''The Naracoorte Herald'' is a weekly newspaper first published in Naracoorte, South Australia on 14 December 1875. It was later sold to Rural Press, previously owned by Fairfax Media, but now an Australian media company trading as Australian Community Media.

History

''The Narracoorte Herald'' was founded in 1875 by Andrew F. Laurie (1843–1920) and John Watson (–1925) as an offshoot of their ''

Border Watch ''Border Watch'' is an adventure module for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game, set in the game's World of Greyhawk campaign setting. Plot summary The adventure takes place on the border between the Kingdom of Furyondy and ...

'' and run by

John B. Mather John B Mather ( – 31 January 1892) was the son of Scottish immigrants and became a Canadian businessman and politician. Mather was born in Islington, Canada West. Mather's early introduction to business was as an employee of Frank Smith, ...

and Archibald Caldwell (1855–1942), who had learned the trade at the ''Border Watch''. Caldwell left soon after, and the paper was purchased by Mather and George Ash and they ran the business until 1889. In that year Mather and Ash were successfully sued by William Hutchison, J.P., for a libel accusing the wealthy squatter of

dummying A dummy purchaser is an agent who buys property on behalf of another, usually to conceal the true purpose of the acquisition. For instance, a shopping mall developer may hire a dummy buyer to purchase the needed vacant lots. Disclosing the principal ...

, and giving the opinion that Justices of the Peace should be free of such taint. Considerable sympathy was felt by the farming community for Ash and Mather, and they had a legislative council champion in

A. M. Simpson Alfred Muller Simpson (4 April 1843 – 28 September 1917), invariably known as Alfred M. Simpson or A. M. Simpson, was a South Australian industrialist, a principal of the manufacturing firm of A. Simpson & Son. He was a member of the South A ...

, but after a Supreme Court trial under

Justice Boucaut Sir James Penn Boucaut (;) (29 October 1831 – 1 February 1916) was a South Australian politician and Australian judge. He was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly on four occasions: from 1861 to 1862 for City of Adelaide, from ...

lasting ten days, Hutchison was vindicated, and Mather and Ash lost all they had. The paper was forced to close at the end of August 1889; publishing resumed with the issue of 25 October after Archibald returned to purchase the business, and with his brother Dugald Caldwell ran it until his death. Dugald then took over the business, assisted by his niece Jean Anderson. In 1912, a nearby publication, the ''Tatiara and Lawloit News'' (13 June 1908 – 15 June 1912), which also printed in Naracoorte, was absorbed. In 1948, Dugald sold the business to James L. Thomson, a long-serving employee, and along with a new owner came an updated name, ''The Naracoorte Herald''. The Post Office, Railways and other government departments had standardised the town's spelling to "Naracoorte" before 1896, but like the editor of the '' Narandera Argus'', Archibald Caldwell doggedly stuck to the original orthography. In another modernisation, and given the evolution of the media in the post-war era, a collaboration was also in place between the ''Herald'', Mount Gambier's ''

'' and Bordertown's ''

Border Chronicle ''The'' ''Border Chronicle'' is a weekly newspaper published in Bordertown, South Australia from June 1908 to the present day. Its head office is in Smith Street, Naracoorte. It was later sold to Rural Press, previously owned by Fairfax Media, bu ...

''. Harry and Margaret Peake bought the paper in 1958 and their son Richard Peake and his wife Judith Barton took over in 1979. It was owned by

Fairfax Regional Media Australian Community Media (ACM) is a media company in Australia responsible for over 160 regional publications. Its mastheads include the '' Canberra Times'', '' Newcastle Herald'', '' The Examiner'', ''The Border Mail'', '' The Courier'' and ...

from October 2010 to 2019. ''The'' ''Naracoorte Herald'' temporarily ceased operations in March 2020 and resumed printing in July 2020. In May 2020, a rival weekly publication, ''The Naracoorte Community News'' (stylised as ''Naracoorte Community: The News''), began printing while the ''Herald'' was suspended.

Distribution

The newspaper serves the regions around the towns of

Lucindale Lucindale is a small town in the south-east of South Australia. The town is located south east of the state capital, Adelaide. At the 2006 census, Lucindale had a population of 301. The town is best known for hosting the annual South East Fiel ...

, Penola, Padthaway and Frances. Like other Rural Press publications, the newspaper is also available online.

Digitisation

Australian National Library's carries images and text versions of the newspaper from 1875 to 1954, accessible using Trove, the on-line newspaper retrieval service.

References

External links

''Naracoorte Herald'' website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Narracoorte Herald Publications established in 1875 Newspapers published in South Australia Weekly newspapers published in Australia