The ''Daily News'', historically a successor of ''The Inquirer'' and ''The Inquirer and Commercial News'', was an afternoon daily English language newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia, from 1882 to 1990, though its origin is traceable from 1840.

History

One of the early newspapers of the Western Australian colony was '' The Inquirer'', established by Francis Lochee and William Tanner on 5 August 1840. Lochee became sole proprietor and editor in 1843 until May 1847 when he sold the operation to the paper's former

compositor Compositor may refer to: * Compositor (typesetting), a person or machine which arranged movable type for printing ** Paige Compositor, a device developed to replace manual compositors, which was a commercial failure * Compositing software, used i ...

Edmund Stirling. In July 1855, ''The Inquirer'' merged with the recently established ''Commercial News and Shipping Gazette'', owned by Robert John Sholl, as ''

The Inquirer & Commercial News ''The Inquirer & Commercial News'' was a newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia from 1855 to 1901. In May 1847, Edmund Stirling acquired ''The Inquirer'' from Francis Lochée, who established the paper in August 1840 together with Will ...

''. It ran under the joint ownership of Stirling and Sholl. Sholl departed and, from April 1873, the paper was produced by Stirling and his three sons, trading as Stirling & Sons. Edmund Stirling retired five years later and his three sons took control as Stirling Bros and Co, Ltd. Stirling Bros launched the ''Daily News'' on 26 July 1882. After 28 June 1901 ''The Inquirer & Commercial News'' was incorporated into the ''Daily News''.

1980–1990

Competition from television evening news resulted in losses in circulation and eventual cessation of most Australian afternoon newspapers. The ''Daily News'' came to be a wholly owned subsidiary of West Australian Newspapers (WAN), formerly itself a subsidiary of the Melbourne-based Herald and Weekly Times organisation. In the late 1980s, WAN was acquired by the ill-fated Bond Corporation's subsidiary the Bell Group. In 1986, Holmes à Court sold the ''Daily News'' to a small company headed by businessman Simon Hadfield. The newspaper moved to a renovated pie factory on the outskirts of the CBD. Its last issue was on 11 September 1990. Former staff hold 5-yearly reunions. On 2 May 1990, British publishing magnate Robert Maxwell's UK-based Mirror Group bought 14.9 per cent of Bell from the group's managing director, David Aspinall. However, the deal did not proceed, being opposed by the federal government under its media foreign ownership policy. The

Government of Western Australia The Government of Western Australia, formally referred to as His Majesty's Government of Western Australia, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of Western Australia. It is also commonly referred to as the WA Government o ...

legislated to retrospectively place the ''Daily News'' beyond the jurisdiction of the (federal) Trade Practices Commission—a move which the Liberal Opposition condemned as prejudicial to Commonwealth-State relations. The paper was then defunct and in receivership, owing over $15 million, mainly to ''The West Australian'' for production costs. WAN was the subject of a successful stock-market float in 1992, following closure of the ''Daily News''.

Notable former journalists

Alfred Carson Alfred Carson OBE (7 November 1859 – 24 August 1944) was an Australian journalist and social worker. Biography Carson was born at Upper Swan in Western Australia to wheelwright George Carson and Charlot, ''née'' Hadley. After attending gove ...

John Cornell John Cornell (2 March 1941 – 23 July 2021) was an Australian actor, director, producer, writer, and businessman. He was best known for his role as "Strop" on ''The Paul Hogan Show'', and he was instrumental in the introduction of World Serie ...

* James Cruthers *

Frank Devine Frank Devine (17 December 1931 – 3 July 2009) was a New Zealand–born Australian newspaper editor and journalist. Devine was born in the South Island city of Blenheim and started his career there aged 17 as a cadet on the ''Marlborough Exp ...

(editor, ''Weekend News'') * Alison Fan *

Kim Hagdorn Kim John Hagdorn (born 8 April 1955) is a former first-class cricketer and Australian sports journalist. Cricket career Hagdorn was selected as a right-arm medium-fast bowler and played the opening match for the West Australian first-class cri ...

* Bill Lang (senior reporter and back page columnist – "Lang's Look") * Alan Langoulant (cartoonist) *

Arthur Lovekin Arthur Lovekin (12 November 1859 – 10 December 1931) was a journalist, newspaper editor and owner, and politician. Early life Lovekin was probably born in Slough, Buckinghamshire. He was partly educated at St Edmund's School, Canterbury, f ...

Amanda Platell Amanda Jane Platell (born 12 November 1957) is an Australian journalist. Between 1999 and 2001 she was the press secretary to William Hague, the then leader of the British Conservative Party. She is currently based in the UK. Personal life Pl ...

Paul Rigby Paul Crispin Rigby AM (25 October 1924 – 15 November 2006) was an Australian cartoonist who worked for newspapers in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. He usually worked under the name Rigby. Early life Rigby was born in S ...

(cartoonist) * Kirwan Ward

Illustrations

In November 1893, William John Hardy joined the Daily News as the first pictorial engraver in the state. His first engraving was of Reverend Dr Llewelyn D. Bevan. Prior to Mr Hardy's arrival illustrations were sourced from Melbourne and Sydney. By late 1894 photographic processes replaced illustrating the news with engraved works.

Publication details

The ''Daily News'' was published from 26 July 1882 to 11 September 1990. The paper incorporated the ''Morning Herald'' from 6 July 1886 and the ''Inquirer and Commercial News'' from 28 June 1901. A Saturday edition ran from 6 August 1960 to 29 March 1986, titled ''Weekend News.'' From 19 February 1966 to 3 April 1971 there was an additional Saturday colour supplement, titled ''Weekend Magazine.'' Other supplements include: * ''Fremantle News'', 28 April 1949 to 7 April 1971 * ''Fremantle-Cockburn News'', 14 April 1971 to 24 May 1984 * ''North of the River News'', 2 December 1959 to 22 February 1961 * ''Metro'', March 1987 to April 1987, a 16-page colour supplement in Wednesday's ''Daily News.''

Availability

Issues (1882–1950) of this newspaper have been digitised as part of the

Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program Trove is an Australian online library database owned by the National Library of Australia in which it holds partnerships with source providers National and State Libraries Australia, an aggregator and service which includes full text document ...

, a project of the National Library of Australia in cooperation with the State Library of Western Australia. Hard copy and microfilm copies of the Daily News are also available in at the State Library of Western Australia.

References

External links

*Available at Trove: ** ** ** {{DEFAULTSORT:Daily News, The Publications established in 1882 Defunct newspapers published in Perth, Western Australia 1882 establishments in Australia 1990 disestablishments in Australia Daily newspapers published in Australia