The Portonian

Duncan Campbell Francis Moodie (24 January 1838 – 11 February 1891), commonly referred to as D. C. F. Moodie, was a South African writer, historian and linguist who published a newspaper The Portonian in Port Adelaide, South Australia, from 1871 to 1879.

Moodie was born near Stellenbosch, South Africa, the sixth son of public servant Donald Moodie, R.N. (1794–1861) and his wife Eliza Sophia Moodie, née Pigot (1804 – 26 October 1881). When quite young, his father was appointed the Colony of Natal's first Colonial Secretary after the imposition of British rule, and the family moved accordingly.

The boy's formal education was sporadic, partly owing to the paucity of teaching in the new Colony, but also on account of his impulsive nature. Most of his education must have come from his mother, whom he adored: a cultured and talented woman who, among other attributes was a fine chess player, and taught her children to play at a high standard. His nomadic nature took him over much of the Colony, where he fraternised with vagrants of many races, gaining a working knowledge of a variety of languages and dialects. He was a particular admirer of the Zulu race, and his vernacular Zulu was said to be indistinguishable from that of a native speaker. He was a fine athlete, and a decent shot with a rifle, and enjoyed quoit playing, wrestling and other sports.

Moodie came to South Australia from South Africa around 1869, and soon found employment with the Customs Department at Port Adelaide. In 1870 he was nominated for the Humane Society's medal when he dived into the river fully clothed to rescue a young man who had fallen overboard from the Coonatto. The story that he was subsequently sacked because his tally-book was spoiled by the immersion gained credence with repetition.

Moodie founded the weekly newspaper The Portonian (1871 – May 1879) as a forum for news about Port Adelaide, but much of the paper's content was devoted to criticising the Parliament, the Governor and just about any other authority figure. His racy, vigorous style of writing won for the paper a large and loyal circulation. He employed a talented cartoonist in "Cerberus" (John Eden Savill, better known as a racehorse owner), and journalist Spencer Skipper, who later, as "Hugh Kalyptus", gained fame for his satirical column "Echoes and Re-Echoes". Moodie himself was a brilliant writer and well regarded as a poet. He contributed news items from South Africa, in particular the Anglo-Zulu War early in 1879. Portonian ceased without notice in May 1879. Moodie was not one to settle down however, and publication of The Portonian in the last years became intermittent and ceased entirely in May 1879 without announcement or apology. Savill's political cartoons had almost completely disappeared; in their place were works by W. Wyburd and W. Pyndar Willis.The Portonian was printed by Webb, Vardon & Pritchard, and the artwork lithographed by the firm of Penman & Galbraith.

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