In the first half of 1936, after publishing P. R. Stephensen's (q.v.) Foundations of Culture in Australia, William Miles (q.v.) began planning a monthly magazine to promote his isolationist political views. Employing Stephensen as an assistant, Miles published the first issue of the Publicist in July 1936. Sold by subscription and on news-stands, the magazine reached only a small percentage of the population. In its first years, three thousand copies of the Publicist were regularly printed, but sales never exceeded 2250. When war-time paper rationing began, the print-run was reduced to one thousand. By 1942, the list of subscribers was just 258.
Many of the polemical articles that appeared in the Publicist supported the views of Australia First, the extreme nationalist movement headed by Miles and Stephensen. Their nationalist beliefs were chauvinistic, anti-English, anti-Semitic and anti-communist, irritating a substantial group of enemies in the press and in government agencies. This was exacerbated when the magazine began printing discussions of German, Japanese and Italian policies in addition to a selection of Adolf Hitler's speeches.
Stephensen and Miles were the main contributors to the magazine. Other writers included George Farwell (q.v.), Xavier Herbert (q.v.), Rex Ingamells (q.v.), Alister Kershaw (q.v.), John Manifold (q.v.), Harley Matthews (q.v.), Ian Mudie (q.v.) and C. W. Salier (q.v.), but these contributors were not always sympathetic to the views espoused by the Australia First movement. Xavier Herbert's novel Capricornia (1938) was published by the Publicist Publishing Company, but he would later critically portray the movement as 'Australia Free' in Poor Fellow My Country (1975).
When the Second World War broke out in September 1939, the magazine was already under investigation for anti-British sentiment. The Publicist faced opposition from many quarters and was the target of an attack in the early months of the war when 'Nazi H. Q.' was painted in red lettering on the exterior of the magazine's office. Several undercover investigators were sent to meetings held in the basement of the building which housed the Publicist office and articles had to be submitted to the government for censorship. Sympathy for Germany in the magazine decreased at this time, but attacks on Jewish refugees increased and more pro-Japanese articles began to appear, maintaining the Australia First position.
Miles died in January 1942 soon after handing the magazine over to Stephensen. But investigation of the Australia First movement had intensified as other publications promoting similar views began to appear. In March 1942, four people in possession of Australia First material were charged in Perth with conspiracy to assist Japan. Subsequently, Stephensen and other Australia First members were arrested in Sydney. While some of those arrested were released within the year, Stephensen was interned for the duration of the war and the Publicist ceased production.
