A short history of The Australian Orienteer

DAVID HOGG

History Correspondent for The Australian

Orienteer

The Australian Orienteer magazine has been a key element of orienteering in Australia for over 40 years, and is taken for granted by those keen orienteers who look forward to receiving it every three months. Up to the end of 2022, the responsibility for producing the magazine passed among just three editors but with much support from many other Australian orienteers, as well as a few overseas contributors. This article describes how the magazine came into being and evolved over time.

The First “Australian Orienteers”

The Australian Orienteer, as we know it now, was not the first publication appearing under that name. In August 1973, Sydney orienteer Ken Scott, with the support of publisher, Peter O’Sullivan, produced the first Australian Orienteer in a newspaper format, reporting mainly on the results of the 1973 Australian Championships, held north of Sydney beside the Hawkesbury River. Produced with the intention of marketing directly to the growing orienteering population, which at that time was confined mainly to New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT, the new publication ran to a second edition in September that year. While welcomed by the Orienteering Federation of Australia (OFA), it was not supported financially by the OFA, it attracted a limited subscriber base, and proved to be unviable. It did not continue further. It was a bold venture by an enthusiastic orienteer but was ahead of its time.

The next “Australian Orienteer” was a duplicated newsletter, produced in May 1974 by the OFA President, Peter Nicholls, essentially for OFA Council members. After two issues, there were thoughts of upgrading it as an annual magazine, edited by a Sydney orienteer and journalist, John Hoggett. That proposal, however, was abandoned due to lack of contributions. The OFA lost interest in establishing a national publication for the time being and abandoned the concept of an OFA Yearbook in April 1976.

How the Current Australian Orienteer Evolved

The origin of the current Australian Orienteer can be traced back to 1970, when the Victorian Orienteering Association (VOA) and the OFA were formed. Following their formation, the President of the VOA (and OFA), David Hogg, produced a duplicated newsletter, The Victorian Orienteer, as an advance on the occasional leaflets that had previously been circulating to promote events, and report on their results. After two issues, Tom Andrews, the VOA/OFA Publicity Officer, took over the role of producing The Victorian Orienteer. Then in early 1972 he passed the job of editor on to a new and enthusiastic orienteer, Ian Baker. Ian remained as editor throughout the 1970s (except for a short period when he was overseas), progressively improving the style and content of the newsletter, which evolved from a duplicated foolscap newsletter to a small format, professionally printed magazine in 1976. At that time, it was the most professionally produced orienteering newsletter in Australia containing photographs, maps with winners’ routes and the occasional cartoon (all in black-and-white).

With orienteering now developing in all states, Ian saw the potential for a national orienteering magazine and began the process of convincing the VOA and the OFA to further upgrade The Victorian Orienteer to fill that role. It was not a quick transition, as there was some reluctance within the VOA Committee about losing the identity of their newsletter, and concern within the OFA Council about the financial viability of such a publication.

While negotiations were continuing, Ian made some subtle changes to the VOA magazine, initially dropping the word “Victorian” from the title of the magazine, then inserting in small type the word “Australian” into the masthead. In December 1978, the cover title bore the words “The Australian Orienteer”, in large print, although it was still clearly a VOA publication. South Australia recognised the value of the Victorian publication, subscribing for all its members in early 1979, and there was an increasing number of individual subscriptions from other states.

At the Easter 1979 meeting of the OFA, a proposal to make The Australian Orienteer a truly national magazine was presented by Ian Baker. This led to a decision to adopt The Australian Orienteer as the national magazine, with Ian appointed as editor. The first issue of The Australian Orienteer as the OFA’s national magazine was published in July 1979 in a new format that was slightly smaller than A4.

New South Wales joined Victoria and South Australia in subscribing for all members, with those states reducing the scope of their own newsletters, while the other states supported the magazine based on optional subscriptions.

A National Orienteering Magazine

The early issues of The Australian Orienteer understandably had a Victorian bias, but Ian addressed this by establishing a network of state contacts and encouraging contributions from throughout Australia. The early years coincided with Australia’s growing involvement on the international orienteering scene, with the inaugural Pacific Orienteering Championships held near Canberra in April 1980, and with Australia announced later that year as the host for the 1985 World Orienteering Championships (WOC85). As WOC85 approached, many leading international orienteers visited Australia and featured prominently in the magazine.

While the magazine was printed in black-andwhite, it featured red on the front cover, which enabled the back cover also to use red to show winners’ routes on black-and-white versions of selected maps. In 1984, the practice of including overprinted coloured map inserts began.

After a couple of years at the helm (plus many as editor of The Victorian Orienteer), Ian felt that the time was right for him to step aside and hand over to a new editor. In 1981, he advised the OFA of his intention to step down, but finding a replacement was easier said than done. So Ian remained in the job until the end of 1985, his crowning achievement being the production of a special WOC85 issue, which featured colour pages in the magazine for the first time.

A New Editor

The change in editor eventually took place from the start of 1986, with David Hogg, who until then had been preoccupied with WOC85 duties, stepping into the role. This resulted in the magazine production moving from Melbourne to Canberra with a new printer and production arrangement. The general style and appearance of the magazine did not change, and many of the regular features were retained, with some new ones added. These included series on Australian Oclubs, orienteering history and orienteering in other countries. There were occasional themed issues covering, for example, orienteering in granite terrain, junior orienteering, high-tech developments, and orienteering and the environment.

The original page size of the magazine (slightly smaller than A4) proved inconvenient when inserts were provided at A4 size and needed to be folded to meet postal regulations. So, at the beginning of 1992, the page size of the magazine was enlarged to A4, which also increased the content area by about 9% and improved the cover design.

David continued the system of state contacts for providing material, with some state contacts taking on specific tasks in relation to the magazine. He set up a team of proof readers in Canberra, and engaged the ACT Junior Squad to handle the task of packaging the magazine for sending to those subscribers who did not receive it automatically as part of their state association membership.

Until the end of 1996, all editorial work on The Australian Orienteer was on a voluntary basis, although Ian and David both had access to typing resources, which were funded from the magazine budget. At the beginning of 1997, a grant from the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) provided some funding for upgrading the professional presentation of the magazine, as well as an honorarium for the editor.

David Hogg retired as editor in early 1997, leaving a magazine that, despite changes in style, layout, page size and some aspects of editorial content, was still clearly identifiable with the first one published in 1979.

A Fresh Presentation

Ian Baker returned as editor from Easter 1997 with a fresh approach that saw a significant change in presentation of the magazine and a reduction in frequency from bimonthly to quarterly, resulting in fewer but larger publications. As well as providing an honorarium for the editor, the new ASC funding was used to engage Peter Cusworth as a graphic designer, raising the standard of presentation to a more professional level. With the cost of full colour printing now becoming less prohibitive, by 1999 colour photographs and maps began appearing in the magazine. By 2004, a quarter of the pages were in colour.

Ian introduced some new series of articles, appointing several regular contributors as section editors for topics such as MTBO, Nutrition, “Running the Business” and “Great Legs”. With colour reproduction available, map inserts were no longer needed to show winners’ routes. In 1998, the OFA agreed to change the subscription basis, which until then involved some states subscribing for all members and others offering optional subscriptions, to an arrangement in which all states paid a subscription fee for all members.

A Full Colour Magazine

Ian’s second phase as editor ended in 2004, when he passed the role to Mike Hubbert. With Peter Cusworth remaining as graphic designer, there was a seamless transition with no significant change in style. In March 2008, a change to a more economical printing house saw an increase in the number of colour pages, with most pages in colour from 2010, and full-colour production achieved by the end of 2015.

Regular additions during Mike’s editorship included the cartoon series, “The Adventures of Jeff”, prepared by Duncan Currie, and the “Spot the Difference” puzzles. Mike also revived and upgraded John Walker’s original Red Roos cartoons and introduced the O-Spy series of short and diverse news items.

Starting with the March 2017 issue, The Australian Orienteer became accessible through a commercial website, Issuu, for which OA paid a fee. This suited some readers, resulting in an immediate drop in demand for printed copies but many readers continued to opt for the printed version. The issues available on the Issuu website in due course extended back to June 2004.

Balancing the Budget

Throughout its lifetime, one of the requirements facing The Australian Orienteer was that its production did not impact adversely on general OFA finances. This was delivered by setting a base subscription price which would cover a minimum number of pages in each issue. Any additional pages or the inclusion of championship map inserts with winners’ routes had to be covered by advertising revenue, of which there was a modest amount.

Advertising and overseas subscriptions were useful additions to the magazine’s income throughout most of its history, but these dropped significantly when the online option was introduced in 2017. The drop in print circulation from around 2400 to 800 took the magazine well below the threshold of interest for commercial advertisers, and any advertising that continued came from within the sport. While printing costs also decreased, setup costs remained similar, and there was a cost associated with maintaining the online version.

The Future

Orienteering is a challenging and enjoyable activity, and editing its national magazine provides a different form of challenge and enjoyment, which few people are prepared to undertake. Such an experience has a limit, however, and, while the first three editors produced more than 200 issues among them, they each eventually looked forward to passing on the responsibility to somebody else. On each occasion, finding a new editor took a few years, with the incumbent editor remaining loyal to the cause in the meantime.

The recent appointment of Hania Lada as the new editor has come as a welcome relief to Mike Hubbert and, no doubt, many readers who can look forward to receiving The Australian Orienteer for the foreseeable future.

The above article is based on a more comprehensive chapter of A History of Australian Orienteering Development, currently being prepared by David Hogg, with the assistance of many other current and past orienteers.

The September 2019 magazine with Junior World Champion Aston Key (AUS), and his map below.

Letter to the editor

Dear Orienteering Community, Ijust wanted to put out a little reminder to anyone who may wish to make a tax deductible donation to support our teams representing Australia this year. There is a donation page on the OA website where you will find the information. We were very lucky last year to have received some generous donationswhich made it possible for many of our runners who may not have been able to afford to do so otherwise. Did I mention, tax deductible?:)

Many thanks,

Natasha Key, on behalf of the High Performance group.