Meanjin

an Australian cultural journal with a special interest in new poetry and prose and literary criticism. ‘Meanjin’ is the Aboriginal word for Brisbane; its first editor, Clem Christesen, poet and journalist, founded the magazine there under the title Meanjin Papers in 1940. It subsequently adopted the titles of Meanjin (1947–60), Meanjin Quarterly (1960–76), and Meanjin again from 1977. With Christesen the journal moved to the University of Melbourne in 1945. The journal expanded to include the visual arts and writing from other countries, comparative commentary and, later, Australian multicultural writing. The distinctive school of Australian criticism which it developed saw literature as part of a larger social and cultural context. Christesen edited Meanjin until 1974, and succeeding editors have maintained its traditions. On Native Grounds (1967) was a selection from the journal's first twenty-five years. The Temperament of Generations (1990) is a selection from fifty years of publication.