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Iconic Australian cartoonist Michael Leunig has died peacefully at age 79.
Leunig's death was announced on Instagram on Thursday evening, alongside one of his works that depicted an angel hovering at twilight.
The image was accompanied by a short statement revealing 'he was surrounded by his children, loved ones, and sunflowers' in his final days.
'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 began.
'Michael Leunig passed away peacefully today, in the early hours of December 19, 2024,' it continued.
'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.'
Iconic Australian cartoonist Michael Leunig has died peacefully at age 79. Pictured
It wasn't long before the post was flooded with tributes from his many fans.
'Oh no I’m devastated. Such a great loss to society and everyone he touched. What an absolute legend,' wrote one follower.
'Michael. You truly lived the words ‘to your own self, be true.’ I will carry a little duck and teapot in my heart to honour your playfulness and comfort. Much love to the Leunig family,' added another.
'Oh no! My heart just broke. Your beautiful wisdom has guided me through my life ❤️,' commented a third.
'Vale Michael - your strange and beautiful philosophies carried me through my adult life for 40 years. I hope your path on which you travel continues to unravel, where ever you are. Your brilliance will be missed, Earthside,' wrote one more.
Elsewhere, one fan labelled paid tribute to Leunig's 'sensibility, empathy, courage and humour'.
'Exemplary human being in every way, Michael’s sensibility, empathy, courage, humour. We are fortunate to have so much of his spirit still here, which has left us with the magic of his art in our hearts and minds,' they wrote.
'The stars will be silently weeping tonight. Michael will be forever remembered for his selfless gifts. I am sad he has gone from here, and send love to all his loved ones.'
Leunig's death was announced on Instagram on Thursday evening, alongside one of his works that depicted an angel hovering at twilight
The image was accompanied by a short statement revealing 'he was surrounded by his children, loved ones, and sunflowers' in his final days
Leunig's death comes after the long-time contributor to The Age delivered a blistering parting shot after he was sacked from the publication in a 'throat-cutting exercise' earlier in the year.
Leunig's 55-year career came to an end in September when the editor of the Melbourne-based masthead, Patrick Elligett, told subscribers the cartoonist had 'filed his last editorial illustration'.
Leunig refused to go quietly, and delivered a blunt farewell message to the newspaper by accusing its editors of censorship and branding it a 'tacky tabloid'.
He described his sacking as a 'throat-cutting exercise' and took umbrage that Elligett did not tell readers it was his decision to end his career.
'There was no mention of the fact that he (Elligett) gave me the axe,' Leunig told The Australian.
'I was expecting it, as I have parted ways with The Age philosophically (and) culturally. I don’t read it really, I just scan it. It’s a sad story because I began there when it was a substantial newspaper.
'It’s almost embarrassing now to say that I worked for The Age. It’s become like a tacky tabloid.'
Mr Elligett said his only comment in response was 'to thank Michael Leunig for his contribution to The Age over many decades'.
It wasn't long before the post was flooded with tributes
Leunig's 55-year career came to an end in September when the editor of The Age, Patrick Elligett (pictured), told subscribers the cartoonist had 'filed his last editorial illustration'
Leunig, who started working for the newspaper in 1969, said the relationship between him and the paper became strained during the Covid pandemic.
The newspaper had been owned by Fairfax Media before it was taken over by Nine Entertainment following a merger between the two companies in 2018.
The cartoonist made headlines when he shared an illustration that was rejected by then-editor Gay Alcorn because it was heavily critical of vaccine mandates.
Leunig's cartoon, which never made the paper, featured one of his typically fragile, big-nosed figures facing the silhouette of a tank with a syringe in place of the gun turret.
In the top left corner, the 76-year-old copied the iconic 'Tank Man' image showing a Beijing demonstrator standing in the path of a column of tanks at Tiananmen Square in 1989.
The cartoonist made national headlines when he shared a cartoon that was rejected by the then editor Gay Alcorn because it was heavily critical of vaccine mandates (pictured)
He posted the drawing on his Instagram page with the word 'mandate', an act that eventually resulted in him being fired from the news pages of The Age and left to file a single cartoon a week for the weekend section.
'I just had to raise questions, as did a lot of people, about the severity of the Covid measures and this was intolerable, these things kept getting not published without any explanation or discussion,' Leunig said.
'It was kind of like being sent to Coventry, you don’t exist.
'It was almost a lonely kind of position, there was never any contact from anyone … I was just left out on a rock.'
Leunig said he had submitted numerous cartoons about former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews’ extreme lockdown measures during 2020.
But these, he claimed, were rejected out of fear of upsetting The Age's largely left-leaning readership who were in favour of lockdowns.
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