The first edition, back in February 1916, promised boys and girls tales of "birds and beasts and fairies and their wonderful doings." There would be stories from the "mother country" and a guarantee children would learn what "brave men did and wise men thought thousands of years ago."
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Almost a century on and 100 volumes later, the School Magazine has evolved into a glossy magazine with stories, poems and plays about martians, superheroes and different cultures within Australia. Thousands of students from public and private schools across the country devour it each month.
The School Magazine is now the longest continually published children's literary magazine in the world. It is also the oldest magazine in Australia.
Most people who attended a NSW school in the past 100 years would have read the School Magazine, published monthly by the state's Department of Education, but its popularity has meant schools in other states now subscribe and 1.5 million copies are printed each year.
The 100th volume was launched on Monday at Haberfield Public School, which has been subscribing to the magazine for decades. For the launch, one of the school's grandfathers offered his collection, dating back to the 1930s and including a special coronation edition for the crowning of King George.
Principal, Karlynne Jacobsen, said she read the School Magazine when she was in primary school at the same school she now runs.
"We have a long tradition of using the School Magazine and even though we have so many great books and a wonderful library, the School Magazine is a great motivator to more reading, to go on and read books by authors who you may get a taste of in the magazine," Ms Jacobsen said.
"It is colourful and attractive but not overwhelming or too bulky and a great way to really enjoy learning."
The magazine's editor, Alan Edwards, said some of Australia's most well-known children's authors, including Ruth Park and Pamela Allen, had written for the publication over the years and illustrator Noela Young, best known for her drawings in The Muddleheaded Wombat, has bee a contributor for 60 years.
Ms Young joined the School Magazine straight out of art school in 1952 and she still drops off her watercolour illustrations at the magazine's city office to be scanned and printed in the publication.