‘Expedition Sketches – No.1’ in Dunedin Punch

26 August 1865

Hocken Periodicals Pun

Dunedin: The Punch Office

The great success of Punch, or the London Charivari led to many imitations. The best-known in the Southern hemisphere was the Melbourne Punch (1855-1928), which, like its London counterpart, also circulated in New Zealand. Regional versions appeared in Auckland (1868-1869), New Plymouth (1860), Canterbury (1865-1866), Wellington (1868), and Dunedin (1865-1867). There was also a New Zealand Punch (1898-1900). The magazine covered a mixture of local and national issues, particularly politics. Featured here is a parody of the journalist, politician, and explorer Vincent Pyke’s West Coast Expedition to discover a route from Lake Wanaka to the West Coast. Pyke is pictured astride a moa, since he was known for his theories relating to its extinction (he was to publish a pamphlet on the topic in 1890).