National Geographic 1988 February

National Geographic – February 1988
Publisher: National Geographic | ISBN: none (because glossy prestige didn’t need digits) | Condition: Good (as solid as a stockman’s handshake)
Herded gently into your hands by Crappy Old Books

February 1988: Kylie Minogue was topping Australian charts with I Should Be So Lucky, Crocodile Dundee was still convincing the world that every Aussie carried a hunting knife, and National Geographic joined the bicentennial festivities with a thunderous double issue on Australia: A Bicentennial Down Under. The cover sets the tone — a weathered stockman and his young sidekick, both in wide-brimmed hats, staring down the camera as if to say, “Yeah, mate, we’ve been here 200 years. And what of it?”

Inside, the pages unfurl like a continent:

• Sweeping landscapes that make the Outback look endless (spoiler: it is).

• Cities like Sydney and Melbourne caught just as their skyscrapers began elbowing into international skylines.

• Indigenous histories acknowledged in careful but very 1980s prose — the kind where earnestness and awkwardness coexist in a single caption.

• Kangaroos, koalas, and kookaburras photographed in that reverent Nat Geo style that turns even a marsupial yawn into majesty.

• And of course, plenty of bicentennial pomp — parades, pageantry, and historical gloss with just enough nuance to make readers feel they were grappling with “the whole story.”

This copy is rated Good. Which means: the spine is strong (like Uluru), the fold-out maps of Australia (modern and historic) may still be lurking inside, and the pages remain glossy enough to reflect the southern sun. Expect some light scuffing and dignified age-toning, but nothing to keep you from humming Waltzing Matilda as you leaf through.

Why you might want this magazine:

• Because you missed the 1988 bicentennial but still want the souvenir.

• Because nothing says “cultured” like dropping facts about wombats at the dinner table.

• Because a stack of vintage Nat Geos is cheaper than airfare to Sydney.

• Because it’s fun to revisit an era when Australia was celebrating 200 years while the rest of the world still thought Vegemite was exotic.

So here it is: National Geographic, February 1988 — still Good, still glossy, still straddling the line between frontier myth and modern nationhood. Offered, with more irony than a boomerang joke, by Crappy Old Books, where even bicentennials come second-hand.

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