In Volume 1 Number 1, the editorial of The Winthrop Review states that the periodical 'is, above all else, a University magazine; further, its pages will be devoted exclusively to humanitarian studies and to original, creative literature.'
In the Editorial of Volume 1 Number 2, it is stated that 'we simply felt that it was deplorable that the City of Perth, with 317,000 inhabitants, should lack a journal entirely devoted to literature and the arts.' And 'we represent(s) no particular "school of thought" or coterie...Especially, we want to encourage that shy specimen, the young writer.'