A National Interest in an International Market: The Circulation of Magazines in Australia During the 1920s

Abstract

The presence in Australia of English and American magazines has not attracted significant critical attention in histories of magazines or writing. But the defence of imported magazines at a 1930 Tariff Board Inquiry stresses their importance to Australian magazine culture during the 1920s. This paper considers the evidence presented to the Inquiry in conjunction with the magazine holdings of several libraries and a small news- agency. In the commercial and cultural operations of retailers and lenders a new idea of Australian magazine culture emerges; one that does not reject imported culture, but embraces it as a significant element of its very existence. This article has been peer-reviewed.