The Ballarat Star

''The Ballarat Star'' was a newspaper in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, first published on 22 September 1855. Its publication ended on 13 September 1924 when it was merged with its competitor, the ''Ballarat Courier''.''Ballarat Star'' Newspaper Archive List of Volumes (2008) Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute.

The earliest original edition of ''The Star'', Ballarat, was discovered early in 2011 in the Australiana Reference Room of the Ballarat library. An unusual masthead caught the eye of the research librarian. Instead of the lion and unicorn crest in the first edition facsimile, this sixth edition displayed a centrepiece which was much more elaborate.

In the centre is the eight-pointed star used on the Eureka flag at the uprising nine months earlier and the motto of the British monarchy, ''Dieu et mon droit'', in French. Above is ''Vita veritas'', Latin meaning "Life, Truth". Underneath is Victoria, the name of the colony, separated in 1851, and named after the reigning monarch, Queen Victoria.
The four-page print of this newspaper was returned from conservator in October 2011.''The Courier'', Ballarat, Saturday, 15 October 2011

History

''The Star'' began as a tri-weekly journal until 15 December 1856 when it became a morning daily.Kimberly, W. B. (1894). ''Ballarat and Vicinity''. F. W. Niven & Co., Ballarat. (p162) It was Ballarat's second successful newspaper, established as a reaction to the more radical ''Ballarat Times'' whose editor and owner, Henry Seekamp, was arrested for sedition the day after the tragic storming of the Eureka stockade on 3 December 1854. (p464) In the aftermath of Eureka, twenty-five liberal-minded gentlemen each contributed £25 to bring the rival newspaper into being. They named their publication after the Star Hotel in Main Street where they met to discuss the proposal and to pledge the capital for their joint-stock venture. (p12,13) T. D. Wanliss was appointed business manager and the first editors were J. J. Ham and Samuel Irwin.

The first edition of ''The Ballarat Star'' gave a warning against anarchy but also stated, "Arguments, straightforward and convincing, will be the principal weapon used by us. Candour and impartiality it will ever be our endeavour to maintain, and whilst these columns are open to all, we distinctly state that we shall most assuredly be influenced by none."

Office

Mr D. D. Wheeler, a shareholder in the first ''Star'' co-partnership, wrote: "''Its first number was printed and published in the middle of a hurricane and inundation, with the printers nearly up to their middle in water.''" Facsimile from the original edition W. B. Withers, ''History of Ballarat'', first published 1870. Originally twelve weekly parts of'' History of Ballarat'', featured in the ''Ballarat Star'', beginning on 11 June 1870. Bound volumes of ''History of Ballarat'' were sold from early August of the same year. And W. B. Withers, ''Some Ballarat Reminiscences'', First published in serial form in 1895 and 1896.
(p190) This was at the first location in Bridge Street where the Yarrowee River ran through the low-lying Ballarat Flat which was a natural flood plain and often became a sea of mining sludge. It was at the heart of the alluvial mining activity in Ballarat East.


''The Star'' premises consisted of three small rooms, one behind the other. In the front room "copy" was produced, the second was the composing room, and the third was where the hand-worked press printed the newspapers.
It was decided to move the operation to higher ground on the north side of lower Sturt Street, still in the centre of commercial activity, but in the municipal district of Ballarat West. By 1870 Ballarat's two morning papers, ''Star'' and ''Courier'' were near neighbours in lower Sturt Street and the columnists of both papers thrived on the rivalry with amusing references to the opposition.Mansfield, Peter G. Editor (1982). Spielvogel Papers Volume 1, Ballarat Historical Society. (). (p114)

"Consistent advocate"

The men who wrote for ''The Star'' used it as a mouthpiece for the consolidation of all the diggers' newly won rights which had become the common rights of all Victorians. From the beginning the paper "maintained its position as a consistent advocate" of State policies which were a continuation of legislative reform in the best interests of its liberal readership.

By 1862 ''The Star'' masthead centrepiece depicted a modified Eureka star, only one word, Victoria, and sketches depicting life in Ballarat. There is a wheatsheaf and mining icons: a windlass, tent, cradle, pick and shovel and a trunk presumably full of gold to be shipped back to the home country.

In the ensuing decades the prestige of the paper was upheld "as one of the most consistently and ably conducted organs of public opinion extant in Australia."
The following reference to ''The Ballarat Star'' was reprinted from an article on Ballarat which appeared in ''The Illustrated Australian News'' of 1 August 1893, and ''The Melbourne Age'' of 5 August 1893:

In the 1896 Sands and McDougall's ''Ballarat Directory'' (p5):

Richard Twopeny wrote in ''Town Life in Australia'' in 1883:

Prices

The price for a copy of the ''Ballarat Star'' was sixpence on 22 September 1855, 4d on 1 July 1865, 3d on 1 October 1867, 2d on 19 May 1868, 1d on 1 January 1876. In 1903 the price advertised was still one penny for "six pages daily" and "eight pages on Saturday".

Early proprietors

While still in its infancy, ''The Star'' ceased to be a joint-stock company and became a privately owned partnership between T. D. Wanliss and Richard Belford, the latter moving on after only a short time.

Archives

Print

* The Australiana Research Room of the Ballarat Library holds an early original edition of ''The Star'', Ballarat, 6th edition, dated Saturday, 4 October 1855. As of 2011 it has not been microfilmed.
* The Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute holds original editions of ''The Ballarat Star'' from June 1859 to 13 September 1924.
* State Library of Victoria holds the full date range for ''The Ballarat Star'' from 22 September 1855 to 13 September 1924 and it is the microfilmed masters from this collection that have been sent to Canberra to be digitised.\
* The microfilm held at the State Library of Victoria does not hold the full run of "The Star" Ballarat; a large number of early editions are missing (when The Star was a tri-weekly newspaper.) Hardcopy editions of a number of 'missing' editions are held in the Australiana Research Room at Ballarat Library, and these are currently (2018) being digitised and will be added to Trove soon.

Microform

* Australiana Collection of Central Highlands Regional Library Corporation (Ballarat) has microfilmed copies of ''The Ballarat Star'' from 1855 to 1924. This is the full range copied from the originals held in State Library of Victoria.
* CHRLC also has an Index to ''The Star 1855-1868'' on microfiche.

See also

* List of newspapers in Australia

References

* Sands & McDougall's ''Ballarat Directory'' 1896.
* Tulloch Harry, ''Ballarat & District Directory'' 1903.

External links

* Withers, William Bramwell (1887
The history of Ballarat
from the first pastoral settlement to the present time (2nd ed.), F. W. Niven & Co. igitised*
*
* Digitise
''World War I Victorian newspapers''
from the State Library of Victoria

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ballarat Star
1855 establishments in Australia
1924 disestablishments in Australia
Defunct newspapers published in Victoria (Australia)
Mass media in Ballarat
Newspapers on Trove