J. F. Archibald
Encyclopedia
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
), Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n journalist and publisher, was co-owner and editor of The Bulletin
The Bulletin
The Bulletin was an Australian weekly magazine that was published in Sydney from 1880 until January 2008. It was influential in Australian culture and politics from about 1890 until World War I, the period when it was identified with the "Bulletin school" of Australian literature. Its influence...
during the days of its greatest influence in Australian politics and literary life. He was also the founder of the Archibald Prize
Archibald Prize
The Archibald Prize is regarded as the most important portraiture prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after a bequest from J. F. Archibald, the editor of The Bulletin who died in 1919...
art award.
John Feltham Archibald was born in Kildare, now known as Geelong West
Geelong West, Victoria
Geelong West is a commercial and residential suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia. When Geelong was founded, the area was known as Kildare but its name was changed to Geelong West in 1875. The main street is Pakington Street.-History:...
, Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, but changed his name to Jules François Archibald as a result of his great love of French culture.
After working as a journalist, public servant and miner in Victoria and Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
, Archibald arrived in Sydney in 1878, where he formed a partnership with John Haynes
John Haynes (Australian journalist)
John Haynes was a parliamentarian in New South Wales, Australia for five months short of thirty years, and co-founder , with J. F. Archibald, of The Bulletin....
and William McLeod, and on 31 January 1880 they launched The Bulletin as a weekly paper of political, business and literary news. William Henry Traill
William Henry Traill
William Henry Traill was an Australian journalist and politician. He was an early editor and in a period the principle proprietor of The Bulletin.-Early life:...
became a partner in 1882, and the following year Archibald left for two years in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. When he returned in 1886, the magazine was struggling, and Archibald bought out the other partners.
Under Archibald's sole control, and with A. G. Stephens
Alfred Stephens
Alfred George Stephens was an Australian writer and literary critic, notably for The Bulletin. He was appointed to that position by its owner, J. F. Archibald in 1894.-Early Life and Journalism:...
as his literary editor, The Bulletin became Australia's leading outlet for poets, cartoonists, short-stories and comic writers. Archibald had no life outside the magazine and devoted his every waking hour to it. It was his decision to open The Bulletin 's pages to contributions from readers, and his brand of radical, republican, xenophobic politics that the magazine reflected for the 16 years he controlled its content.
In 1902, Archibald's health broke down and he resigned the editorship, though retaining overall control. Unable to rest, he launched a new monthly magazine, The Lone Hand. But soon afterwards, he had a complete collapse and spent several years in the Callan Park Hospital for the Insane. Even from there, he kept writing, and in 1907 published The Genesis of The Bulletin, an important source for the history of the magazine.
Archibald's health never really recovered, and, in 1914, he sold his interest in The Bulletin. He died in Sydney on 10 September 1919 and is buried in Waverley Cemetery
Waverley Cemetery
The Waverley Cemetery opened in 1877 and is a cemetery located on top of the cliffs at Bronte in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. It is noted for its largely intact Victorian and Edwardian monuments. The cemetery contains the graves of many significant Australians including the poet Henry Lawson and...
. In his will, he made the two bequests by which he is best remembered by the general public: funds for the Archibald Fountain
Archibald Fountain
The Archibald Fountain, properly called the J.F. Archibald Memorial Fountain, widely regarded as the finest public fountain in Australia, is located in Hyde Park, in central Sydney, New South Wales. It is named after J.F. Archibald, owner and editor of The Bulletin magazine, who bequeathed funds to...
in Sydney's Hyde Park
Hyde Park, Sydney
Hyde Park is a large park in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Hyde Park is on the eastern side of the Sydney central business district. It is the southernmost of a chain of parkland that extends north to the shore of Port Jackson . It is approximately rectangular in shape, being squared at the...
, which he specified must be designed by a French sculptor, and the Archibald Prize
Archibald Prize
The Archibald Prize is regarded as the most important portraiture prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after a bequest from J. F. Archibald, the editor of The Bulletin who died in 1919...
for portraiture, now Australia's most prestigious art prize.