More Mount Morgan “Pretty Pets”

For reasons unbeknownst to the modern-day reader (myself included), caricatures of Queensland men in the historical weekly tabloid newspaper, Truth (Brisbane, Qld. : 1900-1954), were billed as “Pretty Pets”. The artist generally signed off as ‘Pets’, but sometimes referenced the subject’s town, for example, ‘Pets MM [Mount Morgan]’ or ‘Pets Rtn [Rockhampton]’.

Although our local “Pretty Pets” may have now been forgotten, they were certainly well-known in Mount Morgan in the early 1900s. For example, James

Stack (top row, left), was one of Mount Morgan’s first hoteliers – he was the popular proprietor and publican of the Leichhardt Hotel from 1900 to 1912 (originally operating Mount Morgan’s Sunburst Hotel in the 1890s). The following verse accompanied his 1912 caricature:

‘From Queensland’s wonderous Mount of Gold; The publican here pictured hails; There he sells the best of liquors, Wines and spirits, beers, and ales’.

If