In his capacity as a cartoonist for the Bulletin Newspaper in Sydney from 1886 to 1888, Phil May satirized all aspects of Australian & Commonwealth issues, commenting on current conditions in the Commonwealth, Australian Federation, Pacific Islands politics, Chinese labor, the New Hebrides question, Caricatures of famous political figures and Aborigines. He was outspoken about the way Aboriginal & Islander people were treated by Governments & Religious groups. The book was limited to 975 copies. This satirical line block print is from the 1904 1st edition book “Phil May in Australia” by The Bulletin Newspaper Company Limited, Sydney MCMIV. The page measures 32cms x 21cms & is lightly hinged to acid free white backing. It’s in great condition. 

The satirical caricature is entitled “The Minstrel” & depicts Henry Parkes playing an instrument with a dog at his feet, the dog has the head of a Chinaman. 

Parkes campaigned against Chinese immigration at the point when it became a political issue. He was received with "loud and continuous cheers" in the Legislative Assembly when he spoke of the need "to terminate a moral and social pestilence, and preserve to ourselves and to our children unaltered and unspotted the rights and privileges which we have received from our forefathers". Along with many politicians of his day, Parkes avoided the claim that the Chinese and other Asians should be excluded because they were an "inferior" race. Some years before, he had said of them: "They are a superior set of people . . . a nation of an old and deep-rooted civilisation. . . . It is because I believe the Chinese to be a powerful race capable of taking a great hold upon the country, and because I want to preserve the type of my own nation . . . that I am and always have been opposed to the influx of Chinese." In spite of some discouragement from the British Government, he succeeded in passing an act of parliament which raised the entrance tax to £100 per head.