Jon Kudelka’s influence went far beyond award-winning cartoons. Lindsay Foyle reflects on a career marked by sharp political insight and principles.

Without a doubt Jon Kudelka made a major impact with his cartoons in The Mercury, The Australian and The Saturday Paper. He won many awards, but his most significant impact just might be his stand against Ampol Petroleum’s sponsorship of the Walkley Awards.

In 2023 he discovered back in 1956, the Australian Journalists’ Association (now known as the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance) had partnered with William Gaston Walkley, the Managing Director of Ampol Petroleum, to launch Australia’s first national media awards, the Walkley Awards.

Much has changed since the 1956 awards launch. The fossil fuel industry is now considered by many to be part of the problem affecting climate change. Also, Ampol, was bought out by Caltex in 1997. Things changed in 2020, when Caltex Australia was renamed Ampol Limited which in 2022 became a major sponsor of the Walkley Foundation, who now conduct the Walkley Awards.

Kudelka declared he was boycotting the 2023 Walkley Awards, and was soon joined by a number of other cartoonists, who linked the issue to the omission of a dedicated Walkley Award for climate-focused journalism.

Kudelka was born in Burnie on the north coast of Tasmania in 1972. He started to draw in kindergarten but when he noticed everyone was drawing right handed he switched to the left. Kudelka got interested in cartooning when Roger Hargraves, his best friend in grade 2 was praised for a drawing. “I couldn’t stand the bastard being better than me at anything,” he said.

The first cartoon Kudelka had published was in Parent magazine when he was nine. He said: “Mum was the editor at the time and was definitely the best editor I have worked with.”

Kudelka played hockey in Hobart and as it happened in 1994 so too did Mike Moore a senior journalist at The Mercury. Kudelka said, “I enjoyed running around hitting people with a stick, as it has a marked similarity to cartooning. As this was Hobart, and Hobart is a very small town, Mike had heard I was calling myself a cartoonist and asked if I’d like to fill in for Kev Bailey when he went on holidays. I had an interview with the editor Ian McCausland where I showed him some of my less awful work, and got the gig.”

When Bailey retired in 1995 Kudelka said he “became permanentish”. In 2003 Kudelka said, “People still ask me when Kev is coming back.”

Kudelka’s biggest break came unexpectedly in 1998. After hearing there was a month’s work for a cartoonist at The Australian he arranged a meeting with David Armstrong, the Editor-in-Chief. Kudelka said, “Foolishly he gave me the job.” After filling in for four weeks, Kudelka continued contributing to The Australian, mostly drawing pocket cartoons.

Kudelka was honoured by the National Museum of Australia in its annual political cartooning award for 2010. The judges commended him for his clean and simple lines of his illustrations coupled with devastating captions. At the time Kudelka said cartoonists are in a unique – and very privileged – position, able to put in a drawing what might otherwise be considered cruel: “We’re not careful. That’s what editors are for – they make us careful. We have more licence than most, which is nice for the country. It’s a sign that democracy is working pretty well”.

When entering the Walkley Award in 2018 Kudelka wrote, “This was an opportunity for the Turnbull government to push reconciliation forwards and have a real national conversation about how this might all look, and provide a legitimate pathway towards a treaty and eventually a Republic… Instead, they utterly kyboshed the whole thing by press release at 4.45pm on a Friday afternoon, essentially on the grounds that it would be too difficult. No negotiation. No discussion.”

In 2018 Kudelka won the Bill Leak Cartoonist of the Year Award in the News Corporation Australia’s News Awards, which is only open to cartoonists who work for Murdoch. Started a little over two decades ago, and seen by many as a Walkley Award alternative, one thing is guaranteed at these annual “prestigious” awards – a News Corporation Australia journalist will win every category.

In September 2019 Schwartz Media announced Kudelka was about to start on The Saturday Paper. It was an interesting move by Kudelka. It meant he would only draw one cartoon a week and would take a drop in salary. But he was joining a newspaper which was more in tune with his political beliefs.

In 2019 Kudelka won the Vince O’Farrell Award for an outstanding cartoon at the Kennedy Awards. O’Farrell was a cartoonist on The Illawarra Mercury from 1986 to 2005 and the Kennedy Awards were first held in 2011. They are named after the Indigenous journalist Les Kennedy and were originally called the NRMA awards. They are for excellence in journalism in the state of New South Wales.

As the year was moving towards an end, in November Kudelka was named as the Museum of Australian Democracy’s Political Cartoonist of the year. He was quoted as saying cartoonists use, “humour and cheek to cut through political spin helped keep the country’s leaders honest. In a federal election, both sides are desperately trying to trick the electorate into believing that they’ve got their best interests at heart – and there’s always plenty to work with there.” He went on to describe cartooning as the “rickety shed at the back of the fourth estate”.

In January 2024 Kudelka announced he was suffering from a brain tumour (glioblastoma). There was mention of a rare genetic marker which has a 100 per cent fatality rate. He died peacefully in South Hobart on Sunday afternoon 8 February 2026, surrounded by his family and friends. He was 53.