Michael Leunig Passes at Age 79
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Australian cartoonist Michael Leunig has passed away at the age of 79. His work appeared in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald for 55 years.
Michael was born in East Melbourne in June 1945. He attended Swinburne Film and Television School with an interest in documentary film. He dipped his toes into editorial cartooning while at Swinburne with a cartoon published in Monash University’s student paper. His first cartoon (below) in The Age was published in September 1969.
His career was dotted with controversial opinions. He opposed the Iraq Invasion in 2003. In 2006, Fairfax Media censored his cartoon criticizing Prime Minister John Howard. He became a critic of Israel and its treatment of Palestinians in Gaza long before it became a recent issue. In 2018, he became a critic of vaccines and he was no longer able to contribute to the Monday edition of The Age after he criticized Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine requirements. His compared resistance to vaccine requirements to the Tank Man in Tiananmen Square (below).
Michael was declared an Australian Living Treasure by the National Trust of Australia in 1999 and awarded honorary degrees from La Trobe and Griffith universities and the Australian Catholic University for his unique contribution to Australian culture.
Cathy Wilcox, president of the Australian Cartoonists Association and a cartoonist for the Sydney Morning Herald paid tribute.
“He flourished in, and somewhat embodied, a golden era in newspaper cartooning.
“He brought a modernity of style and perspective that challenged the blokey ‘larrikin’ masculinity of our culture, introducing poetic vulnerability, whimsy and insight, commenting more about our condition as humans than on the ephemera of daily politics and news.
“As one whose work was deeply personal (while also obscuring of the person), in later years he waged his own battles with social change and fell foul of the polarising identity politics of our time. He did not surrender the stage willingly to younger voices, although to this young aspiring cartoonist years ago he was kind.
“He will be remembered as a great and influential cartoonist, artist, poet and philosopher who clearly lived to draw, as he did so to the very last. Vale.”
The Sydney Morning Herald has published a “A life in pictures” tribute gallery, some of which are posted below.
His final farewell cartoon was published August 30 after The Age laid him off. Michael said he was “sacked.”
Homepage image/portrait credit: National Portrait Gallery.
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