Newspapers in Australia

Australia's first newspaper was the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, which began in 1803. In 1810, the second newspaper in Australia, the Derwent Star and Van Diemen's Land Intelligencer was founded in Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), but it was short-lived and ceased publication the same year.[2][3] Victoria's first paper was the Melbourne Advertiser, which began in 1838. By the mid-1850s, there were 11 papers in Tasmania. The Tasmanian and Port Dalrymple Advertiser founded in Launceston in 1825 was the first provincial newspaper in Australia.[4]

Early newspapers tended to consist of four pages and generally appeared one or two days a week. They were hindered by occasional shortages of suitable paper, ink, compositors and printers. Publication sometimes had to be suspended due to such shortages.

Australia's longest-running newspaper, the Sydney Morning Herald, was first published as the Sydney Herald in 1831. The Herald's rival, The Daily Telegraph, was first published in July 1879. Weekly newspapers were an important feature of the Australian newspaper scene in the nineteenth century. Illustrated newspapers became increasingly important. They initially featured woodcut engravings and toward the end on the nineteenth century black and white photographs began to appear.

Australia's first foreign-language newspaper, Die Deutsche Post für die australischen Kolonien, was published in Adelaide from 1848 to 1850.[2]

Australia's first national daily newspaper, Daily Commercial News (now Lloyd's List Australia), was first published in April 1891.[5] Only during the second part of the twentieth century did other national newspapers start to be published.[4]

Newspapers played an important role in Australia in the nineteenth century. According to historian and former newspaper man Thomas McCombie in his History of the Colony of Victoria (1858):

the newspaper press constitutes nearly the only literature published in the Australian colonies. It monopolises the greater part of the thought. The newspaper occupy the space of all literature, and stop the channels of information from all other sources; by far the largest class derive no information from any other quarter ...[6]

These sentiments were echoed by Richard Twopeny in Town Life in Australia (1883):

This is essentially the land of newspapers. Nearly everyone can read, and nearly everybody has the leisure to do so ... The proportion of the population who can afford to purchase and subscribe to newspapers is ten times as large as in England; hence the number of sheets issued is comparatively much greater.[7]

This national obsession with newspapers continued into the 20th century so that historian Ken Inglis could note in 1962 that:

Australians are more intensely addicted to daily newspapers than almost all other people in the world ... We buy more than 40 papers a day per 100 of population. Nearly 90 per cent of us usually read, or look at, a morning paper, and 70 per cent an evening paper.[8]

There were 26 metropolitan dailies in 1924, but this had fallen to 14 by the 1960s due to closures and amalgamations.[9] During the same period, the number of separate proprietors had gone from 21 to seven.

During the 1980s and 1990s colour printing and cold offset printing took place in the production of newspapers. Many newspapers became available in electronic form either on CD-ROM or via the World Wide Web.[4]

The disruption of traditional print media by digital media that began late in the 20th century continued into the 21st century. In response, newspapers in Australia closed, amalgamated or laid off staff – by 2011, the top two newspaper owners accounted for 86% of newspaper sales in Australia.[10] All major newspapers and most minor newspapers in Australia now produce a digital version of their publication. Many periodicals produce a digital version only.[11] Further major changes to legacy media in Australia seem inevitable.[12]

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted Australian news media by reducing advertising income. Some titles were closed permanently, while others were suspended for a time.[13][14][15] In response, the Australian government provided financial support for regional media outlets.[16][17]