NOOSA NEWS HAD A COLOURFUL BEGINNING
When founding editor Samuel Griffiths established his very own newspaper in 1968, with no idea what he was doing and no idea how successful it would become, ‘why not?’ was the philosophy behind it
THIS year marks the 50th birthday of the Noosa News and, to celebrate, we have put together a special keepsake coffee table book, 50 Years of Noosa 1968-2018 – People, Places and Progress, which is in newsagents now. Bill Griffiths, the son of Noosa News founding editor Samuel Griffiths, became a partner in the family business at the age of 21. What was the reasoning behind starting Noosa’s first newspaper, the Noosa News in 1969? “Why not? “Dad (Sam Griffiths) had the photographic studio and a printing press, a little AB Dick 360 to print our own brochures. Starting our own newspaper seemed logical,” said his son Bill, who retreated to the tranquil shores of Bargara with wife Sue in July last year when Noosa became “too busy”. Looking back, Bill laughs about the fact that no one really knew what they were doing but, somehow, each week, the paper got out. “It was hard work, but it was good fun,” he said. “We’d work six days a week and there was no such thing as a holiday.” And to the news that the Noosa News was still going strong 50 years later, Bill said: “Who’d have thunk it?” The free weekly paper was printed in a tin shed behind the owner’s house in Poinciana Avenue, Tewantin. “At the start there was just Mum and Dad and Sue and myself. We had three typewriters and it just grew and grew,” Bill said. “The paper grew and so did the town.” Development came to Noosa in the 1970s, more than doubling the population from around 7000 to more than 17,000 in just 10 years. Today, more than 52,000 people call Noosa home. This enormous growth – and the people who made Noosa what is is today – are the subject of 50 Years of Noosa and their stories make for interesting reading. Priced at just $9.95, it’s the perfect Christmas present for everyone who loves Noosa.