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Graphic: An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand 1966.

Warning

This information was published in 1966 in An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock. It has not been corrected and will not be updated.

Up-to-date information can be found elsewhere in Te Ara.

Contents


MINHINNICK, Gordon Edward George, O.B.E.

(1902– ).

Cartoonist.

A new biography of Minhinnick, Gordon Edward George appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Gordon Edward George Minhinnick was born at Torpoint, Cornwall, England, on 13 June 1902, the son of Captain P. C. Minhinnick, R.N., and of Anne, née Sealy. He was educated at Kelly College, Tavistock, and came to New Zealand in 1921, where he studied architecture for four years. In 1926 he joined the New Zealand Free Lance as cartoonist, but soon transferred to the Christchurch Sun and thence to the Auckland Sun. He joined the New Zealand Herald as political cartoonist in 1930. In June 1950 he was awarded the O.B.E.

For more than 30 years thousands of men and women in New Zealand must have grinned approvingly at the regular black-and-white comments of Gordon Minhinnick, dean of New Zealand cartoonists. Unlike Low's pompous “Colonel Blimp”, Minhinnick's mild bespectacled “John Citizen” has ignored the headlines on the cable page in favour of the provocative nearer home. His characteristic strips, devoid of bludgeonings, administer shrewdly-aimed smacks that sting but never rankle.

Co-creator

McLintock, Alexander Hare