''Chance International''Chance International , National Library of Australia
nla.gov.au. Retrieved 3 September 2016. was a

men's magazine This is a list of men's magazines from around the world. These are magazines (periodical print publications) that have been published primarily for a readership of men. The list has been split into subcategories according to the target audienc ...

founded in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

in 1966 by Gareth Powell Associates, which was basically

Gareth Powell Gareth Powell (26 May 1934 – 16 September 2016) was a Welsh-born Australian publisher, journalist, author, and editor. During the 1960s, Powell was managing director of two London publishing houses, Mayflower Books and then the New English ...

in association with Jack de Lissa. It used ''Playboy'' and ''Penthouse'' magazines as a model, creating a magazine that

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

had not seen before with both pictures of beautiful unclothed ladies and articles worth reading. The magazine was originally printed in Australia with the Griffin Press in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

but almost immediately switched to

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

as high quality printing at an affordable price was not then available in Australia. In 1968, the Australian customs seized an issue of ''Chance'' at the wharf as it was being imported from Hong Kong on grounds that it was generally obscene and the point was made that it was published without permission, that is, the Customs had not been given a copy to approve before printing. One feature that annoyed and puzzled them was a cartoon strip called ''Barbarella'', later made into a film starring

Jane Fonda Jane Seymour Fonda (born December 21, 1937) is an American actress and activist. Recognized as a film icon, Jane Fonda filmography, Fonda's work spans several genres and over six decades of film and television. She is the recipient of List of a ...

. The judge in the Equity Court in an early hearing ruled against Gareth Powell, and said in his summing up: "I am not sure what ''Barbarella'' was about but I suspect lesbianism." He ordered that issue of the magazine to be destroyed. The dispute was a landmark case. An agreement had been reached, without consulting the plaintiff, that Customs officers would not have to give evidence. If this had not been the case and the customs officers had been made to give evidence, they would have been forced to either commit perjury or accept the magazine was not in breach of community standards. This resulted in the Australian customs, in effect, ceasing to take a moral view on the content of printed matter entering the country. In 1970 Anthony Blackshield, a Senior Lecturer in Jurisprudence and International Law at

Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

, argued:

Whatever the reason, the ''Crowe'' v. ''Graham'' version of community standards has been a major setback to the progress of Australian law. When Mr Justice Hadden decided in 1968 that Gareth Powell's magazine ''Chance'' was obscene (''Chance International Pty. Ltd.'' v. ''Forbes'' (1968) 3 N.S.W. Reports 487), he was widely and publicly derided. But in fact, the precedent of ''Crowe'' v. ''Graham'' left him with little alternative.

''Chance'' was "banned in perpetuity in two states, Queensland and Victoria". In the early 1970s, Gareth Powell sold ''Chance'', and other magazines he published including '' POL'', and moved his operations to

. ''Chance International'' published works by some of Australia's best young photographers, such as

Rennie Ellis Reynolds Mark Ellis (11 November 194019 August 2003) was an Australian social and social documentary photographer. He also worked, at various stages of his life, as an advertising copywriter, seaman, lecturer, television presenter and founder o ...

, and was in many ways a breakthrough publication for Australia in terms of printing quality, photography and design. The magazine also published articles and short stories from new authors of note such as

Frank Moorhouse Frank Thomas Moorhouse (21 December 1938 – 26 June 2022) was an Australian writer who won major national prizes for the short story, the novel, the essay and for script writing. His work has been published in the United Kingdom, France and t ...

, Kit Denton, Gwen Kelly, Robert Williamson and Karl Shoemaker. Writer and critic

Michael Wilding Michael Charles Gauntlet Wilding (23 July 1912 – 8 July 1979) was an English stage, television, and film actor. He is best known for a series of films he made with Anna Neagle; he also made two films with Alfred Hitchcock, '' Under Capric ...

would later record that "mavericks ... Jack de Lissa, Ron Smith and later Gareth Powell had been publishing good, exciting and new fiction in ''Squire'', ''Casual'' and ''Chance International'' in the late 60s" and added that "

hose magazines A hose is a flexible hollow tube or pipe designed to carry fluids from one location to another, often from a faucet or hydrant. Early hoses were made of leather, although modern hoses are typically made of rubber, canvas, and helically wound wi ...

provided outlets for the new writing" as " eir editors didn't have that orientation to particular traditions of the short story that the literary magazines seemed stuck to."Michael Wilding, "Tabloid Story" in:

Bruce Bennett Bruce Bennett (born Harold Herman Brix, also credited Herman Brix; May 19, 1906 – February 24, 2007) was an American film and television actor who was a college athlete in football and in intercollegiate and international track-and-field co ...

, ed., ''Cross Currents: Magazines and Newspapers in Australian Literature'', Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 1981, p. 228. ''Chance International'' became defunct in 1971.

References

{{Reflist

External links

* Jenny England
Collecting Men's Magazines
lifestyle.com.au. * Christopher Wright
Nudes by Chance
f095.wordpress.com, 4 September 2012.

www.johnbuckley.com.au. * Tiffany Blatchford
Gareth Powell arrives at Blorge
in ''Media News'', 14 January 2009.

publishinghistory.com - Front cover image of ''Chance'' 1966 establishments in Australia 1971 disestablishments in Australia Australian humour Men's magazines published in Australia Monthly magazines published in Australia Defunct magazines published in Australia English-language magazines Magazines established in 1966 Magazines disestablished in 1971 Magazines published in Sydney Mass media in Adelaide