Tuesday 10th of February 2026
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vale jon kudelka, cartoonist extraordinaire....

Award-winning Tasmanian cartoonist Jon Kudelka has died.

In a post on social media, his family said Kudelka, who drew cartoons for the Hobart Mercury, The Australian and The Saturday Paper, died in Hobart on Sunday, aged 53.

Kudelka was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer, in early 2024.

"Jon was deeply loved and admired by many, including fellow Tasmanians, the legions of fans of his inimitable art, countless newspaper readers over 30 years, and even by the politicians he relentlessly skewered in his award-winning cartoons (many of whom have his work on their walls)," a post on the Kudelka Shop's website reads.

"He loved his family, friends, making art in many forms, and firmly calling out political and anti-science bullshit with his typically dry wit and compassion."

Kudelka won two Walkley awards and has been the Museum of Australian Democracy's Cartoonist of the Year twice.

He started drawing cartoons for the Hobart Mercury in 1993. He also drew cartoons for the Australian for 20 years, and later for the Saturday Paper.

Kudelka and his wife Margaret, also an artist, opened a shop in Hobart's Salamanca Arts Centre selling his artwork.

Kudelka is survived by his wife and teenage children Kay and Oskar.

"Jon's presence remains in the love he gave and the lives he touched. He will always be with us," the post reads.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-09/jon-kudelka-tasmanian-cartoonist-dies/106321714

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

 

WE LOVED JON'S WORK WHICH APPEARED ON THE SATURDAY PAPER... CONDOLENCES. HIS CARTOON OF PAULINE AT TOP IS PRESCIENT, ESPECIALLY TEN YEARS LATER.... 

gunning monkey....

Political cartoonist Jon Kudelka once described his job as being "like a monkey with an automatic rifle".

Almost every time he picked up his pen, the Tasmanian was reloading his weapon with a fresh magazine and aiming it at the chaos that is Australian politics.

"You need to be bloody careful where you point it, otherwise you can do quite a lot of damage," Kudelka wrote in an essay for The Saturday Paper.

It is a testament to the sharp accuracy with which the cartoonist wielded his wit that, following his death on Sunday, he has been hailed as a "national treasure".

Across more than 10,000 cartoons, Kudelka regularly took aim at some of the country's biggest names in politics and most powerful industries.

Mike Bowers, the host of the ABC's Talking Pictures segment on Insiders, described Kudelka as a contrarian who prided himself on "not running with the pack".

"He had this ability to cut through complex political issues, right to the heart of the matter, so it revealed the absurdity that is often present in Australian politics," Bowers said.

"You quite often find in a busy week some cartoonists will channel the same idea; it was very rare for Jon to do that because he had a unique take on life."

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-10/jon-kudelka-tasmanian-cartoonist-illustrator-obituary/106322196

 

 

 

READ FROM TOP.

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.