''The South Australian Free Press'' was a weekly newspaper published in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

from 15 October 1853 – 1 April 1854. Its slogan was "A champion never out of mail". Originally of 12, later 16 pages, and priced at 6d (six pence) a copy, it was published on Saturdays. With the discovery of gold in Victoria and New South Wales, and the consequent exodus of workers to the goldfields, the economic climate of South Australia in the 1850s was not conducive to new enterprises, and the newspaper failed to thrive. The publisher and editor

W. M. Akhurst William Mower Akhurst (29 December 1822 – 6/7 June 1878) was an actor, journalist and playwright in Australia. Akhurst was born in Hammersmith, London or Brook Street, Grosvenor Square, London, a son of William Akhurst (1793–1866) and Harriet ...

joined the rush to Melbourne and never looked back. The paper was controlled by a committee of shareholders and Akhurst was editor from the start. It was initially printed by Henry Hilton and Charles Edlin of

Hindley Street Hindley Street is located in the north-west quarter of the centre of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. It runs between King William Street and West Terrace. The street was named after Charles Hindley, a British parliamentarian and soc ...

, and published from an office over Colley's newsagents,

King William Street, Adelaide King William Street is the part of a major arterial road that traverses the central business district, CBD and Adelaide city centre, centre of Adelaide, continuing as King William Road to the north of North Terrace, Adelaide, North Terrace and ...

, but from 5 November 1853 or earlier, was both published and printed from premises on King William Street, opposite the Gresham Hotel.

Digitization

The

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

has digitized microfilmed copies of several issues from No.3 of 29 October 1853 to No.8 of 3 December 1853 and all from No.21 of 4 March 1854 to No.26 of 8 April 1854.

Notes

References

{{Reflist 1853 establishments in Australia Newspapers established in 1853 Publications disestablished in 1854 Defunct newspapers published in Adelaide 1854 disestablishments in Australia Newspapers on Trove