As beautiful as they were powerful: Jon Kudelka’s political cartoons were made with true conviction, The Conversation, 10 February 2026
Authors:
Senior Lecturer, School of Media, Film and Journalism, Monash University
Professor in Modern History, University of New England
Professor of English, Flinders University
The media and cartooning world shifted mightily between Jon Kudelka’s earliest contributions to The Mercury in Hobart in the early 1990s and to his last regular gig at The Saturday Paper, before the diagnosis and treatment of his glioblastoma sparked retirement in April 2025.
In contributions to these publications, and The Australian and The Age, Kudelka’s cartoons have been published for readers across the political spectrum, resisting the polarisation of the contemporary Australian media.