A Letter From the Publisher

By Richard B. Thomas

This week TIME embarks on an unprecedented joint publishing venture called TIME AUSTRALIA. The new magazine will replace the international edition of TIME that has been edited in New York City and printed in Melbourne. Our partner is John Fairfax & Sons, which publishes the Sydney Morning Herald and is the largest newspaper and magazine company in the country. TIME AUSTRALIA will be owned equally by the two companies and will use TIME's worldwide newsgathering resources and Fairfax's 145 years of Australian publishing experience.

Says TIME Senior Editor Donald Morrison, who will help coordinate the Australian-American effort: "We are embarking on this venture because we are committed to Australia and because we want to remain a major publication in this important market. We were delighted to find such a terrific partner. In its long history, the Fairfax organization has demonstrated the same kind of dedication to journalistic quality we have striven for in our 63 years."

The new magazine will be similar to the other editions of TIME, which 32 million people around the world read each week. TIME AUSTRALIA will retain the parent magazine's award-winning design and news coverage. In addition, TIME AUSTRALIA will feature a new section, Australia, that will focus on major national news events. Other stories about life Down Under will appear throughout TIME AUSTRALIA in various sections of each issue, such as Economy & Business, Books, Medicine and Sport.

Such special Australian content will be edited in Melbourne by a staff of 14 that includes some of the country's most talented and experienced journalists and is headed by Editor Jeff Penberthy, 43, who has worked in the U.S. and Japan as well as his native Australia for a variety of newspapers and business magazines. Penberthy's task will be to give TIME an Australian idiom while at the same time preserving the magazine's international character. Says he: "International events and impressions of this country abroad are having a critical effect on the Australian economy and affecting the daily lives of ordinary Australians. Naturally our awareness of these matters is rising, and for this reason the joint venture is ideally suited to both the mood and the needs of the nation. Australians and Americans are similar people. It should be a good mix." As they say in Australia, Good on you, mate -- and welcome aboard.