Darren Pracy collection of cartoons, mostly drawn for The Sun, Sydney, ca. 1976-1984

PXA 1294

fonds

ca. 1976-1984

Graphic Materials, Textual Records, Objects, Drawings, Ephemera, Photographs

936815

Approximately 1000 drawings (6 boxes) - chiefly black and white
Textual material
2 photographs - colour
1 badge

Darren Pracy, a cartoonist, was born in Sydney in 1962. Educated at Hurlstone Agricultural High School, after leaving school he was employed as a cadet artist at the Daily Mirror, becoming a graded press artist within his three years of employment. In December 1980 he joined The Sun newspaper in Sydney, where aged 18 he was the youngest Editorial Cartoonist in Australia.

Pracy published two books of his cartoons Pracy: draw your own conclusion (1982) and Hawke, line and sinker (1983). In 1982 he became the only Australian to be made a member of the National Cartoonist Society of America. Other publications he worked for included the National Review and MAD magazine. In early 1984, Pracy was awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Trust grant to study cartooning in Britain and the United States.

Pracy's trademark was a Gladstone bag which he hid in his cartoons and a budgerigar who commented on the news. They also often featured a ginger striped cat. He died suddenly at his desk at The Sun newspaper on 19 September 1984, aged 22. His last Sun cartoon, drawn on 19 September 1984 and published the following day, was a comment on Andrew Peacock being banned from a TV show. A third book of his cartoons The Best of Pracy was published in 1985.

References:
Pracy : draw your own conclusion : a collection of cartoons / by the Sydney Sun's cartoonist, Darren Pracy. Sydney : Dynatron Projects, [1984?]
St George and Sutherland Shire Leader, 17 December 1985, p. 2
Design and Art Australia Online (DAAO). http://www.daao.org.au/ (accessed August 3, 2011)
Library correspondence file

Collection of approximately 1000 cartoons, mostly black and white, drawn on paper, card and board.
The cartoons mostly relate to news events of the period, and subjects include politicians including Bob Hawke, Paul Keating, John Howard, Malcolm Fraser, Neville Wran, Andrew Peacock, and Gough Whitlam; the economy; politics and government; social issues; and sport including rugby league, cricket, and the America's Cup.
The majority of cartoons were drawn for The Sun newspaper (1980-1984).
Collection also includes correspondence, working sketches and drawings, photographs, and ephemera.

BOX 1
Includes photographs (2) of Darren Pracy; correspondence of Darren Pracy with Paul Rigby, with cartoons by Pracy, and comments and sketches by Rigby, ca. 1977-1978; correspondence of Darren Pracy with various people he met on an overseas visit, 1984; media information for the launch of “The Best of Pracy”; cartoons on travel, New York, Chicago, Hawaii, and AAEC [i.e. Association of American Editorial Cartoonists] Convention; AAEC badge; self-portraits and portraits of Pracy by artists including Paul Zanetti; portrait probably of Darren Pracy signed Aragon ’80 [Edd Aragon?]; photocopies of Nutty Nature Study by Mike Fallon & Darren Pracy; correspondence from Bill Thailing with MAD working sketches by Don Martin and Sergio Aragones, 1983; and cartoons and working sketches.

BOX 2
Cartoons with promotions for “Hawke Line and Sinker” and “Draw your own conclusion”; cartoons by Pracy with AAEC label verso; cartoons including “Pracy’s week” and cartoons drawn for The Sun; stabilization prints of cartoons; and coloured artwork probably for birthday and Christmas cards.

BOX 3
Cartoons, mostly drawn for The Sun newspaper, 1980-1984

BOX 4
Cartoons, mostly drawn for The Sun newspaper, 1980-1984

BOX 5
Cartoons, mostly drawn for The Sun newspaper, 1980-1984

BOX 6
Cartoons, some dated 1977

Copyright status:: In copyright - This collection has multiple rights owners

Most of the cartoons in this collection have been produced on Grafix Duoshade board

Many of the cartoons show evidence of deterioration including discolouration, bleed through on reverse of cartoons, and fading