These treasures of Australian culture are of course highly collectable magazines for anyone interested in the politics and culture of Australian History.

Publishing features, fiction, poetry, reviews, comment, artwork and opinion pieces, Overland is committed to engaging with important literary, cultural and political issues in contemporary Australia. It has a tradition of publishing dissenting articles with a political and cultural focus.

With ‘temper democratic, bias Australian’ as its motto, Overland is the only high-profile Australian literary magazine that sees the publication and advancement of new and marginal writers as part of its charter.

Produced quarterly, Overland was founded in 1954 under the editorship of Stephen Murray-Smith. At the time it incorporated The Realist Writer, the journal of the Melbourne Realist Writers’ Group.

Contributors over the years include Peter Carey, Patrick White, Garry Disher, Elizabeth Jolley, Stuart Macintyre, Germaine Greer, Dorothy Hewett, Bob Ellis, Mark Davis, Sam Watson, David Williamson, Thomas Shapcott, Judith Wright, Rodney Hall, Gwen Harwood, Thea Astley, Alan Marshall, Xavier Herbert, Amanda Lohrey, Eric Beach, Bruce Dawe, Frank Moorhouse, Manning Clark, Humphrey McQueen, Christina Stead. Geoffrey Dutton, Max Harris, Chris Wallace-Crabbe, Nancy Cato, Frank Hardy, Lily Brett, Peter Porter, James McAuley, Geoffrey Serle, Graham Pitts, Desmond O’Grady, Robert Adamson, Ian Turner, Jack Hibberd, Dean Kiley, Christos Tsiolkas, Alex Buzo, Martin Flanagan, Marcia Langton, Fiona Capp, Margaret Simons, Linda Jaivin and many others.

Yet Overland also gives a voice to the experiences that are excluded from the mainstream media and publishing outlets. The magazine has been part of an ongoing attempt to document lesser-known stories and histories, dissect media hysteria and dishonesty, debunk the populist hype of politicians, give a voice to those whose stories are otherwise marginalised, misrepresented or ignored, and point public debate in alternative directions.

Check out the Overland homepage