History

The "KOOLROO" Kangaroo cartoon strip

is the first and ONLY kangaroo cartoon strip ever to be published in Major Australian newspapers around Australia.

– It ran for 21 years from 1983-2004

THE BEGINNING

KOOLROO the Kangaroo character, and cartoon strip, was designed and first created by Peter Dare in the late hours of one night in mid 1982.

Peter tells the story…

“In 1982 I had developed a small range of T-shirts which featured an early version of the KoolRoo style characters. These were sold through retail outlets and then through David Jones.

I wanted to take the character and designs further and it was suggested that to build recognition for my character what I needed was “Constant exposure”.

I had to have a means by which my character would appear in front of people all the time.

I remember someone saying “what about a cartoon strip?” and I just laughed thinking how the hell could I do that, I wouldn’t know where to start !

Besides it takes me days to do one design let alone thinking up and doing all the drawings for a cartoon strip. Anyway I went home and over the next week I began to ponder on it and look into the step by step stages of drawing a cartoon strip. It was a very involved beginning with learning how to create a which had to build up to the punchline in the final panel.

Also the creation of characters for dialogue interaction and positioning of them to create the scene for the gag etc. Wow! so much to learn and no one to teach me so basically it was trial and error and just trying to emulate any technical details I could from existing newspaper cartoon strips.

Over the next 2 weeks I managed to draw my first 2 rough cartoon strips and decided I should make an appointment to see a newspaper.

Sydney Daily Telegraph” Why not go BIG, so I phoned the ” the largest daily newspaper in Australia, and was sitting in front of the Editor 1 week later.

HOW IT HAPPENED

KoolRoo’s start into the world of cartoon strips was purely a matter of, as they say, being in the right place at the right time

It just so happened that at the time I met with the Editor of the Sydney Daily Telegraph they were very displeased with a blunder in the “continuity” of the internationally syndicated “Dick Tracy” cartoon strip.

This basically meant that the story order of the strips got mixed up, where Dick was bound and gagged one day, then the next day he was walking around in a bathrobe.
This didn’t seem like too much of a problem you would think, but to the ardent followers of the strip it was a catastrophe! and they bombarded the newspaper with complaints.

Fate had it that I just happened to pick that time to go and see the Editor about my idea for a cartoon strip.

Mind you, I had never drawn a strip before and didn’t have any idea what to do but that didn’t stop me saying Yes when they asked me if I could do it.
I was told I had to show them 72 cartoon strips (3 months worth) to prove I could produce.
I left that office feeling excited but also quite stunned, as I didn’t know how to draw a strip or even come up with a joke, let alone do 72 of them !
Many cartoonists have told me it took them years of submitting their work before having anything accepted for publication.

Believe me this was a unique situation, I was being offered an opportunity of being a Cartoonist for the biggest Daily newspaper in Australia and I didn’t know how to draw a cartoon or think up a joke !

Coincidence or not, I believe with the timing of all things coming together I was meant to be there that day and have that opportunity put in front of me.
All I knew was, whatever I decided in that moment and what I came up with over the next 3 weeks had the potential to change my life.

THE END of "DICK TRACY"

So to make a long story short, the American, DICK TRACY cartoon strip was dropped to make way for the beginning of KOOL ROO, the first ever Australian Kangaroo cartoon strip to be created and published in Major newspapers around Australia.

THUS began the story of the KOOLROO cartoon strip which appeared in major Daily and Sunday newspapers around Australia and internationally for over 20 years.

THE CHARACTERS

The main cast or characters include:

KOOLROO – a very cool kangaroo

BLU – a red kangaroo (Kool’s sidekick)
AL – a lazy Koala
LIZARD – a blue tongue lizard

A host of other characters have been introduced over the years.
All giving their humoristic view of Australian life and its situations from their own unique perspectives.

Other Characters have been:

flies, a Jeanie, ants, cockatoos, frogs, elephants, cats, dogs, a gold fish , sharks, fish, wishing well, rabbits, flowers, skulls , birds , a snowman , cows , horses , rabbits and many more.