Press timeline 1901 - 1950

Select chronology of significant Australian press events to 2011 Compiled by Rod Kirkpatrick for the Australian Newspaper History Group 1901 - 1919
YearDateDetails
19011 JanFederation of the Australian colonies
190121 DecFirst issue of World News, weekly issued by Daily Telegraph, Sydney.
1903 Linotype machines installed at Sydney Morning Herald.
19035 AprilFirst issue of Sunday Sun, Sydney
190324 OctFirst issue of Border Morning Mail, Albury (daily)
190711 MarchAustralian Star, Sydney, becomes the Star
190822 AprilFirst photographs in the Melbourne dailies, Age and Argus.
19101 JulySun, Sydney, launched by Hugh Denison; replaces Australian Star.
191010 JuneThe North Queensland Newspaper Co. Limited is formed by the amalgamation of The Townsville Newspaper Co. Limited and The Northern Mining Printing and Publishing Co. Limited. Capital £48,000.
191611 OctFirst issue of Northern Times, Newcastle; forerunner of Newcastle Sun
191823 MarchFirst issue of Newcastle Sun; news all over Page 1
191812 OctFirst issue of Labor News, Sydney
1918DecCharles Brunsdon Fletcher appointed editor of Sydney Morning Herald
19191 MarchFirst issue of Smith’s Weekly, Sydney

 

Select chronology of significant Australian press events to 2011 Compiled by Rod Kirkpatrick for the Australian Newspaper History Group 1921 - 1930
YearDateDetails
192211 SeptFirst issue of Sun News-Pictorial, Melbourne’s first new daily for 31 years; launched by Sydney-based Hugh Denison, publisher of that city’s Sun and modelled on London’s Daily Sketch and Daily Mirror.
19234 AprilHugh Denison launches Evening Sun, Melbourne; it is coloured pink, is sensational and sets out to pick at little faults in the Herald.
19232 JulyDaily Guardian launched in Sydney after Smith’s Newspapers Ltd (publisher of Smith’s Weekly) was incorporated.
192324 JulyFirst issue of new Adeliade evening daily, the News.
1924JanThe Labour News, Sydney, becomes Labor Daily.
1924MarKeith Murdoch becomes managing director of the Herald and Weekly Times Ltd.
192430 MayFirst issue of the News, evening daily, Hobart; ceased 26 December 1925.
192415 SeptBallarat Courier incorporates its older rival daily, the Ballarat Star.
192431 DecAlbury Daily News ceases; incorporated in Border Morning Mail from January 1925.
1925SeptWarwick Oswald Fairfax joins John Fairfax & Sons.
192525 AprilDenison closes Melbourne Evening Sun (lost between £200,000 and £300,000) and sells Sun News-Pictorial to Herald & Weekly Times.
192529 OctFirst issue of Morning Star, Melbourne, daily issued by Victorian Farmers Union; sold at one penny a copy, one-third cheaper than the other dailies. Ceased two years later – with circulation that never exceeded 50,000 – when sold for £31,000 to Pictorial Newspapers Pty Ltd, registered publisher of Sun News-Pictorial. The Farmers Union lost 12s in the £.
1926SeptMurdoch leads Melbourne syndicate to buy Perth West Australian and issues shares to locals to appease concern about interstate control.
19263 SeptThe Shakespeare family, with Thomas Mitchell Shakespeare at its head, launches the Canberra Times as a weekly (eight months before the “temporary” Parliament House is opened in Canberra); paper’s motto: “To serve the National City and through it the Nation.”
19273 MayCanberra Times becomes a bi-weekly.
1927 Ailing Morning Star sold to HWT subsidiary.
192820 FebCanberra Times becomes a daily.
1928 Murdoch-led syndicate buys South Australia’s oldest, sickest paper, the Adelaide Register, tarts it up, cuts cover price and pressures long-time owner of successful Adelaide Advertiser, Sir Langdon Bonython, to sell for £1 million; Register closed 1931.
192818 JulyDeath of Sir James Oswald Fairfax (1863-1928), Partner John Fairfax & Sons, 1889-1916; director, John Fairfax & Sons Ltd, 1916-28.
192929 SeptSunday Guardian, Sydney, launched.
19291 OctSun Newspapers Ltd amalgamates with Samuel Bennett Ltd (flagship: Evening News) to form Associated Newspapers Ltd.
193027 MarchDeath of G.E. Fairfax, a Fairfax director, 1916-20; Warwick Fairfax appointed managing director of John Fairfax and Sons Ltd. Holds this position, then chairmanship (with two-month break in 1961) for 47 years.
1930 The owners of the Adelaide News need the Herald & Weekly Times to save them during the Depression and Keith Murdoch extracts control of the News as the price.
1930JanAssociated Newspapers Ltd acquires Daily and Sunday Guardians, Sydney.

 

Select chronology of significant Australian press events to 2011 Compiled by Rod Kirkpatrick for the Australian Newspaper History Group 1931 - 1940
YearDateDetails
193120 FebFinal issue of Young Daily Witness, New South Wales; Young Witness continues.
193111 MarchBirth of Rupert Keith Murdoch, only son of Keith Murdoch.
193131 MarchFinal issue of Evening News, Sydney
193127 SepFinal issue of Sunday Guardian, Sydney; absorbed into Sunday Sun from 4 October.
19333 JuneKeith Murdoch knighted on recommendation of Lyons Government.
193310 JuneFrank Packer launches Australian Women’s Weekly.
193328 AugMerger of Brisbane Courier and Daily Mail to form the Courier-Mail.
193412 AprilDeath of Robert Clyde Packer, father of Frank Packer.
19351 JulyAustralian Associated Press established.
1936MarchFrank Packer buys and rejuvenates Daily Telegraph.
1936AprilMelbourne Star closes, again leaving the city with no direct afternoon competitor to the Herald.
193730 SeptFirst issue of Illawarra Star, Port Kembla, NSW; bi-weekly (Mon./Thurs. afternoons). Later became a daily.
1938 Australian Newsprint Mills established by eight major newspaper publishers; biggest interests held by Herald 7 Weekly Times and Fairfax. First paper produced February 1941.
193919 NovFirst issue of Sunday Telegraph, Sydney.
194013 JanFinal issue of Sydney Morning Herald evening edition, for country readers.
194013 AprilFinal issue of Evening Star, a Townsville daily.
19401 JulyWartime newsprint rationing comes into effect.

 

Select chronology of significant Australian press events to 2011 Compiled by Rod Kirkpatrick for the Australian Newspaper History Group 1941 - 1950
YearDateDetails
194127 FebNational Security Act passed; controls newspaper production and importation of newsprint.
194112 MayDaily Mirror established as Sydney afternoon newspaper after several changes of heart on the part of the Government (because of newsprint rationing).
194131 JulyFinal issue of Evening News, a Rockhampton daily.
194120 OctSydney Morning Herald adopts new page size.
194126 OctFirst issue of Army News, Darwin; weekly; daily after bombing of Darwin, 19 February 1942; ceased 1 January 1946.
1942OctFormation of Newsprint Pool.
194215 AprilSir Keith Murdoch becomes chairman of the Herald & Weekly Times Ltd.
1944 Sydney Morning Herald makes Page 1 its main news page.
1944AprilClimax of intense dispute between Chief Censor, Garnet Bonney (backed by Arthur Calwell, Information Minister) and all Sydney newspapers proprietors. Papers defy censor; police stop deliveries, resulting in famous picture of policeman pointing revolver at newspaper delivery truck driver; resulting political compromise leads to defeat for Calwell; sharpens his hatred of press owners.
19449-20 OctSydney newspaper strike and composite newspaper publication.
1945AprilGovernment grants publishers a 45 per cent increase in the base year consumption of newsprint.
19457 AugSydney Daily Telegraph publishes special edition about dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
1945 Prime Minister Curtin dies (July); and World War II ends in Europe (May) and the Pacific (August)
19451 OctFirst issue of Central Western Daily, Orange, NSW; results from amalgamation of two tri-weeklies, Orange Leader and Western Advocate, Orange.
19468 Feb“Town Talk”, the first regular front-page column to appear in an Australian newspaper, makes debut in Sydney Daily Telegraph; David McNicoll was the columnist.
1946SeptSydney Sunday papers raise cover price from threepence to fourpence because of newsprint shortage.
1946 Consolidated Press establishes a studio at its offices so its journalists could provide Radio 2UW with a 24-hour news service.
194717 NovSun, Sydney, changes from broadsheet to tabloid format.
194823 AugFairfax launches fortnightly Home
194923 JanFairfax launches Sunday Herald
1949 Sir Keith Murdoch personally controls Adelaide News having convinced the HWT boards to sell its stake to him in return for first option on his holding in Brisbane’s Courier-Mail. British Mirror Group buys Melbourne Argus after failed negotiations in which Prime Minister Chifley had an unofficial hand
19493 OctLithgow Mercury, NSW, becomes a daily
194910 DecWest Australian is last metropolitan daily newspaper to make Page 1 its main news page.
1949DecChifley Labor Government voted out of office; Menzies begins what becomes a 17-year reign as Prime Minister.
19509 JanWollongong’s Illawarra Mercury becomes a daily.
195029 SeptMerger of Home and Woman’s Day magazines to form Woman’s Day and Home.

Updated 25 January 2012