History of Grapeshot

Deputy Editor Kayleigh Greig deep dives into Grapeshot’s origins and evolution.  

Grapeshot 2009, Volume 1, Issue 1

If you’re reading this, you probably already know a bit about us, but just in case: this is Grapeshot, and we’re the student publication here at Macquarie University. That means that every one of our issues has been entirely made by students, for students. Of course, since its inception in 2009, Grapeshot has changed a lot over time. So, for Nostalgia, let’s look back at where we began.

Pre-Grapeshot

Macquarie University was founded in 1964 and first opened its doors to students in 1967. 

The history is sketchy, but from what I can find, a publication called Premiere (which was later renamed to Arena), published Volume 1 in 1968 and Volume 32 in 1999. 

The publication we know more about, Passing Show, was launched about 5-6 years after MQ’s foundation. At the Grapeshot office, our Passing Show archives are limited, only patchily going back as far as Volume 31, 2002. According to those maths, Volume 1 should have been published in 1972, but Multisearch lists Volume 1 as being from 1973. I’m not sure how that all works out, and unfortunately, the library copies are ‘not loanable’ to verify.

Presumably, Passing Show released seven issues per year, if the number from 2002 is anything to go by. Each issue was only twenty pages, containing articles about the Women’s Room, recipes, religion, refugees, music, travel, book recommendations, film reviews, professor interviews, upcoming events, parking, and generally “bitching” about campus life (their words, not mine). Essentially, it had everything except creative writing and poetry. In 2002, their team consisted of only three editors and two to three staff members. Were they paid? Who knows! But much like us, they accepted contributor submissions of “Articles, columns, cartoons, photo essays – you name it!” 

Passing Show and several other publications, such as an annual student art publication called Soma, a what’s on guide called Macalmanac (starting 1998), and a newspaper called The Word (which released 26 Issues in 2007) were all run by a group called SAM (Students at Macquarie) within Macquarie University Union Ltd (MUUL). 

Unfortunately, in May 2007, a court ruling found that the union had allegedly mismanaged hundreds of thousands of dollars of student funds. The president, Victor Ma, was also previously accused of fixing student election results, but denied all wrongdoing. Thus, the MUUL was permanently dissolved, alongside the Macquarie University Student Council (MUSC).

In 2008, the university formed its own organisation, U@MQ, which took over Passing Show and renamed it Speculum. After one year, Speculum was replaced with Grapeshot, as far as I can tell. Our beautiful publication was born, releasing its first volume in 2009. Later that year, the Macquarie University Student Representative Association (MUSRA), also emerged, though I’m yet to find out their involvement in student publications. To this day, MQ still lacks a formal union, and most likely always will.

Grapeshot Changes

Design

The two main phases of Grapeshot are Pre-2015 and Post-2015, when Editor-in-Chief Sarah Basford completely redesigned the magazine into the style we use today, more or less. 

Before, it looked like this:

2014, Volume 6

Now, the pages are larger, matte, and feature more internal illustrations.

2015, Volume 7

Mascot

Pre-2015, Grapeshot had a mascot monster called Rupert. He even had a section in the magazine called ‘Rupert’s Corner’. I reckon he’s pretty cute—should we bring him back?

Rupert is introduced in Grapeshot Volume 1, Issue 1, 2009

Nowadays, our mascot is our beloved grape:

Current Grapeshot mascot

Number of Issues and Pages

At the beginning, Grapeshot produced ten issues per year, but over time that number has dropped to eight, six and sometimes even five, though we currently always strive to publish six issues. 

Honestly, I have no idea how they churned out that many in the past, other than the fact that prior issues tended to be significantly shorter, with the first having only 24 pages. By contrast, most issues in recent years have rarely had fewer than 64 pages, often up to 78. Most Grapeshot members nowadays struggle to squeeze in the commitment around full-time study and several part-time or even full-time jobs, so producing extra issues is unfortunately not going to be achievable any time soon.

Scandal

In 2017, Volume 9: Issue 5, page 8 reveals that the previous Editor-in-Chief, Angela Heathcote, was removed with one week left in her tenure by Grapeshot’s publisher at the time, CEO of campus life Kim Guerin. “Heathcote was accused of exposing confidential information about a former SRC member on a Grapeshot Facebook post,” writes Madison Thorne, News Editor at the time. “The ex-SRC member said that Grapeshot’s presence at SRC meetings wasn’t necessary, to which Heathcote retorted that the member had been removed from the committee after forging documents.” 

Thankfully, no EIC terminations have had to be enacted since then.

Sections

In the first issue of Grapeshot, Regulars was assigned to any article with a repeating title, such as The International Column, The Rant, The What’s On Calendar, Horoscopes, etc. Everything else, from creative writing to poetry to opinion pieces, was labelled as Features. Over time, more distinct sections emerged, resulting in News, Features, Regulars, Creatives and Repeat Offenders.  

In 2023, Editor-in-Chief Lauren Grzina recognised the similarities between Regulars and Repeat Offenders, and Regulars was merged into the latter, making way for a new section: Variegated, a place for fun, short, miscellaneous pieces that didn’t fit elsewhere. 

Team

In its first issue in 2009, 16 years ago, the Grapeshot team consisted of only three editors, one advertising manager, and three designers. 

In 2025, Grapeshot has thirty-eight members, including one Section Editor, three Editorial Assistants, one Illustrator, one Marketing Assistant and one Layout Designer per each of our five sections, plus our Editor-in-Chief, Deputy Editor, Online Editor, Marketing Director, Creative Director and Lead Illustrator. 

Pay

Right up until Issue 1, 2024, the Editor-in-Chief and Deputy Editor received compensation in the form of an honorarium. How much? No idea! But probably not a lot.

Now, every member of Grapeshot is completely unpaid, though we do enjoy using our budget to throw launch parties with free food and merch for all MQ students. 

Stands 

Stands used to be brightly painted, but nowadays, they’re mostly plain black. Is it time to bring some colour back?

Images from @grapeshotmq 2013-2015

So, Grapeshot has changed a lot over the years—mostly for the better (hopefully). What are your thoughts? What do you like, what would you improve, and what would you bring back? Let us know by scanning the barcode: