{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}} {{Use Australian English|date=June 2020}} {{short description|Australian cartoonist}} {{Infobox comics creator
| image = | imagesize = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1950}} | birth_place = South Perth, Western Australia, Australia | death_date = | death_place = | nationality = Australian | area = | cartoonist = | alias = | awards = 1991 Walkley Award }} '''Dean John Douglas Alston''' (born 1950) is an Australian cartoonist who became the editorial cartoonist of ''The West Australian'' newspaper in 1986.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/stateline/wa/content/2005/s1416584.htm|title=Inside the wicked mind of cartoonist Dean Alston|work=ABC Stateline|date=2005-07-15|accessdate=2015-01-08}}</ref>
==Biography== Dean Alston was born in South Perth, Western Australia. He grew up in Mount Pleasant and attended Applecross Senior High School.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.library.cgg.wa.gov.au/content/view/184 |title=Dean Alston |work=City of Geraldton-Greenough Library |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090713043505/http://www.library.cgg.wa.gov.au/content/view/184 |archivedate=2009-07-13 }}</ref> In 1967 he started a cadetship in cartography with Western Australia's Lands and Surveys Department. In 1980, he bought into the Carine Glades Tavern. He travelled to London via New Zealand and the US, working for British Gas as a cartographer, illustrator and caricaturist.<ref>[http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1471318?lookfor=author:%22Alston,%20Dean%20%28Dean%20John%20Douglas%29,%201950-%22&offset=2&max=7 Dean Alston interviewed by Helene Charlesworth for the Battye Library collection (sound recording)] at National Library of Australia, 1999</ref> In 1985, Alston was employed by ''The West Australian''. He took over as editorial cartoonist the following year. {{As of|2016|02}}, he is estimated to have published over 14,000 cartoons. He has won numerous awards, including a Walkley Award for Best Cartoon in 1991 and Stanley Awards for Best Single Gag cartoon in 2003 and 2012.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Tomlin|first1=Sam|title=Alston's gag earns top award|url=https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/15412288/alstons-gag-earns-top-award/|accessdate=18 February 2016|work=The West Australian|date=19 November 2012|archive-date=25 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160225114240/https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/15412288/alstons-gag-earns-top-award/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Controversy== {{main|Alas Poor Yagan}} [[File:Alas Poor Yagan (2 panels).jpg|thumbnail|260px|right|The final two frames of ''Alas Poor Yagan'' by Dean Alston]] In September 1997 ''The West Australian'' published an Alston cartoon entitled ''Alas Poor Yagan'', which criticised the fact that the return of Yagan's head had become a source of conflict among the Indigenous Australians of Western Australia, instead of fostering unity. The cartoon could also be interpreted as casting aspersions on the motives and legitimacy of named indigenous people who were humorously identified with mixed racial heritage. The content of the cartoon offended many Aboriginal people. The elder Robert Bropho levelled accusations of racism against ''The West Australian''. Eventually the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission ruled that the cartoon made inappropriate references to Noongar beliefs but did not breach racial discrimination law. This ruling was upheld on appeal by the Federal Court of Australia.<ref name="FCA 2004">Federal Court of Australia (2004). [http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/FCAFC/2004/16.html ''Bropho v Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission <nowiki>[2004]</nowiki> FCAFC 16'']. 6 February 2004</ref>
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==References== * Scourfield, Stephen (2005), His Nibs, ''The West Magazine'', 3 December 2005. * ''[http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn5404 Another selection of Alston: cartoons from The West Australian]'' / by Dean Alston (1991, {{ISBN|0-949864-23-4}}) * ''[http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2789497 Alston's back: cartoons from The West Australian]'' / by Dean Alston (1992, {{ISBN|0-949864-24-2}}) * ''[http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/301759 Chocolate nipples and other delights]'' Selected columns of Michele Phillips with illustrations by Dean Alston (1992) {{ISBN|0-86778-047-9}}
==External links== {{Portal|Biography}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20051103234635/http://wwwmcc.murdoch.edu.au/ReadingRoom/impi/articles/yagan2.jpg Dean Alston's ''Alas Poor Yagan'' cartoon] from ''The West Australian'' (Saturday 6 September 1997).
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Alston, Dean}} Category:Australian editorial cartoonists Category:Artists from Perth, Western Australia Category:1950 births Category:Living people Category:People educated at Applecross Senior High School Category:The West Australian