| Farrago | |
| Type: | Student publication |
| Format: | Magazine |
| Owners: | University of Melbourne Student Union |
| Editor: | Joel Duggan, Kien-Ling Liem, Jessica Fanwong, Gunjan Ahluwalia |
| Language: | English |
| Headquarters: | Parkville, Victoria, Australia |
Farrago is the student publication for the University of Melbourne in Melbourne, Australia published by the University of Melbourne Student Union. It is the oldest student publication in Australia.[1] It was first published on 3 April 1925.[2]
The term "farrago",,[3] means a confused variety of miscellaneous things. It has been used by Edward Tylor in his book Primitive Culture.[4] The name is included in the motto (drawn originally from the Satires of Juvenal) Quidquid agunt homines nostri farrago libelli est – "whatever men do forms the motley subject of our page" which was written on the first issue of the famous eighteenth-century periodical Tatler.
The publication was founded in 1925 by Randal Heymanson, who was the first editor,[5] and Brian Fitzpatrick, who was the first chief of staff.[6] [7]
For a number of years, Farrago was published in a newspaper or broadsheet format.[8] In the 2000s, Farrago switched to a magazine format, which it continues to use today.[9]
Up to four editors are elected annually and hold the shared title of Media Officer at the University of Melbourne Student Union, with the union secretary being the legally defined publisher. The editorship has been highly politicised in the past, and election campaigns are vigorous.
Archives of Farrago are available at the Student Union's Rowden White Library and the University of Melbourne's Baillieu Library.
Noteworthy past editors include Cyril Pearl, Geoffrey Blainey, Amirah Gust, Claude Forrell, Ian Robinson, Morag Fraser, Henry Rosenbloom, Garrie Hutchinson, Ross McPherson, Colin Golvan, Lindsay Tanner, Peter Russo, Louise Carbines, Jim Brumby, Pete Steedman, Arnold Zable, Kate Legge, Nicola Gobbo, Cathy Bale, Christos Tsiolkas, and Nam Le.[10]
The implementation of voluntary student unionism in 2006 had a significant impact on the viability of student publications across Australia, as compulsory student union membership fees had been the major source of income for most. "Christos Tsiolkas was editor in 1987, and he had a budget of $280,000; we have a budget of $58,000, and $55,000 of that will go on printing. We're quite lucky, we're a well-funded institution, and the University has provided transitional funding", said Farrago editor for 2009.[1]
Farrago is a magazine whose content is produced and edited entirely by students, which aims to be a voice, creative outlet and source of information for those who attend the University of Melbourne – irrespective of age, course and interests. Farrago encourages contributions from students in both written and/or visual forms, because without these it would not be an accurate representation of students at the university.
Farrago contains the following sections: News, Non-Fiction, Creative. It previously contained a Science section, which was discontinued in recent years. Farrago also features regular columns from several student writers.[11]
| Year | Name | Ticket |
|---|---|---|
| 1925 | Randal Hermanson | Unknown |
| Brian Fitzpatrick (Chief of Staff) | ||
| 1946 | Portia Ferguson, Arthur Watson, Abner Shavitsky[12] | |
| 1973 | Simon Marginson | |
| 1974 | Stephen Mills | |
| 1975 | Richard Cooney, Rob Nowak, Imre Salusinszky and Sandy Thomas. | |
| 1976 | Colin Golvan and Campbell Smith | |
| 1977 | Lindsay Tanner | Unknown |
| Peter Russ | ||
| 1978 | Mick Earls and Andrew Liston | Independent |
| 1979 | Louise Carbines and Jim Brumby | Independent |
| 1980 | Kate Legge and Nic McLellan | Independent |
| 1982 | Simon Bailey and Sara White | Independent |
| 1983 | Kathy Bail, John O'Hagan, Bruce Permezel[13] | Independent |
| 1987[14] | Christos Tsiolkas | Unknown |
| 1990[15] [16] | Kylie Hansen | Independent Media |
| Elise Mooney | ||
| Keir Semmens | ||
| Tim Richardson | ||
| 2005[17] | Clare Chandler | Independent Media |
| Zoe Holman | ||
| Tom Rigby | ||
| Jim Round | ||
| 2008[18] | Zoë Barron | Independent Media |
| Simon Lilburn | ||
| Hagan Matthews | ||
| Benjamin Riley | ||
| 2009[19] | Gillian Kilby | Independent Media |
| Bhakthi Puvanenthiran | ||
| Zoe Sanders | ||
| Yoshua Wakeham | ||
| 2010[20] | Rachel Baxendale | Independent Media |
| Sarah Laing | ||
| Ellena Savage | ||
| Lucas Smith | ||
| 2011[21] | Tim Forster | Independent Media |
| Erin Handley | ||
| Geir O'Rourke. | ||
| Elizabeth Redman | ||
| 2012[22] | Max Denton | Independent Media |
| Ella Dyson | ||
| Vicky Smith | ||
| Scott Whinfeld | ||
| 2013[23] | Emma Koehn | Independent Media |
| Sarah McColl | ||
| Meg Watson | ||
| Sally Whyte | ||
| 2014[24] | Zoe Efron | Independent Media |
| Kevin Hawkins | ||
| Michelle See-Tho | ||
| Sean Watson | ||
| 2015[25] | Maddy Cleeve Gerkens | Independent Media |
| Marty Dittman | ||
| Lynley Eavis | ||
| Simon Farley | ||
| 2016[26] | Danielle Bagnato | Independent Media |
| Sebastian Dodds | ||
| Baya Ou Yang | ||
| Caleb Triscari | ||
| 2017[27] | Alexandra Alvaro | Independent Media |
| Amie Green | ||
| Mary Ntalianis | ||
| James Macaronas | ||
| 2018[28] | Ashleigh Barraclough | Independent Media |
| Esther Le Couteur | ||
| Monique O'Rafferty | ||
| Jesse Paris-Jourdan | ||
| 2019[29] | Katie Doherty | Independent Media |
| Carolyn Huane | ||
| Ruby Perryman | ||
| Stephanie Zhang | ||
| 2020[30] | Bethany Cherry | Independent Media |
| Amber Meyer | ||
| Sarah Peters | ||
| Tharidi Walimunige | ||
| 2021[31] | Ailish Hallinan | Independent Media |
| Pavani Ambagahawattha | ||
| Lauren Berry | ||
| 2022[32] | Joanna Guelas | Independent Media |
| Nishtha Banavalikar | ||
| Charlotte Waters | ||
| Jasmine Pierce | ||
| 2023[33] | Josh Davis | Independent Media |
| Carmen Chin | ||
| Xiaole Zhan | ||
| Weiting Chen | ||
| 2024[34] | Joel Duggan | Independent Media |
| Kien-Ling Liem | ||
| Jessica Fanwong | ||
| Gunjan Ahluwalia |
Every year, the Media Office holds the Fitzpatrick Awards ceremony to celebrate and acknowledge the publication's contributors and volunteers. The first annual Fitzpatrick Awards were held in 2009 at Dante's Emporium and Cafe in Fitzroy.[35] The ceremony is named after the publication's first chief of staff, Brian Fitzpatrick.
In addition to editing Farrago, the University of Melbourne Student Union Media Officers oversee several related projects.
Above Water is an annual creative writing anthology published in collaboration with the University of Melbourne Student Union's Creative Arts department.[36] It publishes a variety of creative forms including fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction.[36] The first edition was published in 2005.[36]
Unlike Farrago, the contents of Above Water is selected via competition, with prizes for the winning entries.[37]
In 2017, the publication received almost 300 submissions, of which 17 were selected for publication.[38]
Radio Fodder is the University of Melbourne Student Union's student radio station, produced by the student union Media Officers.[39] The name originated from a discontinued section of Farrago titled "The Fodder".[40]
According to the University of Melbourne Student Union's constitution, each year the Media Office is required to print a student union election guide containing the names and statements of all candidates in the student union elections.[41]
In most previous years, the election guide has been included as a section in an edition of Farrago, sometimes appearing as a perforated, removable booklet.[41] In 2017, the editors opted to print the guide as a separate booklet entirely, which was then slipped into editions of Farrago on stands around the University of Melbourne campus.[42]
Despite the magazine's commitment to providing a voice to a diverse range of contributors regardless of political persuasion, the editorial partisanship of the publication has varied under different editors. Zoe Efron, one of Farrago