PSR 3: Primary Source Report on The Australian Woman’s Mirror
(No. 21, April 19, 1932)
by Blake Rathie
Image
(1924). The Australian woman's mirror. Sydney: The
Bulletin Newspaper. Web. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-557531115
Circulation
What can you find out
about the circulation of the magazine? How would you characterise the
circulation--was it limited, or popular? Can you find out if that was
considered expensive?
Its cover proudly proclaims,
“over 166,000 copies sold every week.” This publication reached a significant portion
of Australia’s population, reaching its peak in 1930, an equivalent of 600,000
in 2017 (Perkins). Its popularity was to its detriment though, as in 1960 Frank
Packer bought the magazine to kill it so that the market would be cleared for
his Australian Women’s Weekly (Perkins).
Editor
It is strange, I
cannot even find the name to the editor, the magazine itself simply refers to
them as “the editor” and that all letters should be worded to them in that
manner as well.
Implied Reader
After studying
thoroughly a single issue of the magazine--ads, articles, stories,
everything--consider its target reader implied by the magazine’s contents: age,
sex, economic class, intellectual class, race, political position, and anything
else that seems important
The implied
readership is within the magazine’s name, Australian women, in particular, middle-class
mothers.
Contents
a. In a single issue,
what kind of content gets the most pages (creative: fiction, poetry, drama,
visual art, music/ critical: cultural, aesthetic, social, political/
informative: travel, biography, history, news)
In a single issue, serials, stories, advice, and
entertainment. The Mirror supplied women in the city and the bush with
conversation material surrounding theatre, art, film, and sport (Perkins).
“It offers dress patterns, recipes and household
hints, but it also includes articles on successful businesswomen and legal tips
for readers. It prides itself on providing common ground for all kinds of women,”
(Perkins).
b. Advertising: Ratio
of advertising to other aspects of the text. What kind of advertising gets the
most space? Anything else significant about advertising?
Out of the magazine’s
68 pages, there are 33 pages of advertising. Not all of these pages are purely
advertising, but it remains that 48% of this issue consists of advertising. The
advertising is targeted towards its feminine audience with feminine products,
such as needlework, women’s clothes, baking products, corsets, face cream, etc.
Format
How many average
pages per issue? Did it use colour? How much? Photography? How
much? How are images used? Do they illustrate stories or
article? If there are illustrations, how do they make the magazine feel?
The Australian Woman’s
Mirror has an average page count in the high 60s, not particularly long. The
page quality seems quite poor, and along with this, the pages are not printed
in colour. Even the covers are simply printed in an alt ink colour such as
blue, yet there remains a consistent monotone of print throughout the magazine.
That said, pictures are hardly used sparingly, on every page there is an
illustration, which makes it very entertaining to go through.
References
Perkins, Cathy. (2017). Nothing is wasted: The 'Mirror's'
writing women. Meanjin, vol. 76 (no. 2), p. 184-194. https://searchinformitcomau.elibrary.jcu.edu.au/documentSummary;dn=041302055314892;res=IELLCC
(1924). The Australian woman's mirror. Sydney:
The Bulletin Newspaper. Web. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-557531115
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