The ''Daily News'', historically a successor of ''The Inquirer'' and ''The Inquirer and Commercial News'', was an afternoon daily English language newspaper published in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

, Western Australia, from 1882 to 1990, though its origin is traceable from 1840.

History

One of the early newspapers of the

Western Australian 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 ...

colony was ''

The Inquirer ''The Inquirer'' (stylized as TheINQUIRER) was a British technology tabloid website founded by Mike Magee after his departure from ''The Register'' (of which he was one of the founding members) in 2001. In 2006 the site was acquired by Dutch ...

'', established by Francis Lochee and William Tanner on 5 August 1840. Lochee became sole proprietor and editor in 1843 until May 1847 when he sold the operation to the paper's former compositor Edmund Stirling. In July 1855, ''The Inquirer'' merged with the recently established ''Commercial News and Shipping Gazette'', owned by

Robert John Sholl Robert John Sholl (16 July 1819 – 19 June 1886) was a government administrator, magistrate, explorer, journalist, entrepreneur, harbourmaster, customs official, postmaster and lay reader in Western Australia (WA), during the colonial era. ...

, as ''

The Inquirer & Commercial News ''The Inquirer & Commercial News'' was a newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia from 1855 to 1901. In May 1847, Edmund Stirling acquired ''The Inquirer'' from Francis Lochée, who established the paper in August 1840 together with Will ...

''. It ran under the joint ownership of Stirling and Sholl. Sholl departed and, from April 1873, the paper was produced by Stirling and his three sons, trading as Stirling & Sons. Edmund Stirling retired five years later and his three sons took control as Stirling Bros and Co, Ltd. Stirling Bros launched the ''Daily News'' on 26 July 1882. After 28 June 1901 ''The Inquirer & Commercial News'' was incorporated into the ''Daily News''.

1980–1990

Competition from television evening news resulted in losses in circulation and eventual cessation of most Australian afternoon newspapers. The ''Daily News'' came to be a wholly owned subsidiary of West Australian Newspapers (WAN), formerly itself a subsidiary of the Melbourne-based

Herald and Weekly Times 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 ba ...

organisation. In the late 1980s, WAN was acquired by the ill-fated

Bond Corporation Alan Bond (22 April 1938 – 5 June 2015) was an English-born Australian businessman noted for his high-profile and often corrupt business dealings. These included his central role in the WA Inc scandals of the 1980s, and what was at the time ...

's subsidiary the Bell Group. In 1986, Holmes à Court sold the ''Daily News'' to a small company headed by businessman Simon Hadfield. The newspaper moved to a renovated pie factory on the outskirts of the CBD. Its last issue was on 11 September 1990. Former staff hold 5-yearly reunions. On 2 May 1990, British publishing magnate

Robert Maxwell Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, member of parliament (MP), suspected spy, and fraudster. Early in his life, Maxwell escaped from ...

's UK-based Mirror Group bought 14.9 per cent of Bell from the group's managing director, David Aspinall. However, the deal did not proceed, being opposed by the federal government under its media foreign ownership policy. The Government of Western Australia legislated to retrospectively place the ''Daily News'' beyond the jurisdiction of the (federal)

Trade Practices Commission The Trade Practices Commission was an agency of the Government of Australia responsible for monitoring and enforcement activities under the Trade Practices Act 1974 The ''Competition and Consumer Act 2010'' (CCA) is an Act of the Parliame ...

—a move which the

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Opposition condemned as prejudicial to Commonwealth-State relations. The paper was then defunct and in receivership, owing over $15 million, mainly to ''The West Australian'' for production costs. WAN was the subject of a successful stock-market float in 1992, following closure of the ''Daily News''.

Notable former journalists

* Alfred Carson *

John Cornell John Cornell (2 March 1941 – 23 July 2021) was an Australian actor, director, producer, writer, and businessman. He was best known for his role as "Strop" on ''The Paul Hogan Show'', and he was instrumental in the introduction of World Serie ...

James Cruthers Sir James Winter Cruthers (20 December 1924 – 13 October 2015) was an Australian media business executive and philanthropist. Early life and career Cruthers was born in 1924 and was educated at Claremont Central State School and Perth Techn ...

Frank Devine Frank Devine (17 December 1931 – 3 July 2009) was a New Zealand–born Australian newspaper editor and journalist. Devine was born in the South Island city of Blenheim and started his career there aged 17 as a cadet on the ''Marlborough Expr ...

(editor, ''Weekend News'') * Alison Fan * Kim Hagdorn * Bill Lang (senior reporter and back page columnist – "Lang's Look") * Alan Langoulant (cartoonist) * Arthur Lovekin * Amanda Platell *

Paul Rigby Paul Crispin Rigby AM (25 October 1924 – 15 November 2006) was an Australian cartoonist who worked for newspapers in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. He usually worked under the name Rigby. Early life Rigby was born in ...

(cartoonist) *

Kirwan Ward Edward Bernard "Bernie" Kirwan Ward (2 April 1909 – 5 March 1983) was a journalist most notable for his work with the Daily News in Perth, Western Australia. Early life Kirwan Ward was born in Shotover, Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ce ...

Illustrations

In November 1893, William John Hardy joined the Daily News as the first pictorial engraver in the state. His first engraving was of Reverend Dr Llewelyn D. Bevan. Prior to Mr Hardy's arrival illustrations were sourced from Melbourne and Sydney. By late 1894 photographic processes replaced illustrating the news with engraved works.

Publication details

The ''Daily News'' was published from 26 July 1882 to 11 September 1990. The paper incorporated the ''Morning Herald'' from 6 July 1886 and the ''Inquirer and Commercial News'' from 28 June 1901. A Saturday edition ran from 6 August 1960 to 29 March 1986, titled ''Weekend News.'' From 19 February 1966 to 3 April 1971 there was an additional Saturday colour supplement, titled ''Weekend Magazine.'' Other supplements include: * ''Fremantle News'', 28 April 1949 to 7 April 1971 * ''Fremantle-Cockburn News'', 14 April 1971 to 24 May 1984 * ''North of the River News'', 2 December 1959 to 22 February 1961 * ''Metro'', March 1987 to April 1987, a 16-page colour supplement in Wednesday's ''Daily News.''

Availability

Issues (1882–1950) of this newspaper have been digitised as part of the Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program, a 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 "mainta ...

in cooperation with the

State Library of Western Australia The State Library of Western Australia is a research, education, reference and public lending library located in the Perth Cultural Centre in Perth, Western Australia. It is a portfolio agency of the Western Australia Department of Culture and t ...

. Hard copy and microfilm copies of the Daily News are also available in at the State Library of Western Australia.

References

External links

*Available 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 documen ...

: ** ** ** {{DEFAULTSORT:Daily News, The Publications established in 1882 Defunct newspapers published in Perth, Western Australia 1882 establishments in Australia 1990 disestablishments in Australia Daily newspapers published in Australia