The ''Plains Producer'' is a weekly newspaper published Wednesdays by Papers and Publications Pty. Ltd. in

Balaklava Balaklava ( uk, Балаклáва, russian: Балаклáва, crh, Balıqlava, ) is a settlement on the Crimean Peninsula and part of the city of Sevastopol. It is an administrative center of Balaklava Raion that used to be part of the Cri ...

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 ...

. It was founded in 1903 and was printed until 1941, when it was stopped by the

second world war World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. The publication was revived in 1946 and it has been published continuously since then.

History

The newspaper, founded by James Walker, was first known as ''Central Advocate'', which started on 25 September 1903 and continued until 10 September 1909 (Issue 305). when it was renamed ''Wooroora Producer'' (subtitled: ''"incorporating the Central Advocate and The Hamley Bridge Express"''), to reflect its link to the former

Electoral district of Wooroora Wooroora was an electoral district of the House of Assembly in the Australian colony (state from 1901) of South Australia. The electorate was created by the Electoral Districts Act 1872 of the South Australian parliament but it was not until ...

(1875-1938). It was purchased in 1910 by W. Hancock who went into partnership with S.W. Osborne (who became sole proprietor in 1923), then by Amy Henstridge in July 1926 (who had previously owned the Snowtown paper ''The Stanley Herald''). In 1926, the newspaper shifted from a broadsheet to a tabloid format and from September 1932, the Henstridge family assumed ownership. The ''Wooroora Producer'' was printed until 27 June 1940 (Issue 1676), when the publication was renamed on 4 July to ''The Producer'' (subtitled: "''with which is incorporated "The Central Advocate" and "Hamley Bridge Express"''"). However, due to wartime restrictions and rationing, publication ceased for five years, from 19 June 1941 (Issue 1726) until resuming as a "''Post-War Series''" on 4 July 1946 (Vol. 40. No. 1). In 1975, it moved from private ownership when it was bought by Papers and Publications, and in an effort to overhaul the newspaper, it was renamed to ''Plains Producer'' in 1983.

Distribution

According to the website, ''the media workshop (TMW)'', the newspaper currently "enjoys a 90% penetration rate in

and surrounding areas", meaning a readership of around 7,000 people in the towns of: Snowtown, Blyth, Brinkworth, Clare, Watervale, Manoora, Port Wakefield, Balaklava, Auburn, Saddleworth, Riverton, Owen,

Hamley Bridge Hamley Bridge is a community in South Australia located at the junction of the Gilbert River (South Australia), Gilbert and Light River (South Australia), Light rivers, as well as the site of a former railway junction. Named by the government of ...

, Tarlee, Kapunda, Dublin, Windsor, Lower Light, Mallala, Two Wells,

Gawler Gawler is the oldest country town on the Australian mainland in the state of South Australia. It was named after the second Governor (British Vice-Regal representative) of the colony of South Australia, George Gawler. It is about north of the ...

, Wasleys, and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. As of 2018, the newspapers weekly print run is around 3,500, representing a readership of around 10,000 people.

Awards

The newspaper won the BankSA Best Newspaper award (with a circulation under 5,000) in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2008. It also won the Country Press SA Inc. award for best newspaper (under 3000 circulation) in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2008 and 2009.

Digitisation

Australian National Library 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 ...

carries images and text versions of the newspaper from 1903 to 1941, and 1946 to 1950, accessible using

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 documen ...

, the on-line newspaper retrieval service.

References

External links

Plains Producer website

Back Issues and other publications
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Plains Producer Newspapers published in South Australia Newspapers established in 1940 1940 establishments in Australia Weekly newspapers published in Australia