Australia’s favourite larrikin Ginger Meggs turns 100 this birthday.
Our countries longest running comic strip reveals the rich history of Australia’s culture and history, as seen through the eyes of the much-loved character Ginger Meggs.
Ginger Meggs was born in 1921 through the eyes of Sydney artist James ‘Jimmy’ Bancks. The character was based on Bancks’s best friend, Charlie Somerville. The latter was a resident of the Sydney suburb of Hornsby, who went on to become a businessman and councillor. After Bancks’s death, there was a year’s worth of strips to run while another artist was found.
Unlike the rest of us Ginger has had many fathers. Firstly, Jimmy Bancks and then his successors, Ron Vivian, Lloyd Piper, James Kemsley, and current artist Jason Chatfield.
Unlike the majority of successful comic strips still in circulation, such as the United States’ Hagar the Horrible, Garfield and Peanuts, Ginger Meggs is uniquely Australian. Ginger’s trademark red hair, shorts and shoes, and boyish charms gained iconic status in Australian popular culture.
First appearing in the Us Fellers comic strip on the pages of Sydney’s Sunday Sun newspaper in 1921, the comic skyrocketed in popularity, resonating with generations of Australians.
Us Fellers
The comic’s appearance in United Kingdom newspaper London Express made it the first Australian strip to appear in a British national daily paper; locally Ginger Meggs has appeared in publications including the Sunday Telegraph, Sydney Morning Herald and Illawarra Mercury.
‘I was always a huge fan of Ginger Meggs. I grew up in Perth and would read the strip every day in The West Australian,’ said current artist Chatfield.
‘The thing that separates Meggs from the rest of the world is that he’s the epitome of the Aussie larrikin. He can be cheeky, sarcastic or trouble-stirring, but ultimately, he has a good heart.
The strips themselves also chart how each decade of the comic strip reflected Australia’s culture and history – through the lens of a 10 year old whose world continued to keep pace with the real world.
Ginger Meggs Through The Ages
Ginger and his family battled through the Great Depression, crossed the Harbour Bridge in 1932, and even met Sir Donald Bradman. Later, Ginger was drawn on Australian World War II airplanes and appeared in the troop’s newspaper. In the 1950s Ginger was used in road safety campaigns and he entered the Space Age in the 1960s.
‘The strip has inadvertently become a time-capsule of Australian life over the last 100 years,’ said Chatfield. ‘You look at strips from the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s where he’s referring to dark skinned and Asian people in the colloquialisms that were so common in Sydney back then, and it would get you fired today!’
‘The main reason I think he’s remained so resilient and relevant is the fact that no matter what era he’s being written and drawn in, he remains truly the same Aussie larrikin character that people love to identify with,’ said Chatfield.
Ginger Meggs made it to the big screen in 1982 with little Box Office success and also was adapted into a stage musical which has been running since the early 1990s, distributed by David Spicer Productions.
In 1985, a postage stamp honouring Ginger or his creator was issued by Australia Post as part of a set of five commemorating children’s books.
On 1 July 2011, the Perth Mint released a commemorative 1oz Silver Australian $1 coin to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Ginger Meggs. The coin features an homage to James C. Bancks’ 1945 Sunbeams Annual (Series 22) cover, which featured Ginger Meggs on the back of a kangaroo with his dog, Mike and his pet monkey, Tony. The obverse portrays the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the 2011 year-date and is issued as legal tender under the Australian Currency Act 1965. The coin was designed by current Ginger Meggs cartoonist, Jason Chatfield.
The strip remains the most widely syndicated Australian comic strip today, appearing in over 120 newspapers in 34 countries. In 1997, a park in Valley Road, Hornsby, was officially named Ginger Meggs Park. Bancks had spent much time in the area during his childhood.
