News

The Salvation Army’s Warcry magazine turned 130 years old on 16 June.

Warcry continues to be Australia’s most popular weekly magazine on faith and culture issues.

The first ever issue of Warcry was released in London on 27 December 1879 by The Salvation Army’s founder General William Booth. As The Salvation Army began operations in countries around the world, local editions followed.

The Salvation Army began in Australia in September 1880 in Adelaide and in 1883 the first local issues of Warcry began circulating. Recognising a need for an official Salvation Army publication for the whole of Australia, the Salvo headquarters in Melbourne printed the first official Australian Warcry on 16 June 1883.

Until early 2000, The Warcry was produced for both the general public and members of The Salvation Army, but in 2000 it was decided that the magazine should be aimed purely at non-Salvos. 

While many may remember it in a black and white newspaper format, the modern Warcry is a full-colour magazine, released weekly and nationally. It has a firmly entrenched place in the Australian print media landscape.

The name refers to the Salvos’ ‘war’ against evil influences in the world and we raise a ‘war cry’ against anything that crushes the human spirit.