Farrago (magazine)

The term "farrago", from Latin 'mixed cattle fodder',[3] means a confused variety of miscellaneous things. It has been used e.g. by Edward Tylor in his Primitive Culture.[4] The name is included in the motto (drawn originally from the Satires of Juvenal) Quidquid agunt homines nostri farrago libelli est – "whatever men do forms the motley subject of our page" which was written on the first issue of the famous eighteenth-century periodical Tatler.

The publication was founded in 1925 by Randal Heymanson, who was the first editor,[5] and Brian Fitzpatrick, who was the first chief of staff.[6][7]

For a number of years, Farrago was published in a newspaper or broadsheet format.[8] In the 2000s, Farrago switched to a magazine format, which it continues to use today.[9]

Up to four editors are elected annually and hold the shared title of media officer in the University of Melbourne Student Union, with the union secretary being the legally defined publisher. The editorship has been highly politicised in the past, and election campaigns are vigorous. Archives of Farrago are available at the Student Union's Rowden White Library and in the basement of the Baillieu Library on campus.

Noteworthy editors in the past have included Cyril Pearl, Geoffrey Blainey, Amira Gust, Claude Forrell, Ian Robinson, Morag Fraser, Henry Rosenbloom, Garrie Hutchinson, Ross McPherson, Colin Golvan, Lindsay Tanner, Peter Russo, Louise Carbines, Jim Brumby, Pete Steedman, Arnold Zable, Kate Legge, Nicola Gobbo, Cathy Bale, Christos Tsiolkas in 1987, and Nam Le in 1999.[10]

Farrago is a magazine whose content is written entirely by students, which aims to be a voice, creative outlet and source of information for those who attend the University of Melbourne – irrespective of age, course and interests. Farrago encourages contributions from students in both written and/or illustrated forms, because without these it would not be an accurate representation of students at the university.

Farrago contains the following sections: News, Non-Fiction, Creative. It previously contained a Science section, which was discontinued in recent years. Farrago also features regular columns from several student writers.[11]

Every year, the Media Office holds the Fitzpatrick Awards ceremony, colloquially referred to as the "Fitzpatricks", to celebrate and acknowledge the hard work of the contributors and volunteers. The first annual Fitzpatrick Awards were held in 2009 at Dante's Emporium and Cafe in Fitzroy.[29] The ceremony is named after the publication's first chief of staff, Brian Fitzpatrick.

Each year, the editors of Farrago also oversee several other related departments and projects.

Farrago has gained a significant amount of controversy over the years. In particular, despite the magazine's commitment to providing a voice to a diverse range of contributors regardless of political persuasion, it has frequently been seen as veering well to the political left. For example, Zoe Efron, one of 2014's Farrago editors, noted that a 1974 edition of Farrago contained both a left wing-slanted anti-smoking article and an ad for the then-Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam on the cover. She also noted that political bias and overt partisanship was still visible more recently, with a late 2013 edition of Farrago having a cover illustration of Tony Abbott and the caption "WE'RE FUCKED" underneath.[37] in 1992 Pennsylvania State University student James Panichi labelled Farrago as "leftist crap ... the product of politically opinionated hippies" in an article for The Daily Collegian.[38]