Australian Geographic

Australian Geographic is a media business that produces the Australian Geographic magazine, DMag magazine, specialist book titles, travel guides, diaries and calendars and online media. It published editions of the Australian Encyclopaedia. It previously operated the Australian Geographic retail chain stores and Australian Geographic Travel and Australian Geographic Adventures.

Australian Geographic

Frequency	Bimonthly
Founder	Dick Smith
Year founded	1986
Company	Northern Pictures (Blue Ant Media)
Country	Australia
Website	www.australiangeographic.com.au

Australian Geographic store in Emporium Melbourne

Australian Geographic magazine, originally titled Dick Smith's Australian Geographic, is a bi-monthly geographical journal created by Dick Smith in 1986.[1] The magazine focuses mainly on stories about Australia, or about Australian people in other countries. The six editions published each year are available by subscription and on newsstands. They include posters or sheet maps in each edition, as well as photographs and detailed technical illustrations.

Australian Geographic also has a website that includes the entire magazine digital archive.[2]

Each year, a portion of the profits is provided to the Australian Geographic Society.[3]

History

The Australian Geographic magazine, originally titled Dick Smith's Australian Geographic, was initially published by Australian Geographic Pty Ltd, a private company controlled by Dick Smith, the founder of Dick Smith Electronics and Dick Smith Foods. His name was removed from the title two years later. Australian Geographic Pty Ltd also operated the Australian Geographic chain of retail stores.[4] The publication's offices were originally based in Terrey Hills north of Sydney. Smith wanted the publication to focus on accuracy by exclusively including articles that were peer-reviewed. Australian Geographic acquired rights to the Australian Encyclopaedia and published editions in 1988 and 1996. In 1995, when subscriptions totalled more than 200,000, Smith sold the business to Fairfax Media for A$41 million.[5]

In December 1998, the business was bought out by its management.[6]

From September 2000 to December 2001, Australian Geographic published a bimonthly science and technology magazine known as Newton Graphic Science. There were, however, only eight issues published before the magazine went permanently out of print.

In November 2006, PBL Media's ACP Magazines (now Bauer Media Group) purchased the Australian Geographic publishing division.[6] The Australian Geographic magazine was then based at Park Street, Sydney. The editor-in-chief of Australian Geographic was Chrissie Goldrick, while the editor was John Pickrell.

In September 2007, Australian Geographic Retail, which operates an online store and retail stores selling products including Australiana, weather stations, telescopes, books and toys, was sold separate to the publication business. From 2007 to 2016 Australian Geographic Retail was owned by Myer Family Investments[6] but after large operating losses it was sold in August 2016 to The Co-op, a retail supplier to universities.[7]

In 2018, the publication was sold to Sydney-based Northern Pictures, a television production company owned by Blue Ant Media.[8]

Awards

The Australian Geographic Society Adventure Award has been awarded since 1987 and is Australia's longest-running award for adventure.[9] It is judged on merit and therefore not all of the categories are awarded annually. The award ceremony, attended in 2018 by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex,[10] is a celebration of achievement and is not a competition.[11] The award is given in two categories – Adventurer of the Year, and Young Adventurer of the Year.

Adventurer of the Year

Year	Awardee	Achievement
2018	Steve Plain	Climbed the world's seven continent summits – Vernon, Aconcagua, Kilimanjaro, Carstensz, Elbrus, Denali and Everest – in just four months following a near-fatal injury.[12]
2017	Sandy Robson	Kayaker who successfully traveled from Germany to Australia, drawing attention to the state of our oceans along the way.[13]
2016	Michael Smith	The first person to solo circumnavigate the world in a single-engine flying boat.[14]
2015	John Jacoby, Chris Porter, Andrew Maffett and Jim Bucirde	Sea Kayak circumnavigators of the subantarctic island of South Georgia.[15]
2014	Jason Beachcroft	The first person to kayak around Australia, incorporating Tasmania into the route.[16]
2013	Tim Jarvis	Leading the re-enactment expedition of Shackleton's epic 1916 journey.[17]
2012	Pat Farmer	Marathon running from the North to the South poles.[18]
2010	Linda Beilharz	First Australian woman to walk to the North and South poles.[19][20]
2009	Andrew Lock	Mountaineer who successfully climbed all fourteen of the tallest +8000m peaks in the world.[21]
2008	Jozef Truban	Trekked 3100 km across the Carpathian Mountains in 2007.[22]
2007	Lloyd Godson	Survived in a self-contained underwater habitat "the BioSUB" for 12 days.[23][24]
2006	Tim Cope	Travelled by horse from Mongolia to Hungary on the trail of nomads during 2004–2007.[25][26][27][28]
2005	Andrew McAuley	Paddled across the Gulf of Carpentaria in 2004 in a kayak.[29][30][31]
2004	Jon Johanson	First solo flight over the South Pole in a single-engine home-built aircraft.[32]
2003	Sue Fear	First Australian-born woman to climb Mount Everest.
2002	Jon Muir	First ever unassisted crossing of Australia in 128 days, from Port Augusta to Burketown.[33] Muir has also summitted Mount Everest in 1988, and has walked to both the south (1999) and north (2002) poles.[33][34]
2001	Tammy van Wisse	First person to swim the entire length of the Murray River in Australia.[35]
2000	Dick Smith	Flew a balloon across the Tasman Sea from New Zealand to Australia.[36]
1999	David Mason	Walked solo across Australia from Byron Bay to Steep Point in 1998.[37]
1998	David Lewis	Completed the world's first circumnavigation of the planet in multi-hull vessel.[38][39]
1997	Syd Kirkby	First man to venture into the Prince Charles Mountains in Antarctica with sled dogs during 1956–57.[40]
1996	Don & Margie McIntyre	Married couple who spent a year living in a tent in Antarctica.[41][42]
1995	Denis Bartell	Walked across Australia in 1984, and became the first person to walk solo across the width of the Simpson Desert.[43][44]
1994	Len Beadell	Completed the Woomera town survey, and supervised the construction of +6500 km of roads in outback Australia.[45][46]
1993	Warwick Deacock	Organised the first Australian climbing expedition of Annapurna III in the Himalayas during 1980.[47][48][49]
1992	Ron and Valerie Taylor	Became the first people to film Great White Sharks underwater in 1992 without the protection of a cage.[50][51]
1991	Warren Bonython	Walked across the Simpson Desert in 1973, and largely contributed to the formation of the Heysen Trail.[52][53][54]
1990	Hans Tholstrup	First maritime circumnavigation of Australia in an open boat, and first to cross Australia in a solar powered car.
1989	Dot Butler	Conservationalist, mountaineer, explorer, and long-distance cyclist.[55]
1988	Philip Law	Scientist and Antarctic explorer.
1987	Colin Putt	Antarctic explorer and mountaineer. Amongst the first to summit Big Ben on Heard Island (Australia's Tallest Mountain).[56]

Young Adventurer of the Year

Year	Awardee	Achievement
2017	Sam Mitchell	First traverse of the Canning Stock Route unsupported and using an electric fat bike. The bicycle was powered by a trailer carrying solar panels.[57]
2016	Jade Hameister	Became the youngest person in history to ski to the north pole.[58]
2015	Danielle Murdoch	Completed a 4-year motorcycle journey.[59]
2014	Belinda Ritchie	Completed a 12-month trek on horseback along the Bicentennial National Trail.[60]
2013	Ryan Campbell	Broke the World record for the youngest pilot to circumnavigate the globe solo in a single engine aircraft.[61]
2012	Lachie Carracher	Whitewater kayaked in some of Australia's mightiest rivers, as well as those snaking through Canada, China, Laos, Nepal, Uganda, Switzerland, Sumatra, USA, the UK and Mexico.[62]
2010	Jessica Watson	The youngest person ever to sail around the world solo and unassisted.[63]
2009	Angus Paradice	Paradice completed two challenging horse races in Mongolia at the age of 13.[64][65]
2008i	James Castrission	Completed the world's first Trans-Tasman kayak expedition from Australia to New Zealand with Justin Jones.[66][67]
2008ii	Justin Jones	Completed the world's first Trans-Tasman kayak expedition from Australia to New Zealand with James Castrission.
2007	Rex Pemberton	Third youngest person in the world to climb the seven summits.[68][69][70]
2006i	Stephen Fordyce	Completed a mid-winter traverse of the Western Arthurs range in Southwest Tasmania with Roger Chao.[71]
2006ii	Roger Chao	Completed a mid-winter traverse of the Western Arthurs range in Southwest Tasmania with Stephen Fordyce.
2005	Rex Pemberton	Youngest Australian to ever climb Mount Everest at the age of 21.[68]
2004i	Chris Bray	Walked from Port Davey to Strahan around 300 km of coastline with Jasper Timm.
2004ii	Jasper Timm	Walked from Port Davey to Strahan around 300 km of coastline with Chris Bray.
2003	Christopher Harris	Youngest person to attempt Mount Everest.
2002	Tim Cope	Cycled across Russia, Siberia, Mongolia, and China in 1999; and paddled the length of the Yenisey River in 2001.
2001i	Jeremy Richardson	unknown
2001ii	Jarlath Weingott	unknown
2001iii	Angus Weingott	unknown
2000	Krista Bernard	Cycled solo from Indonesia to England in 2000.
1999	not conferred	not conferred
1998	Chris Hatherly	Hatherly rode a bike around Australia in 11.5 months during 1996.
1997	David Dicks	unknown
1996i	Mark Shearer	unknown
1996ii	Eric Croker	unknown
1995	not conferred	unknown
1994i	Damon Howes	Spent a year near the Wanderer River on the South West coast of Tasmania with Deanne Howes.
1994ii	Deanne Howes	Spent a year near the Wanderer River on the South West coast of Tasmania with Damon Howes.
1993	not conferred	not conferred
1992i	James Woodford	unknown
1992ii	Adam Kerezsy	unknown
1991	Jeremy Durbin	unknown
1990	John Weir	unknown
1989	Richard Wood	Paddled the entirety of the Murray River in a kayak.

See also

• Geographic magazine

References

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• Australian Geographic 10th Anniversary Collectors Edition No. 40 Oct – Dec 1995

External links

• Australian Geographic