PSR#2 On The Australian Women's Weekly

Primary Source Report on The Australian Women's Weekly by Karla Destéfani

Complete APA 7th Citation

(1934). The Australian Women's Weekly. Trove. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page4604901

Circulation

 The magazine was run by Frank Packer (Australian food of history, n.d.; Trove, n.d.)and it was on the lower end of the price scale 2 d as displayed on the cover of vol.1 no. 31.  This equates to approximately 86c in our present year (https://www.rba.gov.au/calculator/annualPreDecimal.html). The first issue of their weekly releases was in 1933 and during this first year the magazine began running small competitions with cash prizes (Australian food of history, n.d.). The price increased steadily with inflation and popularity. By 1980 it was priced at 50c (approximately $2.18 at present) (Trove, n.d.). 

The magazine is still running to this day. 

Editor(s)

I was unable to find the editor's name on the present issue. 
The magazine has been running for many years and hence has had many editors which have been listed below (Trove, n.d.);
- George Warnecke (1933-39)
- Alice Mabel Jackson (1939-50)
- Esmé (Ezzie) Fenston (1950-72)
- Dorothy Drain (1972-75)
- Ita Buttrose (1975–76)
- Jennifer Rowe (1987-1992).

During this issue of the Australian Women's Weekly George Warnecke was the editor.  He contributed greatly to this early period of the magazine acting as one of its founders (https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A34601). Prior to this endeavour, he was a Sydney Newspaperman (above ref). 

Implied Reader

1933 Issue of the Australian Women's Weekly (NowtoLove, ___).

The target demographic is as clear as the magazine name, it was targetted towards women. Initially, the magazine issues were predominantly targetted towards a woman who ran a household or at least a middle-aged woman, someone relatively "put together" or aiming to be. Within this issue, it can be seen on page 33 wit "A Message to Mothers," or "A Message to Young Wives and Mothers; Natural Breast Feeding is Best," or page 24 which covers "pokerwork" and an advertisement for Dandy Starch for ironing. 

As time passed producers of the magazine noted the increasing percentage of readers under 21 and wanted to begin marketing towards them. In issues from 1954 onwards, the magazine included teenager segments. With this change in marketing which steadily heavily geared towards younger females, the issues by 1974 were said to have 54% of its readership comprised of Australian girls between the ages of 14 to 19 years of age. 

An example of advertisements on page 24 of this issue. 

Focus on contents

The content of the issue

The pages are incredibly dense, with small-sized font and short kerning. 

Page 25 of the Issue. 

The pages tend to alternate between close to entirely being text, and as pictured above a collage of sorts with black and white imagery and dense small paragraphs of text. 

The magazine consists predominantly of advertisements, followed by short stories distributed across multiple pages and how-to guides. The focus in this issue is very much on aesthetics both in physical beauty and in an ideal almost, dare I say, escapist life. 

Advertisements of what?!?

This issue focussed heavily on fashion, "what 

p. 34 dress advert

Social, political and Cultural context of the Australian Women's Weekly: 

The magazine started from 'human beginnings' to "Help with home worries" (NowtoLove, ___), nonetheless, as time progressed the magazine began to expand and become a frontier for women's issues. In 1964 the magazine aired a column on the contraceptive pill, which peaked in circulation numbers. this prompted a consistent column on women's knowledge of sex. Adventurous titles continued throughout the years for instance, "Sex and the Working Woman" in November 1974 (https://trove.nla.gov.au/people/634568). 

Format

According to the trove database, each issue within the first few years had 36 pages. Throughout the entirety of this issue, the pages are black and white. This can be seen in neighbouring issues which is a clear piece of evidence pointing towards the cost of the magazine. On certain pages ink from one side of the page can be seen on the side facing up denoting the paper was likely quite thin - another factor towards a cheaper price. These choices are incredibly understandable as the magazine throughout the ages changed it's content to appeal to the largest possible audience (the magazine was not attempting to be scare and valuable in that sense) and the weekly deadlines. Advertisements are illustrated often in a cartoonish manner which would have taken illustrator less time than creating hyper-realistic representations. These predominantly outline-only images also required less ink to print. There does appear to be photos used throughout the magazine. It has been noted that they are often quite small on the page for instance on page 26, I assume this is due to the ink requirements when printing photos. 

Page 26 of the issue. 

The front cover is an exception to the above, which often featured a full-page photograph or illustration. The 1934 January issue (which has been discussed throughout) is no exception to this, showcases a wonderful, presumably pencil illustration of two women. 

Front page of the issue. 

Usefulness to topic

I intend to discuss consumer culture in relation to women's fashion across classes. In analysing a magazine meant for middle-class/working-class range of women it provides a great comparison point against high-class magazines. 

References

(1934). The Australian Women's Weekly. Trove. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page4604901

Auslit https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A34601

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/fenston-esme-ezzie-10165
 http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/fenston-esme-ezzie-10165

https://australianfoodtimeline.com.au/australian-womens-weekly/

https://www.nowtolove.com.au/celebrity/celeb-news/throwback-covers-a-look-through-history-9304

https://www.rba.gov.au/calculator/annualPreDecimal.html

https://trove.nla.gov.au/people/634568

https://australianfoodtimeline.com.au/australian-womens-weekly/

https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/the-australian-womens-weekly-the-weekly-that-was-20140416-36r5c.html

https://www.nowtolove.com.au/celebrity/celeb-news/throwback-covers-a-look-through-history-9304
https://trove.nla.gov.au/people/634568

https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A34601

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/4604883