Abstract

Australian Public Relations Campaigns: a select historical perspective 1899-1961

Public relations campaigns are the masterworks of public relations professionals. There currently exists no major work on public relations history in an Australian context. Yet public relations campaigns have been conducted since the early 1900s. Public relations practitioners seek to fly under the radar when engaging in these activities. This paper examines significant public relations campaigns in Australia in the first 60 years of the 20th century. It focuses on the people involved and how their work built the professional status of public relations practitioner. The paper questions General Douglas MacArthur's title as the father of public relations in Australia and examines hall marks in public relations professional development.

Mark Sheehan
Deakin University