Who is Alston? That’s easy. You won’t be surprised to hear he has a great sense of humour. And a quick wit.
He has a crushing handshake. He loves company. And a chat, whether it be on the phone or at your work desk. Or, after spying a colleague walking past his door, and calling out: “Where are you going?”
He loves history, especially anything to do with England, or even better, the land of his forefathers, Scotland, and especially the sound of the bagpipes — although he played drums while in the army reserve.
He loves to keep active. Whether it be at the gym, on a surf ski, running on soft sand or swimming, he is constantly in motion, even if the knees complain a bit these days.
That sense of humour can be irreverent, which is handy when it comes to cutting through the spin and B.S. we are often fed by politicians and bureaucrats.
He has a keen sense of fairness. And unfairness. He loves to draw. And he is damn good at it. His office at The West looks like a cartoonist’s office should look.
Lots of folders of past work are piled up. Some of his favourite cartoons are framed. There are scraps of paper with a doodle or a caricature of a workmate he dashed off after a bout of banter ended with: “I’m going to get you for that!”
Top left: Cartoonist Dean Alston with prize-winning entries in the Law Society competition. 22 April, 1987. Credit: B. Hall, The West Australian. Top right: Cartoonist Dean Alston signs his name. Credit: Nic Ellis. Bottom: Dean Alston in his office. Credit: Sandra Jackson.
Top left: Cartoonist Dean Alston with prize-winning entries in the Law Society competition. 22 April, 1987. Credit: B. Hall, The West Australian. Top right: Cartoonist Dean Alston signs his name. Credit: Nic Ellis. Bottom: Dean Alston in his office. Credit: Sandra Jackson.
There is a model of a Lancaster bomber. A Buzz Lightyear. An old guillotine lying on its side. A couple of sad-looking plants. A brown battered leather jacket he bought in a London market in the 1980s “for about 10 quid” but “I’ve never worn it”.
And amid it all he churns out daily cartoons for The West, and extras for PerthNow. For many years he would add his take on the Inside Cover page. He has been a much-loved presence at The West Australian since 1986.
For many readers, his cartoon is the first stop when they open the paper.
Who is Alston? That’s easy. You won’t be surprised to hear he has a great sense of humour. And a quick wit.
He has a crushing handshake. He loves company. And a chat, whether it be on the phone or at your work desk. Or, after spying a colleague walking past his door, and calling out: “Where are you going?”
He loves history, especially anything to do with England, or even better, the land of his forefathers, Scotland, and especially the sound of the bagpipes — although he played drums while in the army reserve.
He loves to keep active. Whether it be at the gym, on a surf ski, running on soft sand or swimming, he is constantly in motion, even if the knees complain a bit these days.
That sense of humour can be irreverent, which is handy when it comes to cutting through the spin and B.S. we are often fed by politicians and bureaucrats.
He has a keen sense of fairness. And unfairness. He loves to draw. And he is damn good at it. His office at The West looks like a cartoonist’s office should look.
Lots of folders of past work are piled up. Some of his favourite cartoons are framed. There are scraps of paper with a doodle or a caricature of a workmate he dashed off after a bout of banter ended with: “I’m going to get you for that!”
Top left: Cartoonist Dean Alston with prize-winning entries in the Law Society competition. 22 April, 1987. Credit: B. Hall, The West Australian. Top right: Cartoonist Dean Alston signs his name. Credit: Nic Ellis. Bottom: Dean Alston in his office. Credit: Sandra Jackson.
Top left: Cartoonist Dean Alston with prize-winning entries in the Law Society competition. 22 April, 1987. Credit: B. Hall, The West Australian. Top right: Cartoonist Dean Alston signs his name. Credit: Nic Ellis. Bottom: Dean Alston in his office. Credit: Sandra Jackson.
There is a model of a Lancaster bomber. A Buzz Lightyear. An old guillotine lying on its side. A couple of sad-looking plants. A brown battered leather jacket he bought in a London market in the 1980s “for about 10 quid” but “I’ve never worn it”.
And amid it all he churns out daily cartoons for The West, and extras for PerthNow. For many years he would add his take on the Inside Cover page. He has been a much-loved presence at The West Australian since 1986.
For many readers, his cartoon is the first stop when they open the paper.
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He is a super-talented artist and observer of our world, with a unique ability to cut to the chase and bring his drawing skill, humour and insights together into an unmissable cartoon.
Day after day. Six days a week.
He is a super-talented artist and observer of our world, with a unique ability to cut to the chase and bring his drawing skill, humour and insights together into an unmissable cartoon.
Day after day. Six days a week.
Dean has been one of this country’s finest cartoonists ever since he walked into the old Newspaper House on St Georges Terrace, before the paper moved out to Osborne Park.
He is a part of the modern WA landscape. And he won’t necessarily thank me for this observation, but he is an institution.
It is an institution which started life in South Perth. He went to Mount Pleasant Primary School and Applecross High School. Asked what sort of a student he was brings a one-word answer: “Terrible.” And then he thinks about it. “I was interested in English and history — and physics, but wasn’t very flash at it.” He didn’t do art as a subject at school. “It was too structured,” he says.
Dean considers those days and leans back in his chair.
Dean has been one of this country’s finest cartoonists ever since he walked into the old Newspaper House on St Georges Terrace, before the paper moved out to Osborne Park.
He is a part of the modern WA landscape. And he won’t necessarily thank me for this observation, but he is an institution.
A collection of definitive characters drawn by Dean Alston. Credit: Dean Alston.
A collection of definitive characters drawn by Dean Alston. Credit: Dean Alston.
It is an institution which started life in South Perth. He went to Mount Pleasant Primary School and Applecross High School. Asked what sort of a student he was brings a one-word answer: “Terrible.” And then he thinks about it. “I was interested in English and history — and physics, but wasn’t very flash at it.” He didn’t do art as a subject at school. “It was too structured,” he says.
Dean considers those days and leans back in his chair.
“My reports at school said I was easily distracted and could do better if I concentrated,”
“Then I had a teacher called Mrs Miller, she saw a spark in me and turned things around for me. She was a wonderful person.”
His parents asked him if he wanted to be an accountant, and then suggested dentistry. Fortunately for us those ideas never took hold. But the love of drawing was a constant.
“At home we didn’t have a TV set. My mum used to get big sheets of butcher’s paper.
“I would hear my dad’s stories from World War II. I would draw Lancaster bombers, battle scenes, soldiers, and they would be making noises like ‘bang’ as they moved across the page.
“I would draw anything. People. I was fascinated by cartoons. Paul Rigby drew on the back of The Daily News. I used to love how fine his brush stroke was.”
Top left: West cartoonist Dean Alston at work. May 2, 1991. Credit: Greg Burke. Top right: Photos showing step-by-step creation of a Dean Alston cartoon. October 25, 1993. Credit: Trevor Collens. Bottom: A young Dean Alston with brother, Stewart Alston and sailing mate Ray Spurling on the Rockingham Fun Fair Ferris Wheel in 1963. Credit: West Australian Newspapers Pty. Ltd.
Top left: West cartoonist Dean Alston at work. May 2, 1991. Credit: Greg Burke. Top right: Photos showing step-by-step creation of a Dean Alston cartoon. October 25, 1993. Credit: Trevor Collens. Bottom: A young Dean Alston with brother, Stewart Alston and sailing mate Ray Spurling on the Rockingham Fun Fair Ferris Wheel in 1963. Credit: West Australian Newspapers Pty. Ltd.
After leaving school in 1967, he entered a cadetship with the Lands and Surveys Department, finding himself down in the old Treasury building.
He also studied cartography at the old WA Institute of Technology and the Perth and Wembley techs. He stayed at the Lands Department for 13 years. His work was drawing maps, often of Perth streets.
“That was fantastically boring,” he says. But he did get the opportunity to illustrate tourism booklets and the portfolio of skills grew further, including drawing animals.
More relief came when he was asked to make a couple of journeys north to station country to re-map pastoral leases. “That was a game changer too,” he says.
“You meet all these different people. It was a way of life I was never exposed to. “And the countryside was magnificent.”
In 1980, he went into a family partnership to run the Carine Glades Tavern for four years. “It was an eye-opener,” he says. “I think there was a blue every Friday night.” All the while he was drawing. And drawing. “I drew people on the back of beer coasters, did all the signing on the walls, like ‘darts night’,” he says. “And I would just draw dribblers on the other side of the bar. It defused a lot of problems.”
“My reports at school said I was easily distracted and could do better if I concentrated,”
“Then I had a teacher called Mrs Miller, she saw a spark in me and turned things around for me. She was a wonderful person.”
His parents asked him if he wanted to be an accountant, and then suggested dentistry. Fortunately for us those ideas never took hold. But the love of drawing was a constant.
“At home we didn’t have a TV set. My mum used to get big sheets of butcher’s paper.
“I would hear my dad’s stories from World War II. I would draw Lancaster bombers, battle scenes, soldiers, and they would be making noises like ‘bang’ as they moved across the page.
“I would draw anything. People. I was fascinated by cartoons. Paul Rigby drew on the back of The Daily News. I used to love how fine his brush stroke was.”
Top left: West cartoonist Dean Alston at work. May 2, 1991. Credit: Greg Burke. Top right: Photos showing step-by-step creation of a Dean Alston cartoon. October 25, 1993. Credit: Trevor Collens. Bottom: A young Dean Alston with brother, Stewart Alston and sailing mate Ray Spurling on the Rockingham Fun Fair Ferris Wheel in 1963. Credit: West Australian Newspapers Pty. Ltd.
Top left: West cartoonist Dean Alston at work. May 2, 1991. Credit: Greg Burke. Top right: Photos showing step-by-step creation of a Dean Alston cartoon. October 25, 1993. Credit: Trevor Collens. Bottom: A young Dean Alston with brother, Stewart Alston and sailing mate Ray Spurling on the Rockingham Fun Fair Ferris Wheel in 1963. Credit: West Australian Newspapers Pty. Ltd.
After leaving school in 1967, he entered a cadetship with the Lands and Surveys Department, finding himself down in the old Treasury building.
He also studied cartography at the old WA Institute of Technology and the Perth and Wembley techs. He stayed at the Lands Department for 13 years. His work was drawing maps, often of Perth streets.
“That was fantastically boring,” he says. But he did get the opportunity to illustrate tourism booklets and the portfolio of skills grew further, including drawing animals.
More relief came when he was asked to make a couple of journeys north to station country to re-map pastoral leases. “That was a game changer too,” he says.
“You meet all these different people. It was a way of life I was never exposed to. “And the countryside was magnificent.”
In 1980, he went into a family partnership to run the Carine Glades Tavern for four years. “It was an eye-opener,” he says. “I think there was a blue every Friday night.” All the while he was drawing. And drawing. “I drew people on the back of beer coasters, did all the signing on the walls, like ‘darts night’,” he says. “And I would just draw dribblers on the other side of the bar. It defused a lot of problems.”
But deep down the yearning remained. He wanted to be a cartoonist.
He left the hotel game, married Lisa and they headed for England — via New York, where his idol Rigby handed over a few potentially handy names to contact. Reaching England, he “walked Fleet Street” but soon discovered that “everyone had their resident cartoonist,” he says.
“I talked my way into British Gas as a graphic artist, which I wasn’t. And I got some work doing cartoon strips for different magazines in London.” After a couple of years they journeyed back to Perth, and at Lisa’s suggestion he took a folder of work in to show the then-editor of The West Australian, Don Smith. “They took a chance and put me on. I learnt as I went,” Dean says.
The rest is history. That history has included having fun depicting some of our most highly-ranked politicians.
Like Bob Hawke: “That craggy face, and ‘Arrgghh’.”
And John Howard: “Wavy eyebrows, those glasses.”
And Mark McGowan: “He had a bit of a pointy head so I made it very pointy. And when he stopped wearing glasses I kept them on him.”
Dean says he can say more with his cartoons than a journalist can portray in words. “A cartoon can be intimate and also insinuate,” he says.
But deep down the yearning remained. He wanted to be a cartoonist.
He left the hotel game, married Lisa and they headed for England — via New York, where his idol Rigby handed over a few potentially handy names to contact. Reaching England, he “walked Fleet Street” but soon discovered that “everyone had their resident cartoonist”, he says.
“I talked my way into British Gas as a graphic artist, which I wasn’t. And I got some work doing cartoon strips for different magazines in London.” After a couple of years they journeyed back to Perth, and at Lisa’s suggestion he took a folder of work in to show the then-editor of The West Australian, Don Smith. “They took a chance and put me on. I learnt as I went,” Dean says.
The rest is history. That history has included having fun depicting some of our most highly ranked politicians.
Like Bob Hawke: “That craggy face, and ‘Arrgghh’.”
And John Howard: “Wavy eyebrows, those glasses.”
And Mark McGowan: “He had a bit of a pointy head so I made it very pointy. And when he stopped wearing glasses I kept them on him.”
Dean says he can say more with his cartoons than a journalist can portray in words. “A cartoon can be intimate and also insinuate,” he says.
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But underneath his wit lies a soft heart.
Like remembering the birthday of one of the ladies who works in the staff coffee shop. And when he turns serious to mark a terrible tragedy or commemorate a significant event, in particular military anniversaries, when his poignant cartoons pay his respects to our Diggers.
Dean’s love for his art and work remains as strong as ever, as is his fondness for the people he works with. He says the style of newspaper cartooning has changed over the years as the pace of everything has grown faster and more immediate.
“Sometimes the news of the day comes together late,” he says. “You have to be very quick.” And, of course, the old black and white has given way to colour, and the fine brush and ink has given way to sending through his cartoons from his screen.
“I still enjoy everything about it,” he says.
“It’s something different every day. It’s what I always wanted to do.”
But underneath his wit lies a soft heart.
Like remembering the birthday of one of the ladies who works in the staff coffee shop. And when he turns serious to mark a terrible tragedy or commemorate a significant event, in particular military anniversaries, when his poignant cartoons pay his respects to our Diggers.
Dean’s love for his art and work remains as strong as ever, as is his fondness for the people he works with. He says the style of newspaper cartooning has changed over the years as the pace of everything has grown faster and more immediate.
“Sometimes the news of the day comes together late,” he says. “You have to be very quick.” And, of course, the old black and white has given way to colour, and the fine brush and ink has given way to sending through his cartoons from his screen.
“I still enjoy everything about it,” he says.
“It’s something different every day. It’s what I always wanted to do.”
A self-portrait by Dean Alston. Credit: Dean Alston.
A self-portrait by Dean Alston. Credit: Dean Alston.
Dean, in his own words...
Well, here it is — finally, the best of my cartoons since I started mucking about with pens and paints for The West in 1986.
Cartooning in Australia used to be fairly straightforward. Australian. Fair dinkum. A check on dodgy politicians, pricking the pompous, and exposing the rorts and absurdities of life. Taking the p....
But the world has changed. Political correctness is doing its best to eradicate humour. It’s up to us, the cartoonists, to push back. I still love the job and the energy of the newsroom. Cartoons can be funny and irreverent or sombre and serious. They illustrate an opinion. A reflection.
If one of my cartoons is stuck on a fridge it’s like being hung in the Louvre.
In these stories, you’ll see John Howard’s eyebrows, Tony Abbott’s budgie smugglers, Julia Gillard’s oilbrows (eyebrows) and Colin Barnett's teeth. There are also cartoons of stoic wives and quokka selfies.
A few thank-yous. To editor-in-chief, Anthony De Ceglie, for backing this project. To Olivia Desianti and Melinda Penn for their design and artistic skills. To Mel Hayward, Christina Lincoln and Jessica Christie for sourcing my cartoons. And to all my workmates for persevering with me.
To the politicians who have provided the stimulus for much of my work, thank you. And to those who enjoy my work: I love yez all.
Dean Alston, August 2023
Dean Alston, August 2023
For Lisa, Deanie, David, James and Edward… Always.
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