The ''Geelong Advertiser'' is a daily newspaper circulating in

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, the

Bellarine Peninsula The Bellarine Peninsula ( Wathawurrung: ''Balla-wein'' or ''Biteyong'') is a peninsula located south-west of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, surrounded by Port Phillip, Corio Bay and Bass Strait. The peninsula, together with the Mornington ...

, and surrounding areas. First published on 21 November 1840, the ''Geelong Advertiser'' is the oldest newspaper title in Victoria and the second-oldest in Australia. The newspaper is currently owned by

News Corp News Corporation, stylized as News Corp, is an American mass media and publishing company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The second incarnation of the News Corporation (1980–2013), original News Corporation, it was formed ...

. It was the Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers Association 2009 Newspaper of the Year (circulation 25,000 to 90,000).

History

The ''Geelong Advertiser'' was initially edited by James Harrison, a Scottish emigrant, who had arrived in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

in 1837 to set up a

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in wh ...

for the English company Tegg & Co. Moving to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

in 1839, he found employment with

John Pascoe Fawkner John Pascoe Fawkner (20 October 1792 – 4 September 1869) was an early Australian pioneer, businessman and politician of Melbourne, Australia. In 1835 he financed a party of free settlers from Van Diemen's Land (now called Tasmania), to sail ...

, as a compositor, and later editor, of Fawkner's '' Port Phillip Patriot''. When Fawkner acquired a new press, Harrison offered him £30 for the original press, and started Geelong's first newspaper. The first edition of the ''Geelong Advertiser'', which originally appeared weekly, was published on Saturday 21 November 1840, edited by 'James Harrison and printed and published for John Pascoe Fawkner (sole proprietor) by William Watkins...' Its first editorial offered the following

doggerel Doggerel, or doggrel, is poetry that is irregular in rhythm and in rhyme, often deliberately for burlesque or comic effect. Alternatively, it can mean verse which has a monotonous rhythm, easy rhyme, and cheap or trivial meaning. The word is deri ...

: By November 1842 Harrison had become the sole owner of the paper. For the first seven years it was printed in demi-folio size before changing to

broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper format), ta ...

. In 1858 the newspaper retired the original wooden press, adopted new typography, and was printed by a mechanised steam press. From 1845-1847, the newspaper was named the 'Geelong Advertiser, and Squatters Advocate'. The first edition under this title published on 28 May 1845. The newspaper did not feature news on the front page until 21 June 1924, coinciding with the inauguration of a new printing press. Before that time the front page was devoted to

classified advertising Classified advertising is a form of advertising, particularly common in newspapers, online and other periodicals, which may be sold or distributed free of charge. Classified advertisements are much cheaper than larger display advertisements used ...

. Trials of a tabloid-sized paper were made in 2000, when a Sunday edition was printed for the

Sydney 2000 Olympic Games The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

. The large

paper size was used until 2001, when the newspaper changed to the tabloid format which has been used since.

References

External links

''The Geelong Advertiser''

Interview with Peter Judd, editor
* * Digitise
''World War I Victorian newspapers''
from the State Library of Victoria {{Authority control Publications established in 1840 1840 establishments in Australia Newspapers published in Victoria (Australia) Mass media in Geelong News Corp Australia Daily newspapers published in Australia Newspapers on Trove

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links