May Gibbs, the comic strip story

On 3 August 1924, May Gibbs became Australia’s first female cartoonist. She broke into the burgeoning Australian comic strip scene on that day when her popular Bib and Bub comic strip appeared in the Sunday News. Syndicated across Australia and New Zealand, the iconic strip would go on to run for 43 years.

Generations of Australians are familiar with Bib and Bub, but perhaps less known is May Gibbs’ Tiggy Touchwood comic strip, produced for rival newspaper the Sunday Sun under a pseudonym. Sarah Morley will share examples from the Library’s collection that illustrate the development of May Gibbs’ successful career as a comic strip artist.

Sarah Morley works in the Collection Acquisition and Curation branch of the Library and has extensive experience with the Library’s archival and printed collections. Focussing on manuscripts, rare books and children’s literature, Sarah's work encompasses collection acquisition, access, promotion and interpretation. She has curated numerous exhibitions and displays for the Library, most recently Imagine … the Wonder of Picture Books and For All Time: Shakespeare in Print.