After working as a journalist, public servant and miner in Victoria and Queensland, Archibald arrived in Sydney in 1878, where he formed a partnership with John Haynes and William McLeod, and in January 1880 they launched The Bulletin as a weekly paper of political, business and literary news. W H Traill became a partner in 1882, and the following year Archibald left for two years in London. When he returned in 1886, the magazine was struggling, and Archibald bought out the other partners.
Under Archibald's sole control, and with A G Stephens as his literary editor, The Bulletin became Australia's leading outlet for poets, cartoonists, short-storyists and comic writers. Archibald had no life outside the magazine and devoted his every waking hour to it. It was his decision to open The Bulletin's pages to contributions from readers, and his brand of radical, republican, xenophobic politics that the magazine reflected for the 16 years he controlled its content.
In 1902 Archibald's health broke down and resigned the editorship, though retaining overall control. Unable to rest, he launched a new monthly magazine, The Lone Hand. But soon after he had a complete collapse and spent several years in a mental hospital. Even from there he kept writing, and in 1907 published The Genesis of The Bulletin, an important source for the history of the magazine.
Archibald's health never really recovered, and in 1914 he sold his interest in The Bulletin. He died in Sydney in 1919. In his will, he made the two bequests by which he is best remembered by the general public: funds for the Archibald Fountain in Sydney's Hyde Park, which he specified must be designed by a French sculptor, and the Archibald Prize for portraiture, now Australia's most pretigious art prize.