Become a digital subscriber and you’ll never miss a beat
Do you love to know what’s making news across Far North Queensland - and the country? As a subscriber, you can unlock all of our unparalleled news and sport coverage, with complete access to the full suite of our reporting as stories and breaking news unf
As a Cairns Post subscriber, you will help ensure we keep acting as a voice for the community on key issues such as crime, housing, development, industry and more.
And when news breaks, you’ll be among the first to know about it.
“When you subscribe to the Cairns Post, you are helping to fund local journalism – it’s so important for a region like Far North Queensland to have its own news service, acting as a voice for the community and keeping those in power accountable,” editor Tyla Harrington said.
UNLOCK ACCESS TO LOCAL AND NATIONAL NEWS
Your digital subscription gives you full access to www.cairnspost.com.au, unlocking every premium story from the Cairns Post and the Weekend Post, as well as all content from the News Corp Australia network and our sister mastheads across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.
It also includes access to our digital print edition and smartphone/tablet app.
We’ll bring you the latest important developments – locally, nationally and internationally – on our homepage, seven days a week.
Cairns Post subscribers enjoy unrestricted digital access to our website on all devices, giving analysis, insight, opinion and breaking news from the experienced team of reporter and photographers.
DIGITAL PRINT EDITION
Enjoy reading the daily paper? With a subscription you can access the Cairns Post and the Weekend Post digital print edition on your computer, tablet or phone – the newspaper exactly as it’s printed but available on digital devices.
PERSONALISED CONTENT
As a subscriber, you have the power to build your own personalised news feed filled with stories on the topics that interest you most.
It’s called My News Feed, and all you need to do is hit the “Follow” button on our various section modules. You can even choose to follow specific journalists or columnists, and set your region on the My Local tab to get stories specific to the area where you live.
Once you’ve built your preferences, stories aligned to your interests will appear in the My News Feed module just under the top stories on our homepage.
EMAIL NEWSLETTERS
We bring the news to you – whether you’re a political news junkie, a sports nut or a food and wine lover, our newsletters email our best stories straight to your inbox.
And subscribers get more with specially curated AM Briefing newsletters – a snappy, entertaining summary of the day’s key headlines written by our senior editors. Simply select which ones you do or don’t want to receive at our newsletters hub.
ACCESS TO OUR APP
The Cairns Post app is free to download, but with a digital subscription you have premium access which allows you to access all the content as well as personalise your news feed and breaking news notifications.
The app also includes
Today’s Paper – the popular digital print edition. Just go to the Apple App Store or Google Play Store to download it on to your device.
SUBSCRIBER REWARDS
Our member benefits program +Rewards is available only to digital subscribers. Updated
monthly, check out what’s available exclusively to members at www.cairnspost.com.au/rewards – you must be an eligible subscriber to redeem and access these offers.
NATIONAL COVERAGE
You don’t just get access to Cairns Post content with your
subscription. You will also have full access to The Courier Mail, The Daily Telegraph, the Herald Sun, the Gold Coast Bulletin, the Townsville Bulletin and other regional and hyper local News Corp mastheads.
ADD PAPER DELIVERY
Did you know you are able to add newspaper home delivery
to a digital-only Cairns Post subscription?
It doesn’t cost much to have the papers included with your subscription.
Call our distribution team on 1800 070 535 if you wish to discuss upgrading your subscription to include paper delivery.
pands what we’ve always known how to do.
“Nothing will take away the power of print but by being digital-first, we’re offering our readers news at their fingertips via our app, website or social media sites. The Cairns Post is wherever you are and history shows that’s always been the case.”
Today the Cairns Post is the city’s oldest business, having reported on cyclones, floods, and 90 per cent of North Queenslanders voting to join the Australian colonies in the 1899 federation referendum.
The first edition of the Cairns Post was published by founder and businessman Frederick Thomas Wimble.
For four years Mr Wimble printed the Cairns Post as a thin, weekly paper. During his tenure, the paper reported on civic meetings and advocated for important projects including the rail line linking Cairns to the Tablelands.
At the time, Cairns was regarded as a raw and coarse town.
In 1889, a Canadian journalist remarked: “Cairns, I should think, has one hotel for every store and shop in the place, and does not let them languish”.
The paper saw fit to duly report on acts of lawlessness, including cases of “furious riding”, the 1880s equivalent of drunken driving – one report documented a man riding his horse into an Abbott St bar. In May 1887 the Cairns Post became a bi-weekly paper but folded during the bank crash of 1893 when Mr Wimble lost his fortune.
The brand was re-established in 1895 as The Morning Post by eventual five-time mayor of Cairns Alec Draper, finally becoming a daily paper in 1904 when it sold for one
penny per copy.
After moving into its famous Abbott St colonnade building in 1908, Mr Draper rebranded the paper back to the Cairns Post in 1909.
The paper remained in the hands of the Draper family for another 56 years.
In that time, it took over rival papers The Advocate, Cairns Times, Cairns Argus and Daily Times, all of which the Cairns Post had lambasted in its reporting.
The Advocate, for example, was called “the Lake Street Fish Bait Wrapper”, and the Daily Times – which closed sensationally after four
months of operations when its editor assaulted a policeman – was labelled “the Mangrove Times”.
When the Trinity Times closed in 1910, Cairns became a one-newspaper town.
In 1965 the paper was bought by Queensland Press Ltd, which was itself acquired by what is now known as News Corp Australia in 1987, although it retained its branding.
The paper reported on significant milestones that contributed to the region’s status as an iconic tourism destination, including the 1984 opening of Cairns International
Airport terminal, the 1987 opening of Tjapukai Dance Theatre and the visiting of the Sydney Olympic torch to the Great Barrier Reef in 2000.
In the two decades following the turn of the millennium the paper played its part in successful campaigns to upgrade the city’s health infrastructure; and more recently, the paper has campaigned for the state government to address the region’s youth crime rates.
The Cairns Post moved from its Abbott St address in 2022 after more than a century of residence and relocated to 111 Grafton St.