WE’RE STILL BY YOUR SIDE
EXACTLY 135 years ago today the first Gold Coast newspaper, which would one day grow into the Bulletin, was published.
Irish firebrand Patrick Joseph Macnamara had arrived in the sleepy fishing village of Southport and set about giving the community of some 300 a weekly Saturday paper of four pages, under a masthead that proudly declared the news product as The Southern Queensland Bulletin. He also immersed himself in local politics.
Fast forward 135 years and it is unlikely you will find an editor stepping into that civic position here, but the Bulletin fiercely maintains its tradition of taking a big role in the city’s affairs.
When Macnamara packed up his family and went to South America, the paper underwent several changes of ownership and name changes.
Up until 1963 it was being published as the South Coast Bulletin but on May 8 that year, it adopted a new masthead, calling itself the Gold Coast Bulletin and proudly proclaiming a “busy, modern look”. In 1987 it was bought by News Limited in a deal that also included The Herald and Weekly Times and Queensland Newspapers. We are now owned and published by News Corp.
Traditions don’t die and, having been here for Gold Coasters through world wars and indeed pandemic, the Bulletin maintains its position as a champion of its community.
When the railway line between the Gold Coast and Brisbane was torn up in 1964, the Bulletin was determined that it should be rebuilt and campaigned relentlessly until the line was reopened in 1996. The fight continues to have the line completed from Varsity Lakes to Coolangatta, where even in the old days of steam, trains were able to provide freight and passenger services.
The Bulletin continues the fight to also push light rail through to the airport, and for the inadequate M1 to be upgraded and for an alternative motorway and a serious upgrading of service roads and motorway interchanges to be completed.
We fought hard with the city and state to host the hugely successful Commonwealth Games. We have applauded heroes and pursued rogues.
Recently we have fought against the scourge of bikies, drugs and violence – cancers eating away at the Gold Coast, with domestic violence acknowledged by authorities as a huge threat to society.
But the coronavirus pandemic could well be the greatest battle faced yet, certainly since World War II. This matter has yet to be played out in full, but the Bulletin makes a commitment to its readers, its friends and critics, and importantly to all in the community it serves to stay the course.
You need to know what is happening. Gold Coasters can watch government leaders announcing important decisions online with the Bulletin and on TV. We are constantly updating the local reports you need to know about online and then in added detail in the following day’s print newspaper.
The Bulletin remains your friend and your watchdog. Our journalists are working around the clock – literally – seven days a week as our city faces what could prove to be its biggest crisis. They are under pressure, like many in others in our community. We are here to help, to report the news and to keep you informed.
We will not let you down.