OZ magazine

OZ was an underground magazine. It was originally published in Sydney, Australia between 1963 and 1966. Its second and more famous incarnation was published in London between 1967 and 1973. The original Australian editorial team included university students Richard Neville, Richard Walsh, Martin Sharp and Peter Grose, with early contributions by future Time magazine critic and art historian Robert Hughes. Influenced by the New Statesman, Private Eye and the radical comedy of Lenny Bruce, the group decided to found a "magazine of dissent". The first edition, published on April Fool's Day 1963, parodied the Sydney Morning Herald, and led with a front-page hoax about the collapse of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. In succeeding issues (and its its later London version) Oz gave pioneering coverage to contentious issues such as censorship, homosexuality, abortion, police brutality, the government's racist White Australia Policy and the Vietnam War, and regularly satirised public figures up to and including Prime Minister Robert Menzies. Two of the most contentious items in these early issues were Martin Sharp's satirical poem about Sydney's youth sub-culture, "The Word Flashed Around The Arms", and the famous Issue 6 cover photograph which depicted Neville and others pretending to urinate into a wall fountain mounted in the street facade of the Sydney offices of the P&O shipping line, which had been created by sculptor Tom Bass and which had recently been unveiled by the Prime Minster. As a result of these and other controversial items, the editors were twice charged with obscenity, and the second trial became one of the more celebrated cases of the day. In a preview of its London travails, Neville, Walsh and Sharp were tried, found guilty and sentenced to six months' hard labour. The verdict and the harsh sentences caused a major outcry but after a highly-publicised appeal, the verdict was overturned. Sharp and Neville left for London soon after and Walsh returned to his studies, although he subsequently revived and published a reduced edition of Sydney Oz until 1969. In the 1970s he edited POL magazine and the Nation Review and later became managing director of leading Australian media company Australian Consolidated Press, owned by Kerry Packer. Sharp and Neville reunited in the UK in early 1967 where, with fellow Australian Jim Anderson, they founded London Oz. Contributors included Germaine Greer, artist and filmmaker Philippe Mora, photographer Robert Whitaker, journalist Lillian Roxon, Angelo Quattrocchi and David Widgery. With access to new print stocks, including metallic foils, new flourescent inks and the greater flexibility of layout offered by the offset printing system, Sharp's artistic skills came to the fore and Oz quickly won renown as one of the most visually exciting publications of its time. The all-graphic "Magic Theatre" edition (Oz #16), overseen by Sharp and Mora, has been described by British author Jonathon Green as "arguably the greatest achievement of the entire British underground press." Many editions of Oz included dazzling psychedelic wrap-around or pull-out posters by Sharp, London design duo Hapshash & The Coloured Coat and others. Sharp drifted away from the magazine during 1968 and a young Londoner, Felix Dennis, was brought in as Neville and Anderson's new partner. Issue 28, (May 1970) otherwise known as "Schoolkids OZ" became a cause celebre. Responding to criticism that Oz had lost touch with youth, the editors invited a group of secondary school students (including Charles Shaar Murray) to create a special 'youth' edition. Oz was one of several 'underground' publications targeted by the Obscene Publications Squad, and their offices were raided on several occasions, but Schoolkids Oz gave police the opportunity to try and shut the magazine down for good through the courts. One of the most contentious items was schoolboy Vivian Berger's satirical collage, which pasted beloved children's cartoon character Rupert the Bear (enhanced with an oversize phallus) into an 'adult' cartoon by noted American satirist Robert Crumb. As a result of this and other items, Neville, Dennis and Anderson were charged with publishing an obscene magazine. The prosecution of the Oz editors, which began in June 1971, brought the magazine to the attention of a far wider public than would have been the case had it simply been ignored. John Lennon and Yoko Ono joined the protest march against the prosecution and organised the recording of "God Save Oz" by the Elastic Oz Band, released on Apple Records, to raise funds and get publicity. The Oz trial was the longest and most famous obscenity trial ever staged in Britain up to that time and despite the best efforts of their defence team, John Mortimer and Geoffrey Robertson, the 'Oz Three' were found guilty and given hefty gaol sentences with hard labour -- although Dennis was given a lesser sentence because the judge, Justice Michael Argyle, claimed that Dennis was "very much less intelligent" than Neville and Anderson. The verdict was subsequently overturned on appeal, with the appeal judges finding that Argyle had seriously misdirected the jury on numerous occasions. During the appeal it was also alleged that Berger, who was called as a prosecution witness, had been harassed and assaulted by police. Oz continued with diminishing success until 1973. Neville and Dennis later returned to Australia. Richard Neville has maintained his media profile, appeared regularly on Australian television, and in the 1980s published an acclaimed book about the Indian serial killer Charles Sobraj, who preyed on Western tourists travelling on Asia's so-called "hippie trail" in the 1970s; the book was later adapted for a successful TV mini-series starring Art Malik. Felix Dennis has become one of Britain's wealthiest and most prominent publishers, and recently released a book of original poetry.

References

Green, Jonathon\n
All Dressed Up: The Sixties and the Counterculture\n
(Pimlico, London, 1999)\n
ISBN 0712665234 Neville, Richard\n
Hippie Hippie Shake\n
(William Heinemann Australia, Melbourne, 1995)\n
ISBN 085615230 Further reading: Palmer, Tony\n
The Trials of Oz\n
(Blond & Briggs, 1971) Robertson, Geoffrey\n
The Justice Game\n
(Vintage, London, 1999)\n
ISBN 0099581914 Category:Magazines