Geoff Pryor

Born in Canberra in 1944, Geoff Pryor showed interest in drawing from an early age. Pryor’s grandfather had been a freelance cartoonist in South Australia under the name of ‘Cypher’, and Pryor recalls many hours spent studying the works hung on his grandfather’s walls—works by Bulletin greats like Ted Scorfield, Norman Lindsay and David Low. Growing up in Canberra, Pryor was also imbued with a deep sense of politics.

‘I was a diligent little doodler on just about anything that had a white space.’

As a young boy he wandered through the corridors of Old Parliament House waiting for his mother who worked as a stenographer for a South Australian Senator. These combined influences of art and politics provided a firm base for Pryor’s future career as one of Australia’s leading political cartoonists.

Pryor produced his first published work while a student at the Australian National University. He ran a short strip called Rastus in the student magazine Woroni. Later Pryor learned that Canberra Times cartoonist, Larry Pickering, had shifted to The Sydney Morning Herald. The then Editor of The Canberra Times, Ian Matthews, was looking for a suitable replacement and after some time spent doing various artwork for the paper, Geoff Pryor got the job in 1977.

Over the next few years Pryor’s style of cartooning gradually evolved to become what we recognise today as uniquely Pryor. His piercing analysis of political events, combined with stunning full-frame illustrations featuring a host of personalities, have been part of the nation’s ‘political breakfast’ for 25 years. Immediately taking his viewers to the heart of current political issues, Pryor’s cartoons not only allow us to laugh, but encourage us to think. Pryor’s work can be seen daily in The Canberra Times.