Michael Leunig, a prolific and popular Australian cartoonist whose drawings on life, politics and societal issues could each tell one thousand words, or more, has died at the age of 79.
Born in East Melbourne in 1945, Leunig cut his teen with drawings published Woman’s Day and Oz magazine, and would publish a book of cartoons, The Penguin Leunig, in 1974.
Leunig’s artworks, depicting sympathetic, nose-heavy characters that could only have been crafted from his hand, were regularly published in “The Age” and “Sydney Morning Herald,” and were always signed off with the mononym “Leunig.”
During his lifetime, Leunig was awarded honorary degrees from LaTrobe and Griffith universities, and in 1999 was declared a national living treasure by the National Trust.
Michael Leunig, Celebrated Australian Cartoonist and Poet, Dies at 79
