Skip to content
  • 9am–5pm
  • Free general admission
  • Shop
Shop now

On the morning of 25 November 2007 Australia woke to a new federal government and a new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd. The change in leadership introduced a range of new faces for cartoonists to tackle, but also left many pondering the fate of John Howard who met his political end by losing not only the election but also his seat in the electorate of Bennelong.

The cartoons

Political cartoon of John Howard walking along a footpath, wearing his tracksuit. A fence borders the footpath; beyond it are the silhouettes of houses and other buildings. In the distance the morning sun is rising above the buildings. At the top of the image is written 'The morning after...'. John Howard is thinking 'What do you know? The sun came up after all...'. - click to view larger image
'The sun came up after all ...' by Jon Kudelka
Political cartoon of four people at a bar. A man and women sit to the right of the image, holding drinks. A woman sits at the left of the image, crying with her head in her hands. She is saying 'I miss John Howard!!' A man on her right is saying to the other two people 'It's alright – she's a cartoonist...'. In the top left of the image is written 'Early 2008...'. - click to view larger image
'I miss John Howard!!' by Fiona Katauskas
Political cartoon of an airport waiting lounge. Brendan Nelson sits on a bench seat in the foreground; Alexander Downer and Phillip Ruddock sit on bench seats in the background. Peter Costello lies on the seat next to Mr Downer, looking dejected. Mark Vaile sleeps next to Mr Ruddock, with his hat covering his face. An airliner docked at a departure gate is visible through the window in the background. - click to view larger image
'The coalition backbench' by Mark Knight
Political cartoon of the entrance hallway of Kirribilli House. Kevin Rudd stands in the image top centre, talking on a cordless telephone. In front of him on the floor are long lines curving in from the right of the image and straightening up to disappear out the front door to the left. Fragments are scattered along the lines. An ornate table holding a bowl of flowers is in the top right corner of the image. Mr Rudd is saying 'John...it's Kevin at Kirribilli...Janette left her fingernails behind...'. - click to view larger image
'Janette leaves her fingernails' by Vince O'Farrell
Political cartoon of Peter Costello, in a blue t-shirt, behind a table upon which are three boxes. The left box contains school clothing, a cricket bat, knife and martial arts nunchakus. The middle box contains a crown, sceptre and royal robe. The right box contains a Superman costume and a 'Captain Marvel' comic. Behind Mr Costello is a red banner with 'Garbage Sale' on it. The 'b' in 'garbage' has been almost rubbed out so that the word looks like 'garage'. - click to view larger image
'Costello garage sale' by Andrew Dyson
Political cartoon of Tony Abbott sitting on a large rock in the middle foreground. He is wearing a monk's habit and purple tights covered in white stars. On his right foot is a sneaker shoe, on his left foot is a sandal. He is holding a pole in his right hand. A banner hangs from the top; on the banner is John Howard with a stern face. A grassy slope in the background rises up to the shadowy silhouette of a city. - click to view larger image
'Lost Abbott' by Rocco Fazzari
Political cartoon of John Howard is slumped in a large lounge chair, toward the right of the image. He is unshaven and untidily dressed in shirt and shorts. He is barefoot. To the left of the image is Jeanette Howard, with a vacuum cleaner. She wears a dark skirt, plain top and slippers. She is nudging John's right foot with the vacuum cleaner head and saying 'Move!'. - click to view larger image
'Move!' by Geoff Pryor

Explore more 2008 cartoons

View more
Sorry
Leaders
To be or not to be
Brendan and Malcolm
Peak oil

You may also like

Exhibitions
Explore
Stories Explorer
Prime Ministers of Australia
Friends
Return to Top