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''The Barrier Miner'' was a daily broadsheet newspaper published in
Broken Hill Broken Hill is an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It i ...
in far western
New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...
from 1888 to 1974.


History

First published on 28 February 1888, ''The Barrier Miner'' was published continuously until 25 November 1974. Copies are available on microfilm and online via Trove Digitised Newspapers. The paper was revived briefly in 2005; an index to births deaths and marriages has been prepared which also notes additional publication dates between 16 December 2005 and 31 July 2008. The paper closed down for a second time in 2008 with the managing director, Margaret McBride stating that "...due to commercial reasons the paper would no longer service Broken Hill and the region...". ''The Barrier Miner'' served the growing mining community of
Broken Hill Broken Hill is an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It i ...
, when the area was found to have lead ore and traces of silver. It was not until late 1884 or early 1885 that rich quantities of silver were found and the Broken Hill Proprietary Company (BHP) was floated to mine the leases. The newspaper was published by Henry Fenton, Augustus Sydney Knight and George Alfred Mills and was distributed to Broken Hill,
Tibooburra Tibooburra (pronounced or ) is a town in the far northwest of New South Wales, Australia, located from the state capital, Sydney. It is most frequently visited by tourists on their way to Sturt National Park or on the way to or from In ...
, White Cliffs,
Wilcannia Wilcannia is a small town located within the Central Darling Shire in north western New South Wales, Australia. Located on the Darling River, the town was the third largest inland port in the country during the river boat era of the mid-19th ...
,
Menindee Menindee (frequently but erroneously spelled "Menindie" ) is a small town in the far west of New South Wales, Australia, in Central Darling Shire, on the banks of the Darling River, with a sign-posted population of 980 and a population of 551. ...
,
Ivanhoe ''Ivanhoe: A Romance'' () by Walter Scott is a historical novel published in three volumes, in 1819, as one of the Waverley novels. Set in England in the Middle Ages, this novel marked a shift away from Scott’s prior practice of setting st ...
. It was edited by Samuel Prior from 1888, who was also a partner (with a one-seventh share) with the main proprietors in 1905, Knight and Von Rieben Ltd. who took over in about 1890 when Fenton and Mills sold their interests. Prior may have been one of the youngest editors of a daily newspaper in Australia. He later wrote the ''Wild Cats'' column at '' The Bulletin'', where he was later appointed editor, and was its main proprietor when he died in 1933. E. R. Kellsall took over as editor after Prior left, with Mr R.D.S. Magnusson as sub-editor. The newspaper was originally published and printed from a building in Argent Street, occupying a
galvanised Galvanization or galvanizing ( also spelled galvanisation or galvanising) is the process of applying a protective zinc coating to steel or iron, to prevent rusting. The most common method is hot-dip galvanizing, in which the parts are submerge ...
iron clad shed. In 1908 a substantial stone building was erected by F.J. Fairweather and Sons on the corner of Blende and Sulphide Streets. Knight and Von Rieben retired in 1907 to
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 ...
and
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountai ...
respectively, when John Smethurst (a building contractor who erected the Broken Hill Town Hall) took over as managing editor, remained in charge up to 1933 when J. F. Williams took over. E. K. Lean, joined the staff in 1893 and became assistant manager in 1918. A Sunday evening special edition was published during the 1914-1918 war featuring letters from overseas soldiers with many eager residents rushing the office for copies as soon as they came off the presses. The newspaper office was twice bombed during World War I, it is believed because of some comments made about unpatriotic behaviour in the town, which was not taken well by the strong unionised workforce. Daily circulation reached 8303 in 1905, with three editions published up to about 1922 (at 1 p.m., 3:00-3:30 p.m. and 6:00-6:30 p.m.) the first and third editions being sold in Argent Street and the second edition being home delivered. James Davison (1848-1929) (managing editor of the ''
Melbourne Herald ''The Herald'' was a morning and, later, evening broadsheet newspaper published in Melbourne, Australia, from 3 January 1840 to 5 October 1990, which is when it merged with its sister morning newspaper '' The Sun News-Pictorial'' to form the '' ...
'') took over the paper in 1919, along with the
Port Pirie Port Pirie is a small city on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf in South Australia, north of the state capital, Adelaide. The city has an expansive history which dates back to 1845. Port Pirie was the first proclaimed regional city in South A ...
''Recorder''. He left in 1922 to start the ''Adelaide News'' (the paper that gave Murdoch's
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 3,00 ...
its start). Competition came in 1919 with the addition of the ''
Barrier Daily Truth The Barrier Daily Truth was a local newspaper for the mining town of Broken Hill in Australia. It coverered a range of stories that affect local residents, including industrial news relating to the mines and stories submitted by readers such a ...
''.


Digitisation

The paper has been digitised as part of the
Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program 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 ...
project of 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 "maint ...
. The microfilm copies are held in the collection of the
State Library of New South Wales The State Library of New South Wales, part of which is known as the Mitchell Library, is a large heritage-listed special collections, reference and research library open to the public and is one of the oldest libraries in Australia. Establish ...
.


See also

*
List of newspapers in Australia This is a list of newspapers in Australia. For other older newspapers, see list of defunct newspapers of Australia. National In 1950, the number of national daily newspapers in Australia was 54 and it increased to 65 in 1965. Daily newspap ...
* List of newspapers in New South Wales


References


External links

*
THE "BARRIER MINER" (A paper presented to the Society by Mrs R.H.B. Kearns on behalf of her father, the late R.I.A. Richards)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrier Miner, The History of Broken Hill Defunct newspapers published in New South Wales Daily newspapers published in Australia