''The Argus'' was an Australian daily morning newspaper in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

from 2 June 1846 to 19 January 1957, and was considered to be the general Australian

newspaper of record A newspaper of record is a major national newspaper with large circulation whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered authoritative and independent; they are thus "newspapers of record by reputation" and include some of the o ...

for this period. Widely known as a

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

newspaper for most of its history, it adopted a

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * L ...

-leaning approach from 1949. ''The Argus''s main competitor was

David Syme David Syme (2 October 1827 – 14 February 1908) was a Scottish-Australian newspaper proprietor of ''The Age'' and regarded as "the father of protection in Australia" who had immense influence in the Government of Victoria.C. E. Sayers,Syme, Da ...

's more liberal-minded newspaper, ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

''.

History

The newspaper was originally owned by William Kerr, who was also Melbourne's town clerk from 1851–1856 and had been a journalist at the ''

Sydney Gazette ''The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser'' was the first newspaper printed in Australia, running from 5 March 1803 until 20 October 1842. It was a semi-official publication of the government of New South Wales, authorised by Governo ...

'' before moving to Melbourne in 1839 to work on

John Pascoe Fawkner John Pascoe Fawkner (20 October 1792 – 4 September 1869) was an early Australian pioneer, businessman and politician of Melbourne, Australia. In 1835 he financed a party of free settlers from Van Diemen's Land (now called Tasmania), to sail ...

's newspaper, the '' Port Phillip Patriot''. The first edition was published on 2 June 1846. The paper soon became known for its scurrilous abuse and sarcasm, and by 1853, after he had lost a series of libel lawsuits, Kerr was forced to sell the paper's ownership to avoid financial ruin. The paper was then published by Edward Wilson. By 1855, it had a daily circulation of 13,000. In October 1881, an afternoon edition was launched, the '' Evening Mail'', edited by Henry Short, but this was a failure, and ceased publication in August 1882. In 1883, newspaper editor and owner

Richard Twopeny Richard Ernest Nowell Twopeny (1 August 1857 – 2 September 1915) or Twopenny or Turpenny was an Australian rules footballer, journalist and newspaper editor/owner in New Zealand and Australia. Early life Twopeny was the son of Archdeacon ...

(1857–1919) regarded ''The Argus'' as "the best daily paper published out of England". The paper become a stablemate to the weekly ''The Australasian'', which became the ''

Australasian Post The ''Australasian Post'', commonly called the ''Aussie Post'', was Australia's longest-running weekly picture magazine. History and profile Its origins are traceable to Saturday, 3 January 1857, when the first issue of ''Bell's Life in Victoria ...

'' in 1946. During the Depression, in 1933, it launched the ''Melbourne Evening Star'' in competition with '' The Herald'' newspaper of

the Herald and Weekly Times Ltd The Herald and Weekly Times Pty Ltd (HWT) is a newspaper publishing company based in Melbourne, Australia. It is owned and operated by News Pty Ltd, which as News Ltd, purchased the HWT in 1987. Newspapers The HWT's newspaper interests date b ...

, but ended the venture in 1936 due to poor circulation figures. The company's newspaper operations experienced severe financial losses from 1939 onwards, which would continue through the 1940s and the 1950s due to economic turmoil, increased costs of newsprint, and cut-throat competition for newspaper circulation in Melbourne. In June 1949, ''The Argus'' was acquired by the London-based ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...

'' newspaper group and, on 28 July 1952, it became the first newspaper in the world to publish colour photographs in a daily paper. The paper also had interests in radio and, from 1956, the new medium of television, being part of the consortium General Telecasters Victoria (GTV) and its television station

GTV-9 GTV is a commercial television station in Melbourne, Australia, owned by the Nine Network. The station is currently based at studios at 717 Bourke Street, Docklands. History GTV-9 was amongst the first television stations to begin regular ...

(now part of the Nine Network). On 19 January 1957, after 110 years, seven months and 17 days, ''The Argus'' printed its final edition. The paper was discontinued and sold to the Herald and Weekly Times group (HWT), which undertook to re-employ ''Argus'' staff and continue publication of selected features, and also made an allocation of shares to the UK owners. The company's other print and broadcasting operations were unaffected.Your Last Argus
''The Argus'', 19 January 1957, at

Trove 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 ...

Notable editors and writers

Julian Howard Ashton Julian Howard Ashton (9 August 1877 – 30 April 1964), often referred to as Howard Ashton, was a journalist, writer, artist and critic born in England, who had a considerable career in Australia. History Ashton was born in Islington, London, a ...

(1877–1964), English-born journalist, writer and critic *

Hugh Buggy Edward Hugh Buggy (9 June 1896 – 18 June 1974) was a leading journalist well known as an Australian rules football writer covering the Victorian Football League (renamed in 1989 Australian Football League). Born at Seymour, Victoria in 1896, B ...

(1896–1974), journalist/football writer * Edward S. Cunningham (1859–1957), editor 1906–1928 *

Roy Curthoys Roy Lancaster Curthoys (4 October 1892 – 24 September 1971) was an Australian journalist and newspaper editor. Curthoys was born in Ballarat and educated in Perth. He began his journalistic career on the '' Daily News'' in 1910, later transfe ...

(1892–1971), editor 1929–1935 *

Frances Fitzgerald Elmes Frances Fitzgerald Elmes (23 April 1867 – 1919) was a British-Australian feminist writer and columnist based in Melbourne and London.

(1867–1919), English-born feminist journalist *

Frederick William Haddon Frederick William Haddon (8 February 1839 – 7 March 1906), was an English-born Australian journalist and newspaper editor. Biography Haddon was born at Croydon, England, the son of Richard Haddon, a schoolmaster and landscape artist, and his wi ...

, (1839–1906), English-Australian sub-editor in 1863, editor 1867–1898 * Andrew Murray, editor in 1855 and 1856 *

Charles Patrick Smith Charles Patrick Smith (3 October 1877 – 5 August 1963) was an Australian journalist and newspaper editor. He had long associations with '' The Argus'' (of Melbourne) and ''The West Australian'' (of Perth). Smith was born in Dundas, Ontario, Ca ...

(1877-1963), journalist *

Edward Oxford Edward Oxford (18 April 1822 – 23 April 1900) was the first of seven people who tried to assassinate Queen Victoria. After Oxford was arrested and charged with treason, a jury found that Oxford was not guilty by reason of insanity and he ...

(1822-1900), writer and attempted assassin of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

. * James Smith *

David Watterston David Watterston (2 January 1845 – 23 July 1931) was an Australian journalist and newspaper editor; he was editor of ''The Australasian'' from 1885 to 1903 and of '' The Argus'' 1903 to 1906. Watterston was born in Balgone Barns, Haddingtonshi ...

Howard Willoughby Howard Willoughby (19 June 1839 – 19 March 1908) was an Australian journalist. Notably, he was the first Australian war correspondent, he wrote against penal transportation to Australia and in favour of the federation of Australia. Willoughby w ...

* Edward Wilson * Theodosia Ada Wallace, starting about 1892 she wrote a social column under the name 'Biddy B.A.'

References

External links

* *
''The Argus'': Special War Edition
– 1 May 1915 * Digitise
''World War I Victorian newspapers''
from the State Library of Victoria {{DEFAULTSORT:Argus, The Publications established in 1846 Publications disestablished in 1957 Defunct newspapers published in Melbourne 1846 establishments in Australia 1957 disestablishments in Australia Daily newspapers published in Australia Newspapers on Trove

History

Notable editors and writers

See also

Further reading

References

External links