Townsville Bulletin

Newspaper in Queensland, Australia

Front page of the Townsville Bulletin
6 October 2007

Type| Monday - Saturday newspaper
Format| Tabloid
Owner(s)| News Corp Australia[1]
Publisher| Queensland Newspapers
Editor| Cas Garvey
Founded| 1881
Language| English
Headquarters| Townsville, Australia
Shop 2, 62 Walker St
Townsville QLD 4810
Circulation| 84,000 Monday-Friday
104,000 Saturday
Website| townsvillebulletin.com.au

The Townsville Bulletin is a daily newspaper published in Townsville, Queensland, Australia, formerly known as the Townsville Daily Bulletin. It is the only daily paper that serves the northern Queensland region. The paper has a print edition, a subscription digital edition and a website.[2]

The newspaper is published by The North Queensland Newspaper Company Pty Ltd, which has been a subsidiary of News Limited since 1984.[3][4] News Limited is Australia's largest newspaper publisher and a subsidiary of News Corporation associated with Rupert Murdoch.

The Bulletin is published Monday through Saturday, with a higher price on the Saturday edition.[5] It is in tabloid format.

## History

[edit]

The town of Townsville's early newspaper was The Cleveland Bay Herald and Northern Pioneer which came into existence on 3 March 1866, which was soon renamed as the Cleveland Bay Express, and later became the Townsville Herald.[6] The Townsville Bulletin was then established on 5 September 1881 by Edward Rhode, John Kiley Mehan (–1941) and Dodd Smith Clarke (–July 1918).[7][6][8] Rhode, Mehan, and Clarke had previously started a newspaper in Cairns.[9]

Co-founder and first editor Clarke was credited as 'mainly instrumental through his brilliant writings in making the venture the success it proved'.[10][11] It was priced at three pence, a 50% reduction on that of the two other local newspapers, and became a daily publication on 1 January 1883.[8] Out of this, the North Queensland Bulletin was launched as a weekly journal by mid-1883.[8]

With the formation of the Townsville Newspaper Company in 1884, the Townsville Herald was acquired, and later merged into the Bulletin.[8] It would appear as the North Queensland Herald.

The Bulletin offices were first in a premises on the eastern side of Stokes Street, before moving to a larger premises at south-eastern corner of Flinders and Stanley Streets from 1887 to 1896. The company then moved to the south-western corner of the intersection, until November 1908 when they moved further west on Flinders Street to a two-story building.[8] Prior to air conditioning systems, the building was selected for cool air flow, and had installed an electric fan system.

The original newspaper was printed on a double demy Albion hand press, followed about 1883 by a gas engine powering a small single feeder Inglis machine – which printed two pages at a time, resulting in 250 newspapers an hour – before settling on a Cox Duplex rotary self-feeding and folding machine, able to turn out 1000 eight-page broadsheet by 1909.[8] Electricity had also been installed, but with gas lighting maintained in case of emergency.

Staffing-wise, the 1881 start saw three proprietors and a boy; by 1909, eight staff had over twenty years service with the company.[8]

A fire of the premises on 18 October 1912 destroyed much of the newspaper's early records.[12] Described as completely gutted other than for the strong-room, insurance amounts totalled £13,680.[13] The newspaper continued for the moment between the Evening Star and Northern Miner offices.[14]

The Bulletin was later amalgamated with The Northern Miner,[6] and in 1940, it incorporated The Townsville Evening Star.[15]

## Modern era

[edit]

In 1984, the Townsville Daily Bulletin was acquired by News Corp Australia and renamed as the Townsville Bulletin.[15][4]

The newspaper chartered a Boeing 747 to take North Queensland fans to the 2005 NRL grand final, the Cowboys' first.[16]

It was awarded News Limited's Regional Newspaper of the Year in 2009.[citation needed]

Along with nearly every other News Corp newspaper, the Bulletin endorsed the Liberal Party in its editorial on the 2019 Australian federal election.[17]

## Personnel

[edit]

* John Gagliardi, editor, 1970s
* Geoff Hill, journalist, 1980s.
* Christopher Mitchell, journalist, 1970s.
* Alexander Vindex Vennard, writer under the pen names of Bill Bowyang, Frank Reid, and Maurice Deane, 1920s to 1940s. Vennard also wrote for The North Queensland Register.

## Aerial photos and maps

[edit]

"satellite view of Townsville Bulletin" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved 1 October 2011. (requires Javascript)

## Digitisation

[edit]

The paper has been digitised as part of the Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program of the National Library of Australia.[18][19]

## See also

[edit]

* Media in Townsville

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Townsville Bulletin | NewsSpace". Archived from the original on 30 April 2013. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
2. ^ "Townsville Bulletin - Local and Regional News Townsville, Queensland, Australia". The North Queensland Newspaper Company Pty Ltd. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
3. ^ "The North Queensland Newspaper Company Pty. Limited: Private Company Information - BusinessWeek". Bloomberg L.P. Archived from the original on 8 October 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
4. ^ a b BHP Billiton Our World History Series: Townsville Bulletin, 2013.
5. ^ "Townsville Bulletin". Archived from the original on 10 March 2007.
6. ^ a b c "Early Townsville". Townsville Daily Bulletin. Queensland, Australia. 31 October 1945. p. 7. Retrieved 22 June 2020 – via Trove.
7. ^ "State Library of Western Australia Online Catalogue/All Locations". Government of Western Australia, Department of Health, WA Health Libraries Network. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
8. ^ a b c d e f g "Townsville Newspaper Company". Townsville Daily Bulletin. Queensland, Australia. 4 February 1909. p. 2. Retrieved 22 June 2020 – via Trove.
9. ^ "Dodd S. CLARKE". Townsville Daily Bulletin. Queensland, Australia. 25 July 1918. p. 4. Retrieved 22 June 2020 – via Trove.
10. ^ "Death of D. S. CLARKE". The Northern Herald. Queensland, Australia. 25 July 1918. p. 6. Retrieved 22 June 2020 – via Trove.
11. ^ "Archival Holdings Home. North Queensland Newspaper Company Archive". James Cook University Library. James Cook University. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
12. ^ "Historical Notes on North Queensland Newspapers". James Cook University Library. James Cook University. 19 October 2015. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
13. ^ "The Townsville Bulletin Fire". The Northern Miner. Queensland, Australia. 19 October 1912. p. 3. Retrieved 22 June 2020 – via Trove.
14. ^ "Townsville Bulletin Fire". The Northern Miner. Queensland, Australia. 18 October 1912. p. 5. Retrieved 22 June 2020 – via Trove.
15. ^ a b "Townsville Daily Bulletin". AusLit. 12 November 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
16. ^ Baynes, Dan (28 September 2005). "Tigers Face Cowboys as Australia Gets 500/1 NRL Final". bloomberg.com. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
17. ^ "With minor exceptions, the Murdoch press opposes Shorten". 17 May 2019.
18. ^ "Newspaper and magazine titles". Trove. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
19. ^ "Newspaper Digitisation Program". Trove. Retrieved 24 July 2015.

## External links

[edit]

* Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld. : 1907 - 1954) at Trove

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