The ''Blackwater Herald'' was a weekly newspaper published in Blackwater, Queensland from 5 August 1978 until 2 February 2016.(2 February 2016
A valuable record
''The Blackwater Herald''. Retrieved 28 September 2020. With the slogan "the coal country newspaper", the ''Blackwater Herald'' had a strong focus on the town of Blackwater which was experiencing rapid

population growth Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 83 million annually, or 1.1% per year. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to ...

at the time the newspaper was launched due to the coal mining boom in the district. The newspaper also published local news and information pertaining to other communities within the

Duaringa Shire The Shire of Duaringa was a local government area in the Capricornia region of Queensland, Australia. Duaringa Shire covered an area of 18,201 square kilometres and had a population of 6,744 according to the . On 15 March 2008 the shires of Du ...

such as Bluff,

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and

Duaringa Duaringa is a town in the Central Highlands Region and a locality split between the Central Highlands Region and the Aboriginal Shire of Woorabinda in Central Queensland, Australia. In the , Duaringa had a population of 262 people. Geography ...

. The ''Blackwater Herald'' was originally independently owned but was bought by

Australian Provincial Newspapers News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of the American News Corp. One of Australia's largest media conglomerates, News Corp Australia employs more than 8,000 staff nationwide and approximately 3,000 ...

in 1992. The last edition of the ''Blackwater Herald'' was published on 2 February 2016. The ''Blackwater Herald'' closure was first mooted the previous year when it was revealed the newspaper was struggling to survive, and requested support from the Blackwater community. After the final edition was published, there was a brief attempt to incorporate a ''Blackwater Herald''-branded "lift-out" in the Wednesday edition of

Emerald Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6) colored green by trace amounts of chromium or sometimes vanadium.Hurlbut, Cornelius S. Jr. and Kammerling, Robert C. (1991) ''Gemology'', John Wiley & Sons, New York, p ...

's bi-weekly newspaper ''

Central Queensland News The ''Central Queensland News'' is an online newspaper located in Emerald, Queensland, Australia. From 1937 to 2020, the ''CQ News'' was published as a print edition, providing coverage of local news and events from the Central Highlands and Is ...

'' which featured a selected array of local news articles from Blackwater. However, this was soon phased out as the ''Central Queensland News'' moved from a bi-weekly newspaper to a weekly publication in 2016 before being discontinued entirely in 2020 as part of a wider

News Corp Australia News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of the American News Corp. One of Australia's largest media conglomerates, News Corp Australia employs more than 8,000 staff nationwide and approximately 3,00 ...

cull of regional mastheads.Hendry, Megan; Stunzner, Inga (29 May 2020
News Corp stops the presses on central Queensland newspapers as mastheads move online
'' ABC News''. Retrieved 28 September 2020.

References

1978 establishments in Australia 2016 disestablishments in Australia Newspapers established in 1978 Publications disestablished in 2016 Defunct newspapers published in Queensland {{Australia-newspaper-stub