Dean John Douglas Alston (born 1950) is an Australian

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

who became the editorial cartoonist of ''

The West Australian ''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, ''The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuousl ...

'' newspaper in 1986.

Biography

Dean Alston was born in

South Perth, Western Australia South Perth is an inner List of Perth suburbs, suburb of Perth, the capital of the Australian state of Western Australia. Its Local government areas of Western Australia, local government area is the City of South Perth. South Perth is separat ...

. He grew up in Mount Pleasant and attended Applecross Senior High School. In 1967 he started a cadetship in

cartography Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...

with

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

's Lands and Surveys Department. In 1980, he bought into the

Carine CARINE (Computer Aided Reasoning Engine) is a first-order classical logic automated theorem prover. It was initially built for the study of the enhancement effects of the strategies delayed clause-construction (DCC) and attribute sequences (ATS) ...

Glades Tavern. He travelled to London via New Zealand and the US, working for British Gas as a cartographer, illustrator and caricaturist. In 1985, Alston was employed by ''

''. He took over as editorial cartoonist the following year. , he is estimated to have published over 14,000 cartoons. He has won numerous awards, including a

Walkley Award The annual Walkley Awards are presented in Australia to recognise and reward excellence in journalism. They cover all media including print, television, documentary, radio, photographic and online media. The Gold Walkley is the highest prize and ...

for Best Cartoon in 1991 and

Stanley Award The Stanley Awards, also known as The Stanleys, are an annual comics award issued by the Australian Cartoonists' Association which recognize the best of Australian cartoonists and cartooning. They are named after Stan Cross and were first organi ...

s for Best Single Gag cartoon in 2003 and 2012.

Controversy

In September 1997 ''The West Australian'' published an Alston cartoon entitled '' Alas Poor Yagan'', which criticised the fact that the return of Yagan's head had become a source of conflict among the

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

, instead of fostering unity. The cartoon could also be interpreted as casting aspersions on the motives and legitimacy of named indigenous people who were humorously identified with mixed racial heritage. The content of the cartoon offended many Aboriginal people. The elder Robert Bropho levelled accusations of

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

against ''The West Australian''. Eventually the

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission The Australian Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution of the Commonwealth of Australia, established in 1986 as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and renamed in 2008. It is a statutory body ...

ruled that the cartoon made inappropriate references to

Noongar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian people who live in the South West, Western Australia, south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton, Western Aus ...

beliefs but did not breach racial discrimination law. This ruling was upheld on appeal by the

Federal Court of Australia The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law (with the exception of family law matters), along with some summary (less serious) and indictable (mo ...

.Federal Court of Australia (2004)
''Bropho v Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission [2004
/nowiki> FCAFC 16''">004">''Bropho v Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission [2004
/nowiki> FCAFC 16'' 6 February 2004

Notes

References

* Scourfield, Stephen (2005), His Nibs, ''The West Magazine'', 3 December 2005. *
Another selection of Alston: cartoons from The West Australian
' / by Dean Alston (1991, ) *
Alston's back: cartoons from The West Australian
' / by Dean Alston (1992, ) *
Chocolate nipples and other delights
' Selected columns of Michele Phillips with illustrations by Dean Alston (1992)

External links

Dean Alston's ''Alas Poor Yagan'' cartoon
from ''The West Australian'' (Saturday 6 September 1997). {{DEFAULTSORT:Alston, Dean Australian editorial cartoonists Artists from Perth, Western Australia 1950 births Living people People educated at Applecross Senior High School The West Australian