The
Australian Geographic magazine, originally titled ''Dick Smith's Australian Geographic'', was initially published by Australian Geographic Pty Ltd, a private company controlled by
Dick Smith, the founder of
Dick Smith Electronics and
Dick Smith Foods. His name was removed from the title two years later. Australian Geographic Pty Ltd also operated the Australian Geographic chain of retail stores. The publication's offices were originally based in
Terrey Hills north of Sydney. Smith wanted the publication to focus on accuracy by exclusively including articles that were peer-reviewed. Australian Geographic acquired rights to the
Australian Encyclopaedia and published editions in 1988 and 1996. In 1995, when subscriptions totalled more than 200,000, Smith sold the business to
Fairfax Media for A$41 million. In December 1998, the business was bought out by its management. From September 2000 to December 2001,
Australian Geographic published a bimonthly science and technology magazine known as
Newton Graphic Science. There were, however, only eight issues published before the magazine went permanently out of print. In November 2006, PBL Media's ACP Magazines (now
Bauer Media Group) purchased the Australian Geographic publishing division. The license ended in 2019. In 2018, the publication was sold to
Blue Ant Media. Blue Ant Media subsequently sold all its Australian businesses to RACAT Group, including Australian Geographic and the Sydney-based
Northern Pictures. ==Australian Geographic Society Awards==