As part of the 30th anniversary of Eureka Street, I’ve been speaking with the team who first started the publication in 1991, alongside various people who have played a part in the Eureka Street story.
A journalist by trade, Ray Cassin was a part of Jesuit Publications from 1989–95, and had a foundational role in the creation of Eureka Street. Ray was production editor, ‘Quixote’ columnist, and a regular reviewer of films and books. And he snagged the fledgling magazine a Walkley Award.
It was a providential meeting with Michael Kelly SJ in 1989 that led to a discussion around starting a magazine. ‘I was at a point in my career where I was looking for something a bit different,’ Ray says, ‘trying to bring together my trade skills, my intellectual interests and my faith.’
He describes 1990 as being a year of preparation, laying the groundwork for what would become Eureka Street. ‘There were some strong disagreements about perhaps how secular a magazine it should be. A difference in the style of engagement with the world, if I can put it that way.’
Once the publication began, Eureka Street provided opportunities to do the journalistic work with the magazine format presenting new opportunities for creativity. ‘And because the magazine format had a bit more flexibility than what I was doing with newspapers, I was able to indulge myself sometimes and occasionally come up with headlines people thought were witty.’
It’s Ray Cassin’s flair for wordplay that won a Walkley Award for three headlines in 1994 for entries published in Eureka Street. They were: ‘The Rite Stuff’, ‘The odd angry Schacht’ and ‘Shakin’ All Over’. The citation read: ‘Derived from book, film or song titles, the judges considered Ray Cassin’s sharp, clever headings to be far and away the best submitted.’
According to former Eureka Street editor Morag Fraser, Ray Cassin is the finest headline writer she's ever worked with and one of the best copy editors, praising Cassin's deft use of an editor's scalpel, being able to nimbly slice four hundred words from any 1200-word piece without compromising its integrity.
Ray notes that it’s remarkable to see that Eureka Street has survived for 30 years and has been around long enough to have a transition to digital. ‘We knew what a novel thing it was in Australia, this kind of publication. There had been some forerunners, many years ago.’ He mentions Jesuit publication Twentieth Century as