack and Michelle Obama on the cover of the January, 2009, edition to mark Barack Obama becoming the first black President of the United States. The Obama's were also the first black cover stars of The Weekly. Helen McCabe, the editor-in-chief from August 2009 until January 2016,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> claimed to improve The WeeklyTemplate:'s news coverage. She told The Australian she would not cover <ref>Prince William's</ref>Prince William trip to Australia because he refused to give an interview to the magazine.

In late 2009, she hired Juliet Rieden as deputy editor (Rieden was later promoted to Editor and Acting Editor-in-Chief) and Jordan Baker, formerly a reporter and travel writer for The Sydney Morning Herald, as news editor.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In February 2016 Kim Wilson was named as the editor-in-chief of the magazine.<ref name="smh">Template:Cite news</ref>

In July 2017, Nicole Byers was appointed Editor-in-Chief.<ref name="Mumbrella">Template:Cite news</ref>

News editors included Les Haylen (from 1933) and Dorothy Drain (from 1958). Nicole Byers stepped down from the role in October 2023 and was replaced by Sophie Tedmanson.

Being editor of The Weekly is often lauded as one of the most prestigious roles in Australian media.

Recipes and cookbooksEdit

The Australian Women's Weekly Test Kitchen (then known as the Leila Howard Test Kitchen) was established just after World War I. From 1965, it continued to be on the same site of the Australian Consolidated Press (ACP) building (corner of Park and Castlereagh Streets) in Sydney. The Test Kitchen's first 'Best Ever' recipes compilation was published in 1976, collating the most-requested recipes from the issues of the Weekly.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The cookbook sold out in days and had many reprints.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The Test Kitchen had a team of 16 people in 2006, comprising chefs, home economists, food editors and support staff.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 2012, ACP was sold to Bauer Media Group. The Test Kitchen triple-tests recipes which are then published in the magazine, as well as Woman's Day and the AWW cookbooks. Surveys have shown that over 90 per cent of readers buy the magazine for the recipes.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

Template:Official website
Bauer Media
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Pat Buckridge 'Good Reading in The Australian Women's Weekly 1933–1970, JASAL 1 2002
Women's Weekly Singapore Edition Official Website
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Jackson, Sally Cost-cutting at mags over: Law The Australian 12 Oct 2009 pp 30, 32 (Retrieved 17 February 2010)
The Australian Women's Weekly Index on Research Data Australia

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