Jon Kudelka – RIP
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Australian editorial cartoonist Jon Kudelka has passed away.
Jonathan Oscar (Jon) Kudelka
February 22, 1972 – February 8, 2026
Jon Kudelka’s family has announced the passing of the cartoonist:
We are sad to tell you that our beloved, brilliant Jon Kudelka died peacefully in South Hobart on Sunday 8 February 2026, surrounded by his family and friends. He was 53.
From Loretta Lohberger at Australian Broadcasting Corporation:
Award-winning Tasmanian cartoonist Jon Kudelka has died.
In a post on social media, his family said Kudelka, who drew cartoons for the Hobart Mercury, The Australian and The Saturday Paper, died in Hobart on Sunday, aged 53.
Kudelka was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer, in early 2024.
Kudelka, who had a biochemistry degree, won two Walkley awards for his cartoons, and has been the Museum of Australian Democracy’s Cartoonist of the Year twice.
He started drawing cartoons for the Hobart Mercury in 1993. He also drew cartoons for the Australian for 20 years, and later for the Saturday Paper.
Kudelka also created other, non-political artwork celebrating life in Hobart and Tasmanian birds and animals.
The Mercury obituary by Sue Bailey (or here):
One of Australia’s most brilliant political cartoonists, Jon Kudelka – who published more than 10,000 cartoons – has died in Hobart from brain cancer.
Aged 53, he was diagnosed with stage four gioblastoma in February two years ago, which also killed his mother, Sandy, who he took care of for seven years.
A scientist, Mr Kudelka began drawing cartoons at the Mercury in 1993 and his wife Maggie said he was “a constant in the pages” until last year.
In an interview with the Sunday Tasmanian in 2024, he said he started drawing as an eight-year-old when his mother was working for the Education Department editing Parent magazine.
“Along the lines of the great tradition of Tasmanian nepotism, she got me to draw some cartoons for her at 50 cents a throw and I could buy a huge bag of mixed lollies,” he said at the time.
More about Jon at The Walkley Foundation, The Guardian, ABC again, and Museum of Australian Democracy.
A multitude of Jon Kudelka cartoons can be enjoyed at his website and his Facebook and Instagram pages.
Last year Kudelka reflected on a life of political cartooning for The Saturday Paper:
The noble art of political cartooning is a profession that isn’t terribly important in the scheme of things, but doing it well is a lot harder than it looks.
The deal is that you’re required to produce a relatively topical piece of art to a deadline in order to get paid. This sounds potentially achievable. As long as you leave out all the guff about relevance, wit and semi-competent execution of the artwork, it’s all good. You can probably forge a pretty good living by phoning it in all your life.
If you do try to do the job properly, then it becomes a bit more like threading a needle at gunpoint, which I probably flatter myself in claiming I occasionally succeeded at.
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