Australian Geographic is a media business that produces the ''Australian Geographic'' and Australian Geographic Adventure magazine, australiangeographic.com.au and operates, either itself or business partners, Australian Geographic stores, Australian Geographic Travel and various other businesses.
''Australian Geographic'' magazine, originally titled ''Dick Smith's Australian Geographic'', is a bi-monthly geographical
journal created by
Dick Smith in 1986.
The magazine focuses mainly on stories about Australia, or about Australian people in other countries. The six editions published each year are available by subscription and on newsstands. They include
poster
A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both typography, textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or w ...
s or sheet
maps in each edition, as well as photographs and detailed technical illustrations.
The entire Australian Geographic magazine archive is available on its website to subscribers.
The profits earned by Australian Geographic Holdings are contributed the Australian Geographic Society which is a registered Australian Charity.
History
The ''Australian Geographic'' magazine, originally titled ''Dick Smith's Australian Geographic'', was initially published by Australian Geographic Pty Ltd, a private company controlled by
Dick Smith, the founder of
Dick Smith Electronics and
Dick Smith Foods. His name was removed from the title two years later. Australian Geographic Pty Ltd also operated the Australian Geographic chain of retail stores. The publication's offices were originally based in
Terrey Hills north of Sydney. Smith wanted the publication to focus on accuracy by exclusively including articles that were peer-reviewed. Australian Geographic acquired rights to the ''
Australian Encyclopaedia'' and published editions in 1988 and 1996. In 1995, when subscriptions totalled more than 200,000, Smith sold the business to
Fairfax Media for A$41 million.
In December 1998, the business was bought out by its management.
From September 2000 to December 2001, ''Australian Geographic'' published a bimonthly science and technology magazine known as ''Newton Graphic Science''. There were, however, only eight issues published before the magazine went permanently out of print.
In November 2006, PBL Media's ACP Magazines (now
Bauer Media Group) purchased the Australian Geographic publishing division.
The ''Australian Geographic'' magazine was then based at Park Street, Sydney. The editor-in-chief of ''Australian Geographic'' was Chrissie Goldrick, while the editor was John Pickrell.
In September 2007, Australian Geographic Retail, which operates an online store and retail stores selling products including
Australiana
Australiana is anything pertaining to Australian culture, society, geography and ecology, especially if it is endemic to Australia or has reached iconic status. It includes people, places, flora, fauna and events of Australian origins. Austr ...
, weather stations,
telescope
A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption, or Reflection (physics), reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally, it was an optical instrument using len ...
s, books and toys, was sold separately to the publication business. From 2007 to 2016 Australian Geographic Retail was owned by Myer Family Investments
but after large operating losses it was sold in August 2016 to
The Co-op, a retail supplier to universities. The license ended in 2019.
In 2018, the publication was sold to
Blue Ant Media. Blue Ant Media subsequently sold all its Australian businesses to RACAT Group, including Australian Geographic and the Sydney-based
Northern Pictures.
Australian Geographic Society Awards
The Australian Geographic Society Adventure Award has been awarded since 1987 and is Australia's longest-running award for adventure. It is judged on merit and therefore not all of the categories are awarded annually. The award ceremony, attended in 2018 by the
Duke
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...
and
Duchess of Sussex,
is a celebration of achievement and is not a competition.
The award is given in five categories – Lifetime of Adventure, Lifetime of Conservation, Adventurer of the Year, Conservationist of the Year, Spirit of Adventure, Young Adventurer of the Year and Young Conservationist of the Year.
Lifetime of Adventure
Lifetime of Conservation
Adventurer of the Year
Conservationist of the Year
Spirit of Adventure Award
Young Adventurer of the Year
Young Conservationist of the Year
See also
*
''Geographic'' magazine
References
* ''Australian Geographic'' 10th Anniversary Collectors Edition No. 40 Oct – Dec 1995
External links
*
Australian Geographic'
{{Blue Ant Media
1986 establishments in Australia
Bi-monthly magazines published in Australia
Geographic magazines
Local interest magazines published in Australia
Magazines established in 1986
Magazines published in Sydney
Quarterly magazines published in Australia
Blue Ant Media