Ginger Meggs
One of the wonderful, unique joys of growing up in Australia is a cartoon phenomenon named Ginger Meggs. Ginger has been Australia's most popular comic strip since the early 1920s and it’s still got legs today because Ginge, or Meggsie is a genuine Australian institution. If there’s an equivalent to Ginger in other countries, I haven’t found it. For a century, any red-headed kid gets the name Ginge, or perhaps Meggsie, whatever his mother christened him.
Ginger’s omnipresence has been recognised in films, on stages, on a postage stamp and even on our nation’s currency! The coin was designed by current (and 5th) Ginger Meggs cartoonist, Jason Chatfield. Queen Elizabeth II is in good company with Meggsie gracing the obverse! The Meggsie was issued as legal tender in 2011.
The Ginger Meggs comic strip follows the escapades of a suburban carrot-topped mischief-maker. One would never know that he is approximately 105 years old. He doesn’t show his age, but as with everything else, he’s evolved with time and the whims of the five marvelous cartoonists who have kept Meggsie relevant in a changing world while preserving the essence of his much-loved, scallywag persona who loves cricket and hates school and his confounded schoolmaster, Mr Canehard..
Jimmy Bancks, inventor of the Meggs dynasty was born in Enmore, a Sydney suburb on 10 May 1889, the son of an Irish railway worker. He left school at the age of 14. His first illustrations were published by The Comic Australian in 1913, followed by The Arrow in 1914. Ginger first appeared in a comic strip in the "Sunbeams" section of the Sunday Sun named Us Fellers on 13 November 1921.and began his unparalleled journey into the hearts of all Australians. Jimmy married his first wife Jessica in 1931 and moved to Point Piper. From 1933 onward, Jessica published the column “Fashion Parade” in The Australian Women's Weekly, another Aussie icon. Sadly, she died in childbirth in 1936. Jimmy married Patricia, his second wife two years later in Yuma, Arizona.
When Jimmy Bancks passed away unexpectedly of a heart attack on 1 July 1952, he had a year’s worth of Ginge “in the can”. Ron Vivian took over the strip (1953-1973), followed by Lloyd Piper (1973-1982), James Kemsley (1983-2007) #. In 2007, three days before he died, Kemsley passed the baton to Jason Chatfield.
Chatfield grew up in Karratha, a tiny country town in the remote northwest of Western Australia. Like all Aussie kids he was a Meggsie fan. There wasn’t a lot to do in Karratha and he didn’t play sports or music, but drawing came naturally to him. When his history teacher paid him $20 to draw a caricature of the school gardener for a retirement present, that kickstarted his career. Chatfield began freelancing as a caricaturist straight out of high school while working at various jobs he describes as dreadful, finally reaching the newsprint industry and cartooning.
Through war, droughts, bushfires, good times and bad, Ginger Meggs has given Australians their daily chuckle. He’s evolved, but has never aged a day!
The evolution of Meggs
But is he relevant today? Better let Meggsie tell you himself.
I’ve been a Meggsie fan since childhood and I still read him every day. My book Dark Angels indulges my Meggsie passion. It’s set against a background of Darlinghurst and the razor gang wars of 1929. The leading character (you can decide whether he’s a hero or not) is a young redhead. Inevitably, with a name like Gilbert Maggs, he attracts the Meggsie handle. I even managed to give Jimmy Bancks, his inventor, a bit part. You can read the initial Jimmy Bancks chapter by following this link. and selecting “read an excerpt” .
