Regular readers of this blog will be aware of the ongoing efforts amongst Australian fans to untangle the history of Gredown Pty Ltd, an obscure (albeit prolific) comic book publisher that flourished in Australia from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s. In a previous entry, I speculated that Gredown was established by Chris Murray, the son of Australian magazine entrepreneur, K.G. Murray, after the Murray family's publishing business had been acquired by Australian Consolidated Press (ACP) in 1974. Recently skimming over my copy of Loathsome Ghosts, one of the company's numerous horror comics from the late 1970s, I noticed the following text on the inside front cover: 'Produced by Gredown Pty. Limited, 249 Pitt Street, Sydney for Boraig Pty. Ltd.' However, this was not the first time I'd come across reference to Boraig Pty. Ltd.
In her book, The House of Packer (1999), Bridget Griffen-Foley wrote that, 'in June 1972 ACP purchased 75 per cent of the Murray family's interest in Publishers Holdings Ltd for $2.30 a share' (p.296), and that 'the acquisition of shares in the Murray family company, Boriag Pty Ltd [note different spelling- KP], entitled ACP to a 23.7 per cent interest in Publishers Holdings' (p.297). After the rival UK publisher, Thomson Publications, withdrew a competing offer for Publishers Holdings at $3.00 per share, 'ACP acquired more than 55 per cent of the issued capital in Publishers Holdings' (p.297), thereby making ACP 'the largest magazine publisher in the southern hemisphere' (p.297).
While its unclear whether Boraig [Boriag] Pty Ltd continued to operate as a separate entity after ACP acquired its majority stake in Publishers Holdings, or if ACP's shareholdings in the company effectively made it a subsidiary of ACP, the Murray family's connection with Boraig Pty Ltd is made explicitly clear in Griffen-Foley's book. What remains unknown to us - for now, at least - is the exact business relationship between Gredown Pty Ltd and Boraig Pty Ltd, and what the commercial rationale was behind the Murray family's decision to retain its presence in the Australian comics' market, and why it embarked on the publishing programme that it did. (Image courtesy of Ausreprints.com)
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