''The Whanganui Chronicle'' is

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

's oldest newspaper. Based in

Whanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whangan ...

, it celebrated 160 years of publishing in September 2016. It is the main daily paper for the Whanganui, Ruapehu and Rangitīkei regions, including the towns of

Patea Patea ( ) is the third-largest town in South Taranaki District, New Zealand. It is on the western bank of the Pātea River, 61 kilometres north-west of Whanganui on . Hāwera is 27 km to the north-west, and Waverley 17 km to the ea ...

, Waverley, Whanganui, Bulls, Marton,

Raetihi Raetihi, a small town in the center of New Zealand's North Island, is located at the junction of State Highways 4 and 49 in the Manawatū-Whanganui region. It lies in a valley between Tongariro and Whanganui National Parks, 11 kilometres west ...

Ohakune Ohakune is a small town at the southern end of Tongariro National Park, close to the southwestern slopes of the active volcano Mount Ruapehu, in the North Island of New Zealand. A rural service town known as New Zealand's Carrot Capital, Ohak ...

and

National Park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

History

Local resident Henry Stokes first proposed the paper for Petre, as the town was then called, but initial publication was held back by lack of equipment. As no

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in wh ...

was available, Stokes approached the technical master at

Wanganui Collegiate School Whanganui Collegiate School (formerly Wanganui Collegiate School; see here) is a state-integrated, coeducational, day and boarding, secondary school in Whanganui, Manawatū-Whanganui region, New Zealand. The school is affiliated to the Anglican c ...

, Rev. Charles Nicholls, and together they constructed a maire wood and iron makeshift printing press, on which, with the help of the staff and pupils of the school, the first edition of the ''Wanganui Chronicle'' (as it was then spelled) was printed on 18 September 1856. The motto of the paper, printed at the top of the editorial column, was "''Verite Sans Peur''," French for "''Truth without Fear''." Initially the paper was sold fortnightly, at a price of six pence. In 1866 the ''Chronicle'' went tri-weekly, and in 1871 began publishing daily and has done so since. The paper was owned and edited by

Gilbert Carson Gilbert Carson may refer to: * Gilbert Carson (American football) (1901–1988), college football coach * Gilbert Carson (politician) Gilbert Carson (1842 – 4 March 1924) was an independent conservative Member of Parliament in New Zealand. ...

from 1875 onwards. In the 1880s Carson's sister Margaret Bullock worked as a reporter and assistant editor for the paper, and, along with

Laura Jane Suisted Laura Jane Suisted (born Laura Eyre; 1 January 1840 – 7 September 1903) was a notable New Zealand writer, journalist and parliamentary reporter. She is regarded as a pioneer women journalist in New Zealand. Biography Suisted was born i ...

, was one of the first female parliamentary correspondents in New Zealand. The woman editor for a time in the 1920s using her birth name Iris Wilkinson, later published poetry and novels as

Robin Hyde Robin Hyde, the pseudonym used by Iris Guiver Wilkinson (19 January 1906 – 23 August 1939), was a South African-born New Zealand poet, journalist and novelist. Early life Wilkinson was born in Cape Town to an English father and an Australia ...

, and is now "acknowledged as a major figure in New Zealand twentieth-century culture". The ''Chronicles rival from 1867 onward was ''The Evening Herald'' (later ''

The Wanganui Herald ''The Wanganui Herald'', originally published as ''The Evening Herald'', was a daily newspaper in Wanganui published from 1867 to 1986 when it was replaced by a community newspaper of the same name. John Ballance arrived in Wanganui in August 18 ...

''), founded by

John Ballance John Ballance (27 March 1839 – 27 April 1893) was an Irish-born New Zealand politician who was the 14th premier of New Zealand, from January 1891 to April 1893, the founder of the Liberal Party (the country's first organised political part ...

. The ownership of the two daily papers merged in the 1970s, and in 1986 the ''Herald'' became a free weekly, later renamed the ''Wanganui Midweek''. The ''Chronicle'' is currently Whanganui's only daily newspaper.

Recent History

The paper was acquired by the new company NZME in September 2014, after the merger of APN News and Media and The Radio Network. It is one of NZME's 32 publications, including

The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...

Bay of Plenty Times The ''Bay of Plenty Times'' is the regional daily paper for the Bay of Plenty area, including Tauranga, in the North Island of New Zealand. History The ''Bay of Plenty Times'' was first produced on 4 September 1872 as a bi-weekly publication. It ...

The Northern Advocate ''The Northern Advocate'' is the regional daily paper for the city of Whangārei and the Northland Region in New Zealand. History ''The Whangarei Comet and Northern Advertiser'' was founded in 1875 as a weekly paper by George Alderton and, desp ...

and

Hawkes Bay Today ''Hawke's Bay Today'' is a daily compact newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. ...

. It is based in the NZME offices on Guyton Street, alongside other NZME operations such as

Newstalk ZB Newstalk ZB is a nationwide New Zealand talk radio, talk-radio network operated by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, NZME Radio. It is available in almost every media market, radio market area in New Zealand, and has news reporters based in m ...

The Hits The Hits was a music video channel broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland, owned by Box Television. On 15 August 2008 it was rebranded as 4Music. Overview and availability The channel showcased a range of pop centred on chart hits and cur ...

and OneRoof. On Monday, 10 September 2018, the paper changed its name to the ''Whanganui Chronicle'', to correspond with the corrected Māori spelling of the Whanganui district that became official in December 2015. In September 2020, the paper reached an average issue readership of 23,000 people aged 15 and above. This was 8000 more readers during the same survey period in 2019, and up 3000 readers on the previous survey ending March 2020. The Chronicle has some of the highest readership per capita of any publication in New Zealand.

References

{{NZ newspaper Newspapers published in New Zealand Mass media in Whanganui Companies based in Whanganui Publications established in 1856 New Zealand Media and Entertainment 1856 establishments in New Zealand