The Australian Cartoonists Association Web Site

Jimmy Bancks
BANCKS, Jim (James) Charles, b. Enmore NSW 1889, d. Sydney NSW 1952 - artist/cartoonist. Bancks' first job as an artist was on The Bulletinwhere he worked for eight years before working for The Sun. He started a number of comic strips The Blimps 1923, Mr Melbourne Day by Day in 1925. Drew Us Fellers in 1921, changed name to Ginger Meggs 1939. Bancks was the political cartoonist for the Evening Sun in Melbourne 1923-25 and became Australia's highest paid black-and-white artist, receiving 80 pounds a week in the 1930s. After Jimmy Bancks, Ginger Meggs was drawn by Ron Vivian, then Lloyd Piper, James Kemsley and Jason Chatfield. Ginger Meggs was adapted into a feature film by Jonathan Dawson in 1982.

Stan Cross
CROSS, STAN (Stanley) b. Los Angeles USA 1888, d. Armidale NSW 1977 - artist/cartoonist/author. Cross started work in Perth at the WA Railways Department while drawing freelance for Sunday Times, Western Mail and the United Licensed Victuallers Association Journal.He moved to Smith's Weekly 1919 at 5 pounds a week. He drew a number of comic strips The Vauderilleans, You and Me (1920) name changed toThe Potts, Dad and Dave and in July 1933 drew what is said to be 'the funniest joke ever produced in Australia with some people chiming it to be 'the all-rime world's best' - 'For gor'sake stop laughing, this is serious!' He was the second artist to join the paper and became the third art director and was said to be one of the highest paid artist working in Australian media. After falling out with the management Cross left Smith's at the end of 1939 and was quickly offered work with The Herald in Melbourne by Keith Murdoch. There he drew a new comic The Winks (1940) but it was soon modified and the name changed to Wally and the Major. Black and White Artists' Club president 1931-54, and considered by many to be one of Australia's greatest newspaper artists. He also wrote books on accountancy, economics and English grammar. Cross continued to draw Wally and the Major until failing eyesight forced him to get help with the drawings early in 1970. Carl Lyon started to ink in Cross' pencil drawings. Later Lyon took over all the drawing with Cross writing the stories. Eventually Lyon took over completely and Cross retired late in the year. He died in Armidale, NSW on 16 June 1977 at the age of 89. The ACA's annual Stanley Awards are named after him.

Will Dyson
DYSON, HENRY WILLIAM (Will) b. Alfredtown Vic 1880, d. London 1938, brother of Edward and Ambrose, married Ruby Lindsay (who drew under the name of Ruby Lind) 1910, sister of Norman Lindsay. Starred contributing drawings to The Bulletin 1897 along withThe Gadfly in Adelaide. Succeeded his elder brother on the AdelaideCritic in 1903. Also contributed to the Clarion, Melbourne Punch andTable Talk. Left Australia 1910 for London and was appointed cartoonist-in-chief on the Daily Herald quickly became recognised as one of the best cartoonists in Europe. In 1915 became an official Australian war artist. Returned to Australia 1925 worked on The Heraldin Melbourne. Returned to England 1930 to work on The Herald until he died in 1938. 

George Finey
FINEY, GEORGE b. Auckland New Zealand 1895, d. Blue Mountains NSW 1987. Arrived in Sydney 1919, joined the art staff Smith's Weekly in 1922. He became one of the most famous black and white artists working in Australia and was considered by Stan Cross to be the greatest of Australia's newspaper artists. After leaving Smith's he turned to painting and political cartooning in the 1940s for the Daily Telegraph in Sydney. Not long after WW2 ended he had an exhibition of paintings in Japan. In 1978 he had a retrospective at the Sydney Opera House and his last exhibition of paintings was in the Blue Mountains. 

Percy Leason
LEASON, PERCIVAL ALEXANDER, b. Kaniva, Vic, 1889, d. New York 1959 painter/cartoonist/illustrator and teacher. Apprenticed in lithographic drawing for five years' joined the advertising firm of Smith & Julius in Sydney 1917. Engaged by The Bulletin to replace David Low as a political cartoonist before moving to Melbourne Punch and Table Talk returning to The Bulletin in the late 1920s. Went to America 1938 and became a successful illustrator and taught at the Staten Island Institute of Art and Science. 

Pat Oliphant
Patrick Bruce "Pat" Oliphant (b. July 24, 1934 in Adelaide, South Australia) is the most widely syndicated political cartoonist in the world, described by the New York Times as "the most influential cartoonist now working". His trademark is a small penguin character named Punk, who is often seen making a sarcastic comment about the subject of the panel. Oliphant's career, which spans over fifty years, began in 1952 as a copyboy with The News in Adelaide. He continued in the newspaper business in Australia until he emigrated to the United States in 1964. Once in the U.S., he first worked at The Denver Post. His strip was nationally syndicated and internationally syndicated in 1965. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 1967 for his February 1, 1966 cartoon They Won't Get Us To The Conference Table ... Will They?. Oliphant moved to the now defunct Washington Star for six years, until the paper folded in 1981. Oliphant's work has appeared in several exhibitions, most notably at the National Portrait Gallery. He has also crafted a series of small sculptures based on his caricatures of various political figures, which have been displayed alongside his drawings in some exhibitions. In addition to winning the Pulitzer Prize, Oliphant won the National Cartoonist Society Editorial Cartoon Award seven times in 1971, 1973, 1974, 1984, 1989, 1990, and 1991, the Reuben Award twice in 1968 and 1972 and the Thomas Nast Prize.