Homecoming for Addy
THE recent announcement that the Geelong Advertiser will soon be moving to Little Malop St represents something of a homecoming for the local icon.
The Addy had first moved to Little Malop St in 1889 to a site one door removed from Union St. At the time the address was referred to as Market Square, the name given to any of the sites facing the square along Little Malop, Moorabool, Malop and Yarra streets.
Market Square in 1889 was still largely open space, the exception being the Exhibition Building, the Market Square clock tower and a market building facing Little Malop St. The Solomon Building was erected in 1912 and the Block Buildings followed in the 1920s.
The Addy later expanded its Little Malop St office, announcing it had moved into its impressive new headquarters on October 20, 1928.
“A notable addition to the architecture of Geelong city’s streets is provided by the extension of the Advertiser office,” the paper said proudly.
The new premises, which also stretched along Union St, was soon to become the first home of the Geelong Advertiser’s own radio station, 3GL, which began broadcasting in December, 1930.
The inclusion of 3GL in the premises saw the erection of a radio mast on the Lt Malop St building.
But the premises could only cope with a certain amount of expansion and so, in 1960, the Geelong Advertiser moved to its current site in Ryrie St. The move to Ryrie St enabled the paper to install a larger press, known as a Crabtree Standard rotary press, which served the newspaper until the 1990s when the Geelong Advertiser moved to colour printing offsite.
The Addy’s first office in 1840 had been a small fourroomed building on the north side of Malop St, between Yarra and Bellerine streets. In October, 1841, the paper moved to larger premises at the bay end of Yarra St.
Various offices in Malop and Moorabool streets followed before the paper settled at its Lt Malop St address in 1889. Contact: peterjohnbegg@gmail.com