Having won multiple international awards and set an exceptional standard for mapping in Australia and worldwide, Australian Geographic’s head cartographer, Will Pringle, 80, passed away on 16 November, working right up until the end, and the accolades have been pouring in.
A beloved grandfatherly figure around the office, Will worked for Australian Geographic for 37 years, starting on the journal’s fourth issue, with edition No. 183 his last.
Like his maps, he was always immaculately presented, professional, accessible and brimming with information, with a particular memory for obscure places. Sometimes slaving for months over one large map, Will was known to make tweaks well after a deadline in his search for perfection – even painstakingly adjusting the tint of a map to better match the photos in a layout.
“I had several rules about each map,” Will recalled in early November. “It had to be clear, it had to be accurate, timely, and it had to be arresting – by that I mean visually attractive.”
Growing up in Sydney and attending Balgowlah Boys High School, Will began a cartographic apprenticeship at age 16 with Clive Barrass who, among other things, produced the Gregory’s Street Directory of Sydney and Suburbs. It was a strict, old-school, master-and-apprentice relationship in an era when maps were completely hand-drawn on transparent layers that were then stuck together. “For the first couple of hours each morning, I would sit there copying out letters,” Will said. “I was quite good at that, so it wasn’t hard work.” The incredibly neat handwriting he was forced to learn remained with him for the rest of his career.
Completing his apprenticeship a year early, Will rose through the ranks of that small enterprise before setting up his own business, Travelog, primarily making state maps and road maps marketed and sold through service stations. These stunning references were admired by businessman and aviator Dick Smith as he was setting up Australian Geographic in 1985, so he approached Will about joining the AG team just as Travelog was being sold to Universal Publishers, which made the UBD street directories.
“I’d started the journal and had always wanted to publish really good maps, but in the first year or so we couldn’t get any good map-makers,” Dick says. He asked Will to join the team and set up the Australian Geographic Cartographic Division. “Will later said that working for Australian Geographic was exactly what he’d dreamed of,” Dick recalls. “From the start, he just understood the spirit of Australian Geographic. One of the primary reasons for the success of the journal was because AG became known for the incredibly good cartography. I was very fussy about accuracy and he was completely obsessed with making sure the maps were perfect.”
With a smile, Will remembered his ‘interview’ with Dick a bit differently: “He said to me, ‘I’ve got all these people working for me now who don’t do what they’re told. Why do I need another one?’ ”But soon Will was ensconced in his AG office, working on huge, world-first poster maps of remote areas such as Antarctica, the Canning Stock Route and the Birdsville Track. “The first map Will produced for AG was Australian Antarctica, a fantastic map inserted into our fifth issue and released in January 1987,” says Australian Geographic’s founding editor Howard Whelan. “It was better than anything National Geographic had produced, and it was just the start. But if I had to choose Will’s greatest map, it would be Australia for Adventurers and Dreamers. It accompanied the April 1990 issue, was revised and inserted in the October 1994 issue, and became one of the best-selling products in the Australian Geographic stores for years to come.”
“I’ve still got one hanging here in Terrey Hills and I look at it every day,” Dick says.
Tony Gordon, Australian Geographic’s creative director for 17 years, joins in the effusive praise. “Will Pringle’s contribution to the amazing success of Australian Geographic in the early years was profound,” Tony says. “Having someone on staff, literally in the next room, enabled the design and cartography departments to work closely together to develop the combination of illustration and map that we became admired for. Will’s commitment to the fundamentals of map making – first and foremost accuracy – along with a passion for broadening the conventions of traditional map making by integrating illustration and photography, will create an enduring legacy. In the early years, remember, before the advent of the Apple Mac [computer] and desktop publishing, each line of type had to be manually typeset and glued onto a layer on the base map. [It was] a tedious process requiring time and skill along with a requisite proficiency in the art of typography. Will is internationally respected in cartographic circles for his innovation and has been invited to present at functions around the world – a unique cartographer whose contribution to the Australian map fraternity cannot be over-estimated.”
Will’s many awards included two 2005 MAPublisher Map Awards – an international competition showcasing the diversity and quality of maps produced with the MAPublisher software. Always looking for that next thing to make his maps even better, Will had a remarkable ability to change his cartographic practices over the decades to keep up with developments in the industry – from hand-drawn maps to early computer software and the use of highly technical satellites, to LiDAR remote-sensing data that was accurate to within a metre. “You’d get to a certain plateau in your career but then you needed to lift to the next level,” he said.
With humility, Will expressed gratitude for his longevity at Australian Geographic and amazement at who he got to meet there. “I had an opportunity to meet a lot of people that under normal circumstances I wouldn’t have met,” he said. “I got to meet some great international cartographers. I had dinner with the Russian ambassador! Back in those early days people would even occasionally write a poem about me. Miraculous! Why would anyone do that for me? I’m very grateful for some of the friendships I’ve made with these guys over the years, particularly someone like Greg Mortimer [Australian Geographic trustee and first Australian to climb Everest, alongside Tim Macartney-Snape]. He’d always put his head in my doorway and say g’day.”
Former Australian Geographic editor-in-chief Chrissie Goldrick, who worked with Will for almost three decades and became a good friend, notes quality cartography has always been a key feature of the long-term success of the magazine. “It’s the maps that have always elevated Australian Geographic and helped it stand out,” she says. “Will’s ability to bring the science of cartography alive together with a keen eye for design and a staggering geographical knowledge of Australia sustained the magazine for four decades. His dedication to accuracy, quality and artistry has allowed a generation of our readers to plan, or simply dream, of adventures to come. It was my privilege to work alongside him, learn from him and laugh with him for 26 years.”
Always one of the first in the office, and often working late into the night and at weekends, Will still had plenty of time for colleagues. If someone asked a cartographic question that he didn’t know the answer to, “he would soon be pulling out map after map from his drawers and spreading them across his desk, scouring them for a definitive answer”, recalls former associate editor Amanda Burdon. “Hours and sometimes days might pass, but he wouldn’t stop until he found it.”
Quietly spoken, with a deep, gravelly voice, Will had a wry sense of humour, and enjoyed a good laugh. If you asked him, for example, what he had for breakfast, he inevitably replied “a businessman’s breakfast – black coffee, a cigarette and two aspirin”.
“Good-natured, good-humoured and loyal, Will never had a bad word to say about anybody,” Tony says. “Generous to a fault, he was the epitome of the unselfish type who would gladly give you the shirt off his back.”
Will was lovingly supported by Diane, his wife of 42 years, until her passing in 2009. They had four children, Danielle, Rebecca, Amber and Heath.
As well as an extraordinary library of maps that will forever be treasured, Will’s legacy includes his mentoring of cartographers, both freelance and on staff at Australian Geographic, some of whom went on to set up their own cartographic businesses. “Will has been revered in the cartographic profession, not just in Australia, but the world over,” says CartDeco’s Craig Molyneux. “For Will, there was always a less-is-more approach to his cartography. His understanding of what the user required, balanced with clarity and spareness, gave his maps a wonderful appeal that cartographers strived to emulate. Will also supported the cartographic profession in Australia in a number of ways. He enabled young students new to the profession to attend International Map Industry Association conferences by subsidising their costs – all out of his own pocket.”
Former director of cartography at National Geographic and head of cartography at Apple, Damien Saunder, considers himself fortunate to have worked with Will. “I consider Will to have been the best cartographer this country has seen in the last 30 years or so,” he says. “He was truly a legendary cartographer and someone I admired greatly.”
Fittingly, one of the last maps Will worked on commemorated the 40th anniversary of the first successful Australian climb of Everest. With characteristic good humour and a twinkle in his eye, he said doing the research for it was challenging because “none of those guys could actually remember the route”.
Will faced medical and other challenges late in life but remained appreciative of his time at Australian Geographic and the enduring friendships of his former colleagues. “I remember saying to Dick, ‘It’s been a great honour to work for you’ and he replied, ‘You didn’t work for me, you worked with me’.”
