“As a child, I dreamed that my bed could fly and glide and swoop and hover high over the countryside near my home while, snug and secure, I looked down in wonder at the great carpet of life that seemed so perfect beneath me.”

Australian cartoonist, poet and artist

Michael Leunig, known professionally as Leunig, was an Australian cartoonist, poet, and artist. He became widely known for his work in Melbourne’s The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. Leunig’s work brought together cartooning, poetry, and visual art, and those newspaper contributions made him familiar to a broad Australian readership. His public voice was shaped by that blend of image and language, which is why his name remains closely associated with those papers and with his distinctive artistic output.