PSR 3 - Week 8

 Primary Source Report on The Triad, 1 September 1925.

By Sarah Burke

Circulation

The Triad: A Journal Devoted to Literary, Pictorial, Musical and Dramatic Art. began in New Zealand in 1893 before it moved to Australia in 1914.  The magazine experienced many makeovers during its lifetime, starting out as a self-appointed highbrow entertainment publication, and ending its career as a standardised magazine that also catered towards gambling, sports, and leisure activities.  The New Triad issued in 1927 did not last a more than a year regardless of updated content, and a professional style layout.

Vol. 10, No. 11 released on September 1, 1925, had a cover price of 1 shilling and or $0.10 or $4.16 in current money.  

Fig. 1.  Front cover of The Triad, 1 September 1925.

Editors

            The Triad experienced a comfortable consistency in Editors between 1892 and 1925.  In New Zealand, Charles Nalder Baeyertz edited, published, and contributed to the Triad for twenty-two years.  His move to Sydney in 1913 also bought the Australian version of The Triad to our shores.  He was a talented drama critic who also taught several languages, music and singing, however, he was very anti-modernist which was reflected in some of the offensive articles he published.

            Whilst not an editor, Frank Morton had a long relationship with The Triad as a contributor under various pseudonyms, and with his anti-puritan belief gave lend its unique characteristic.

            In 1925 L. L. Woollacott (q.v) took on editorship, and when Baeyertz sold it to Art in Australia LTD, he retained his position. But he oversaw the decline of the magazine financially.  Art in Australia director Ernest Watt (q.v) appointed himself, and Hugh McCrae as editors, rebranding the name as The New Triad in August 1927, publishing it with new content to compete with magazines in the standards of Home.  The magazine folded a year later,

Implied Reader

            The readership for this magazine was originally targeted at highbrow civic and intellectual male readers who have a disposable income enough to be able to afford the entertainment reviewed or advertised in the magazine.  As part of its exclusiveness, the magazine also sought to exclude. This is confirmed in the first Australian issue of the The Triad Vol. 1 No.1, 10 October 1915, in which the editor  C. N. Baeyertz prints French poetry without transaltion, and clearly states “The Triad is not a paper for female babes or average old women of either sex.” (4) 

            This 1925 issue however, was under the new editorship of L. L. Woollacott, the first of his published, and shows more content aimed at women readers, such as romance stories, advertisements and a dedicated women’s, and children’s section. In Fig. 2 we can read readers contributions that  appear to promote and celebrate women’s modernity.

Fig. 2.  Readers contributions page 49 The Triad, 1 September 1925.

Contents

            This issue was chosen specifically as it seems to take a new direction.  It has eight ‘special articles’ of which three have been written by women.  Five short stories, one written by a woman.  One overseas correspondence by a woman, and of the remaining ten contributions two were women.  Regarding equality of the sexes, this is a marked increase on the first issue, and a large improvement on the initial criticism that the previous editor had on accepting feminine contributions. 

            The contents are varied literary pieces, and art reviews interspersed with critiques from both professionals and readers.  The advertisements range from travel to entertainment, clothing, home goods, vehicles, baby items, and newspaper run competitions.         

Format

            This issue has 64 pages of which seven are in colour, inclusive of the front cover.  The six coloured pages are exclusively advertisements.  The magazine has a contents page.  Each story, new category or special articles is ornately titled with hand-drawn images.

List of Figures. 

Fig. 1. Front cover of The Triad, 1 September 1925. Trove. https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1112862064/view?partId=nla.obj-1113150581#page/n0/mode/1up

Fig. 2. Readers contributions page 49 The Triad, 1 September 1925. Trove. https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1112862064/view?partId=nla.obj-1113173626#page/n9/mode/1up

 

Works Cited

National Library of Australia. “The Triad: a journal devoted to literacy, pictorial, musical and dramatic art.” Trove. https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1112862064/view?partId=nla.obj-1113150581#page/n0/mode/1up. Accessed 18 September 2020.

"Pre-Decimal Inflation Counter." Reserve Bank of Australia, 2020. https://www.rba.gov.au/calculator/annualPreDecimal.html 

The University of Queensland. “The Triad.” AustLit, 10 Nov. 2010, https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C412428. Accessed 18 September 2020.