NEWS OF NORTH IS OUR STORY
As North Queensland’s only surviving newspaper of the pioneering era, the Townsville Bulletin is celebrating 140 years of reporting.
The first edition of the Townsville Bulletin, published on September 5, 1881, bears little resemblance to today’s paper.
For the first 16 months of production the paper was a thin, biweekly edition.
The paper became a daily and was renamed The Townsville Daily Bulletin on January 1, 1883.
While the Townsville Bulletin was formed in 1883, its roots go back to 1866 with The Cleveland Bay Herald and Northern Pioneer.
Those papers became the Cleveland Bay Express and later the Townsville Herald.
The formation of the Townsville Newspaper Company in 1884 led to the Herald’s acquisition and later merger with The Townsville Daily Bulletin.
The Bulletin was formed by John Mehan, Edward Rhode and Dodd S. Clarke.
In his book, Paper Power in North Queensland – a History of Journalism in Townsville and Charters Towers, former Townsville Daily Bulletin manager James Manion commented that the three partners represented a rather strange mix.
“The youthful and athletic
printer, Mehan, barely 21; the Danish compositor Edward Rhode, aged 27; and Dodd S. Clarke, at 32 the eldest of the three, an insolvent auctioneer and commission agent who was an early adventurer in the exploration of the coast from Cardwell to the Endeavour River.
“Clarke had received an English university education and proved to be the man to add the spark of life to the words, which would cause their paper to survive and prosper where all others perished,” he wrote.
Clarke was a strong advocate for northern separation at a time when Townsville businessman and citizens were campaigning for the creation of a northern state.
From conception until 1972, a period of more than 90 years, the paper had just three editors – Clarke, Humphrey David
Green and Jim Gibbard. Since Townsville’s settlement in 1866, more than 22 newspapers have been published at various stages in the city’s history. The Bulletin is the only one of those papers to survive.
As the paper grew, the Bulletin moved into larger premises on the southeastern corner of Flinders and Stanley streets in 1886.
The Bulletin remained there until it moved across the street in 1896 to a building that had a yard butting on to Flinders Lane, later renamed Ogden St.
The paper’s first press, an Inglis machine, could produce 250 copies an hour. In 1897 the installation of a Cox Duplex machine saw production ramp up to 5000 papers an hour.
The new press brought the paper to the forefront of technology and was the first press of its type in the Southern Hemisphere.
This press replaced the double feeder Wharfdale, installed in December 1888, which was capable of printing 2500 copies an hour of a four page paper.
In 1909 the paper moved from its Stokes St premises to the southwestern corner of Flinders and Stanley streets.
In 1911, the Townsville Newspaper Company (formed in 1910) and The Northern Miner Printing and Publishing Company amalgamated.
On October 17, 1912, tragedy struck when the Bulletin’s twostorey building was gutted by fire.
Employees were forced to flee the inferno and two decades of records were destroyed, including complete archives of The Townsville Herald, The Townsville Bulletin and The Northern Register.
Despite the destruction, the crew proved the old industry adage that “the paper always comes out”.
A small publication was put out on October 19, using the Evening Star’s equipment.
The company took on a sixmonth lease for a building in Stokes St as well as a storage shed on the concrete wharf until it moved to another Flinders St site in May 1913.
More building works took place in 1923 and in 1925 additions were made to the building.
In 1935 and 1938, bulk stores were built in Ogden St.
The Bulletin eventually moved to the Ogden St site in 1968.
In 1976 the Bulletin’s presses were forced to stop for a record 33 days by a printers’ strike.
The action caused major disruptions throughout the city’s retail industry, which relied heavily on print advertising.
The North Queensland Newspaper Company Limited, an independent company described as “the last plum on the newspaper tree”, was acquired by Rupert Murdoch’s News Limited Company in 1983.
In 1995 a new state-of-theart printing plant was commis
On October 17, 1912, tragedy struck when the Bulletin’s two-storey building was gutted by fire. Employees were forced to flee the inferno and two decades of records were destroyed ... despite the destruction, the crew proved the old industry adage that ‘the paper always comes out’.
sioned at Flinders St West. It was completed in September 1997 at a total cost of $28m and included the installation of a Manroland Uniman press.
On October 27, 1997, the Townsville Bulletin abandoned its stance as one of the few remaining broadsheet publications for an easier read tabloid newspaper.
Management at the time said that despite transitional teething problems, the changes had sparked a new era for the paper.
The newspaper was at the forefront of developing engagement with its readers through initiatives such as
Text the Editor, which was introduced in 2005.
The paper continued to prosper and the Townsville Bulletin was awarded News Limited’s Regional Newspaper of the Year in 2009.
The years from 1997 saw incredible growth in demand for full colour advertising, which the Uniman press could not deliver; it could only produce every second page in colour.
So the pressure was on to source and install a full colour newspaper press.
Again, Manroland was selected and a brand new Geoman press took pride of place in the new, expanded $52m facility. Commissioning took place in 2010 and world’s best practice newspaper production commenced and launched a brand new era for newspaper production in North Queensland.
In 2012 the Bulletin moved from its Ogden St premises to a bright new building at 538 Flinders St, across from the company’s press site.
Since then the paper has led the way in developing a digital news platform for the city with townsvillebulletin.com.au visited by thousands of residents every day.
The website and digital app allows people to stay up-todate with the latest news 24hours a day from anywhere in the world.
To start its journey into its 140th year, the Bulletin has moved to a new location at 62 Walker St, Townsville city and has also launched a new website.
The new website has been rebuilt from the ground up to be faster, smarter, less congested and much more userfriendly.
It’s also designed to help readers quickly find the local news that matters to them, no matter where they live in North Queensland or around the world.