Australian Personal Computer | Code Like It's 198x

Australian Personal Computer first appeared in May 1980, a monthly from Carlton, Victoria, priced at $2.20. Its cover called it “Australia’s first micro magazine”. It was not quite the first, and it was not wholly Australian either: within months its masthead said it was “produced in Australia under licence” from an English company, with a London editorial office at the publisher of the British monthly Personal Computer World. Under the shorter name APC it was still being published monthly more than forty years later.

Issue one

The first issue was published by Australian Microcomputer Journal from a post office box in Carlton, with a second address in North Sydney. Its editor was Sean Howard. His first editorial looked past the hardware to software, which he thought had lagged behind: “Australians should recognize the potential for innovative software and strive to establish an international reputation in this field.” An invitation on the same page asked readers to write for “Australia’s first microcomputer journal”. A year’s subscription cost $24, or $30 to New Zealand.

The contents list included:

Benchtest, “the first of our structured investigations into micro hardware”, in which Sue Eisenbach tested the Compucolor II
Computer Answers, in which Sheridan Williams took readers’ software, hardware and systems problems
a series by David Levy on the theory behind computer game-playing
a specially commissioned ten-part series on Pascal by Chris Sadler and Sue Eisenbach
Leisure Lines, puzzles and prizes from J.J. Clessa
a cover illustration by Ingram Pinn

There was local material too. Miriam Cosic reported on the Victorian Education Department’s attitude to computers in schools, and the advertising came from Melbourne and Sydney dealers. The masthead hinted at where much of the rest came from. Under Howard it listed an “Editor (U.K.)”, Bruce Sawford, and a technical editor, David Tebbutt.

Made under licence

By November 1980 the masthead set the arrangement out in full. Howard was now “Australian Editor”; Tebbutt was editor, Peter Rodwell deputy editor and Sawford executive editor. The magazine had a “London Editorial Office” at Sportscene Publishers (PCW) Ltd., 14 Rathbone Place, and a line at the foot of the column read: “Produced in Australia under licence from Felden Productions Ltd., England.” The American magazine MICRO listed Personal Computer World at that same publisher and address in 1981 and 1982, and MICRO-80’s lists of British user groups gave Tebbutt’s contact address as c/o 14 Rathbone Place.

The licence and the London office explain the British by-lines in issue one. The magazine was printed in Victoria and distributed by Gordon & Gotch, and the local news, local dealers and Australian writers sat alongside material edited in London. The same November issue reported that sales had taken “a hefty leap” and that the distributors had asked for the print run to be doubled, “and immediately”.

The cover claim

The “first” on the cover does not survive comparison with MICRO-80, a monthly published from Goodwood, South Australia, since December 1979. APC’s own first issue carried a Sydney dealer’s advertisement for “the full range of MICRO-80 newsletters and recorded software”. MICRO-80 described itself more narrowly, as “the first and only Australian monthly magazine devoted entirely to the TRS-80 microcomputer”. A general magazine might not have counted a single-machine one as a rival, but MICRO-80 was Australian, monthly, about microcomputers, and earlier.

Australia’s top seller

By January 1985 APC was published by Computer Publications in Melbourne, with Howard as managing editor, at $2.95. The hundredth issue, dated December 1988, cost $7.95 and called itself “Australia’s top selling computer magazine” on the cover. Its letters went to 124 Castlereagh Street, Sydney. The British link was still visible in the contents. David Tebbutt opened a four-part series on the user-interface research at Rank Xerox EuroPARC in Cambridge, alongside an interview with Bill Gates and an essay by Isaac Asimov. A reader’s classified advertisement in the same issue offered up to $50 for a copy of the May 1980 first issue.

In 1990 a subscription advertisement in Australian PC User called APC “Australia’s top selling magazine”, at $4.95 an issue on the newsstand. That is the publisher’s own claim, not an audited figure.

ACP and Future

By the end of the 1990s APC was a Sydney title of ACP. The December 1998 issue lists Jeremy White as editor-in-chief, with staff on acp.com.au addresses, and in 2004 the magazine stated that it was “published by ACP Publishing Pty Ltd”, edited by Tony Sarno, with its own website at apcmag.com. On 16 August 2013 the British publisher Future bought APC and its sister title TechLife from Bauer Media Group. Announcing the deal, Future described APC as Australia’s “longest-published” computer brand. Future still lists APC as a monthly magazine.

Sources

Australian Personal Computer vol. 1 no. 1, May 1980: cover (price, “Australia’s first micro magazine”), contents and masthead (publisher, editors, contributors, subscription rates), Sean Howard’s editorial and “An Invitation”; dealer advertisement for MICRO-80 newsletters and software.
Australian Personal Computer vol. 1 no. 6, November 1980: contents and masthead (Australian editor, editor, London editorial office, “produced in Australia under licence from Felden Productions Ltd., England”, Gordon & Gotch), editorial (print run doubled).
MICRO (US), no. 37, June 1981, and no. 49, June 1982: magazine directory entry for Personal Computer World (Sportscene Publishers (PCW) Ltd., 14 Rathbone Place).
MICRO-80 issue 23, October 1981, vol. 3 no. 3, February 1982, and vol. 3 no. 9, August 1982: user-group listings (ComputerTown UK, contact Dave Tebbutt, c/o 14 Rathbone Place, London).
MICRO-80 issue 1, December 1979, pp. 1–3: masthead and editorial (“the first and only Australian monthly magazine devoted entirely to the TRS-80 microcomputer”).
Australian Personal Computer vol. 6 no. 1, January 1985: cover price and masthead (Computer Publications, managing editor Sean Howard).
Australian Personal Computer vol. 9 no. 12, December 1988 (100th issue): cover, contents (Tebbutt’s EuroPARC series, Bill Gates, Isaac Asimov), letters address, classified advertisement for issue 1.
Australian PC User, March 1990: subscription advertisement for PC Week and Australian Personal Computer.
Australian Personal Computer vol. 19 no. 12, December 1998: masthead; December 2004: masthead and privacy notice.
InPublishing, “Future acquires leading Australian technology brands”, August 2013 (web, secondary): https://inpublishing.co.uk/articles/future-acquires-leading-australian-technology-brands-8006
EBSCO Flipster, “APC: Australian Personal Computer” (web, secondary): publisher and frequency. https://about.ebsco.com/products/flipster/magazine/apc-australian-personal-computer