Prosh (University of Western Australia)

Prosh refers to both a calendar fundraising event and the satirical annual newspaper written by students at the University of Western Australia to raise funds for nominated charities.

The annual tradition is the collaboration of a team of voluntary students who write, design and edit a spoof newspaper designed to poke fun at current events and political agendas. Content varies, but often contains elements of potty humour, black humour and social and political commentary. The paper has the slogan "Never Apologise, Never Explain!". Every April the paper is distributed to the public of Perth's metropolitan area by students dressed in costume in exchange for a donation, often a "gold coin" donation. However, most collectors are willing to accept any sort of small change or cash donation. The day is also marked by a procession through the streets of Perth. The event now involves many carefully designed floats, practical jokes and stunts which are played on the public by participating students. These activities have led to clashes with the Perth City Council.

In 1931, a small group of students compiled a small, satirical newspaper called the "SRUSS SRUSS Times" as part of graduation celebrations. Later in that week, the Perth newspaper The Sunday Times berated the creators of this newspaper, calling it trash and filth, and the creators were subsequently penalised, in the form of a fine payable to the local children's charity. Over the decades of the prosh procession through the city of Perth, various floats and vehicles of dubious form and function passed through the centre of the city prior to the Hay street and Murray Street malls existence. The procession is frequently bombarded with flour and eggs.

Currently, PROSH (which is now one of the oldest UWA traditions) is kept alive by volunteers writing, editing and distributing the newspaper annually in April. Each year a new group of charities are chosen as the beneficiaries of all money raised by Prosh. In recent years, over 115,000 papers are sold on the day, with proceeds often breaking the $100,000 barrier. In 2010, all 130,000 papers had been distributed to students by 7:00am.

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