Alexander George Gurney Alexander George " Alex " Gurney ( 15 March 1902 – 4 December 1955 ) was an Australian artist , caricaturist , and cartoonist born at Pasley House , Stoke , Devonport ( now Stoke , Plymouth ) , England . Family . He was the son of William George Gurney and Alice Birdie Gurney ( née Worbey ) , who had married in Portsmouth on 29 May 1901 . He was born on 15 March 1902 at Pasley House , Stoke , Devonport ( now Stoke , Plymouth ) , England . His father and his mother , who was an Australian , born in Hobart , moved with Alex and settled in Hobart , Tasmania . Soon after the ship upon which his father , a steward in the merchant navy , was serving , went missing at sea ; and his father was presumed dead . On 2 July 1908 his mother ( always known as Birdie , rather than Alice ) remarried ; she married James William Albert Hursey ( 1866 – 1946 ) . Alex Gurney married Junee Grover ( 1909 - 1984 ) on 16 June 1928 at Christ Church , South Yarra . Junee was the daughter of the journalist Montague " Monty " MacGregor Grover ( 1870 – 1943 ) and Ada Goldberg . Alex and Junee Gurney had four children , John ( 1929 - ) , Jennifer Anne ( 1932 - 2004 ) , Susan ( 1937 - ) , and Margaret ( 1943 - ) , the eminent Melbourne artist . Education . After leaving Macquarie Street State School at age 13 , he served a seven - year electrical apprenticeship with the Tasmanian Hydro - Electric Commission in the hope of becoming an electrical engineer . He also studied art , part - time , in night classes at Hobart Technical College , where he was taught by Lucien Dechaineux ( 1869 – 1957 ) . Artist . As well as significantly embellishing his wonderful graphic skills as an artist , his exceptional capacity for the observation of his fellow humans also allowed him to successfully perform as an impersonator of well known people . By 1918 he was submitting work to The Bulletin , Melbourne Punch and Smith ' s Weekly . In 1923 , he was awarded first prize at the Kingborough Agricultural Show for " an original pencil drawing " . In 1926 he published a book of his caricatures of eminent Tasmanians , " Tasmanians Today " , the first book of its kind ever published in Tasmania . Also in 1926 , he began working for newspapers , briefly in Melbourne for the " Morning Post " , then freelance d in Sydney until he landed a job with the " Sunday Times " , then for a Labor paper " The World " , followed by The " Daily Guardian " , " The Sydney Mail " , then to Adelaide with " The News " in 1931 . Throughout his lifetime he was renowned for his generous habit of giving the originals of his caricatures , cartoons , and comic strips to anyone who asked . Cartoons and comic strips . During this time he created several comic series ; " Stiffy and Mo " ( based on the radio comedy starring Nat Phillips and Roy Rene ) for " Beckett ' s Budget " ; and " The Daggs " for the " Sunday Times " . In 1932 , he created " Fred , the Football Fan " for the Adelaide Mail . When he moved to the Melbourne Herald in 1933 ( as cartoonist for their Sports pages ) , he started a series " Ben Bowyang " ( based on the C J Dennis creation ) for that paper . In 1934 he became their feature cartoonist . By 1939 , his fame was such that , not only was he endorsing Red Capstan , cork - tipped , " special mild " cigarettes , but he was also supplying the advertisement ' s art - work as well . Bluey and Curley . In 1939 he created the characters for which he became famous : " Bluey and Curley " . He applied for the copyright registration of " Bluey and Curley " on 16 October 1939 ; and his application was granted on 9 November 1939 ( Australian Copyright No . 6921 ) . " Bluey and Curley " first appeared in the " Picture - News " magazine . It was transferred to " The Sun News - Pictorial " in 1940 , from whence it was syndicated throughout Australia , New Zealand and Canada . The strip , about a pair of soldiers , Bluey , the Great War veteran who had re - enlisted , and Curley , the new recruit to the A . I . F . The strip was widely appreciated for the good - humoured way it depicted the Australian " diggers " and their " mateship " , as well as for its realistic use of Australian idiom of the day . During the war , he was accredited as a war correspondent , and he visited army camps throughout Australia and New Guinea to ensure authenticity for his strip . While in New Guinea he contracted malaria and was incapacitated for some time . Gurney was in England in June 1946 , as part of an Australian Press Syndicate sent specifically to view the Victory Parade . As well as sending caricatures of various eminent people involved in that parade back to Australia for distribution through the press , he also used the opportunity to have Bluey and Curley attend the parade , and a number of his Bluey and Curley comic strips reflected that event . Gurney ' s visit to London , and his version of events , as seen through his Bluey and Curley comic strip , was also historically significant for another reason : it was the first time that a newspaper comic strip had ever been transmitted from England to Australia by radio . The strip lost some of its appeal and readership when the pair returned to " civvy street " . After Gurney ' s sudden death from heart attack , the strip was continued by Norman Rice , and then by Les Dixon . Associations . Gurney was a member of the Returned Sailors ' Soldiers ' and Airmens Imperial League of Australia ( RSS & AILA ) , now known as " The Returned and Services League of Australia ( RSL ) " , the Black and White Artists ' Club , now known as " The Australian Cartoonists ' Association " , and the Savage Club . Death . Gurney died suddenly , of heart disease , on 4 December 1955 . He had been ill for several months , and had collapsed in his motor car parked outside his residence at 7 Merton Avenue , Elwood . His funeral service , conducted by Rev . Selwyn Ide , at St Stephen ' s Church of England , Gardenvale , on Tuesday , 6 December 1955 , was attended by " more than 500 journalists , artists and friends " .