''The Sunday Independent'' (also known as ''The Independent'') was a
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
weekly newspaper owned by mining entrepreneurs
Lang Hancock
Langley Frederick George "Lang" Hancock (10 June 1909 27 March 1992) was an Australian iron ore magnate from Western Australia who maintained a high profile in the spheres of business and politics. Famous initially for discovering the world's ...
and
Peter Wright, printed and published in the Perth suburb of
East Victoria Park.
[
The paper was launched on 27 April 1969 as a Sunday-only publication, under the banner ''The Independent''. Its founding editor was ]Maxwell Newton
Maxwell Newton (29 April 1929 – 23 July 1990) was an Australian media publisher. He was a founding editor of ''The Australian''. He was the owner of ''Daily Commercial News'' from 1969 to 1981, publisher of the ''Melbourne Observer'' from 1971 ...
(who was previously the foundation editor of ''The Australian
''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...
''). On 3 January 1971 it was renamed ''The Sunday Independent''.
Circulation was claimed to be 80,000 copies at its peak, however it never seriously challenged that of its rival, the well established ''The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
''.
In 1973 it ran as a daily for four weeks, as ''The Independent Sun'', in direct competition with ''The West Australian
''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, ''The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuousl ...
''. It appeared from 10 October 1973 to 8 November 1973.
By 1979 the Sunday Independent became one of the first Australian newspapers to integrate its composing, editorial and classified advertising production via computer, using software developed in-house.
Hancock largely relinquished his interest in the paper in the early 1970s and in 1984 Wright sold his interest to Owen Thomson and Mark Day, owners of ''The Truth
The Truth may refer to:
Film
* ''The Truth'' (1920 film) starring Madge Kennedy
* ''The Truth'' (1960 film) or ''La Vérité'', a French film by Henri-Georges Clouzot starring Brigitte Bardot
* ''The Truth'' (1988 film), a Hong Kong trial crim ...
''. Thomson became its editor-in-chief, his son Hamish was the paper's chief reporter. Later that year Thomson and Day sold it to News Limited
News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of the American News Corp. One of Australia's largest media conglomerates, News Corp Australia employs more than 8,000 staff nationwide and approximately 3,0 ...
, who also owned ''The Sunday Times'', who moved it into the Sunday Times building in Perth and it was wound up on 24 May 1986. Stephen Fox was its last editor.
''The Sunday Independent'' and ''The Independent Sun'' formed part of The Independent Group of Newspapers, which also included ''The Mandurah Advertiser'', ''The Pilbara Advertiser'', ''The Sound Advertiser'' and the short lived ''The Satellite Advertiser'' (which ran from 24 Aug. 1972-5 Oct. 1972).
References
External links
*https://web.archive.org/web/20060503170654/http://www.encyclopedia.uwapress.uwa.edu.au/wa_snapshots
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sunday Independent
Defunct newspapers published in Perth, Western Australia
Publications established in 1969
Publications disestablished in 1986
Sunday newspapers