Australian cartoonist and poet Michael Leunig dies aged 79

Australian cartoonist, poet and writer Michael Leunig has died aged 79.

Leunig's death was announced in a statement on a social media on Thursday evening.

"The pen has run dry, its ink no longer flowing – yet Mr Curly and his ducks will remain etched in our hearts, cherished and eternal," it said.

"Michael Leunig passed away peacefully today, in the early hours of December 19, 2024.

"During his final days, he was surrounded by his children, loved ones, and sunflowers — accompanied as ever, by his dear old friends, Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven."

A Leunig cartoon from 2013. Michael Leunig was famous for his insightful and often poignant social commentary.  (Michael Leunig)

Cartoonist for The Australian newspaper John Spooner told ABC Radio Melbourne the loss of Leunig felt "pretty huge". 

He said working alongside Leunig at The Age in the mid 80s was "a riot of fun". 

"Leunig was a leader in the sense that he was an experimenter in graphic possibilities in newspapers, you know, like a half page full colour political or social cartoon," Spooner said.

"A lot of the people who love The Age don't realise the depth of his contribution to the idea of The Age, which was essentially pluralistic, in other words, both sides of an argument got a run.

"It was just so sad that he ended up in such a sort of a disappointing confrontation with The Age over his cartoons to the point where he felt humiliated and distressed by the way he was treated."

'Foxhole', by Michael Leunig, featured in The Age newspaper on 25 June 2014. (Supplied)

Leunig was born in East Melbourne in June 1945 and was the eldest of five children. 

He went to school at Footscray North Primary School and Maribyrnong High School.

He studied briefly at university but dropped out and began drawing cartoons in the mid-1960s.

His early work appeared in Woman's Day and London's Oz magazine and his first book of cartoons, The Penguin Leunig, was published in 1974.

Leunig's prints, paintings and drawings have been exhibited in public and private collection. In 1999 he was declared a national living treasure by the National Trust.

Leunig was awarded honorary degrees from LaTrobe and Griffith universities.

He was a regular contributor to The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. In September 2024, he was dismissed from The Age, 55 years after he penned his first cartoon for the paper.