The Advocate is a local newspaper of North-West and Western Tasmania, Australia. It was formerly published under the names The Wellington Times, The Emu Bay Times, and The North Western Advocate and The Emu Bay Times.
On Wednesday 1 October 1890 Robert Harris and his sons, Robert and Charles published the first issue of The Wellington Times, Burnie's first newspaper.[1] It was named after the county in which Burnie and Emu Bay were located and was first published only on Wednesdays and Saturdays. With a circulation around 2000 its four broadsheet pages cost 1.5 d.
The original Burnie Wellington Times office in 1890 stood on a site in Cattley Street and employed a staff of 10. In 1892 The Wellington Times was made a tri-weekly, appearing on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and on 2 November 1897, the name was changed to The Emu Bay Times reflecting the area in which it was published.[2] The success of the newspaper encouraged the proprietors to extend operations to Devonport and on 4 January 1899 the tri-weekly The North Western Advocate and Agricultural and Mining Gazette was produced.[3]
The separate publication of the two newspapers lasted only 11 months by which time the Government Railway had reached Burnie and on 13November 1899 the two publications amalgamated to become a daily newspaper, The North Western Advocate and The Emu Bay Times. In 1902, new premises had been erected in Mount Street, at the present (2010) site and the staff had increased to 26. In the last decade of the 19th century, the North-West and West Coast were served by a number of daily publications - but by 1920 The Advocate was the sole survivor.[4] The title was shortened to The Advocate in 1916.[5]
In the 1950s The Advocate was one of the first daily newspapers in Australia to use colour in advertisements and in 1968 it was the first daily newspaper in Australia to publish on a Web-Offset press which today is the industry standard. Over the three years from 1993 to 1996, The Advocate embarked on a technology development programme that resulted in computer based full-page negative output on 1October 1996.
Later developments
The former headquarters of The Advocate on Mount Street.
In 2004, The Advocate became the third largest regional daily of Rural Press thereby ending the involvement of the Harris family for the first time since inception. In 2008, Rural Press became part of Fairfax Media, Australia's largest integrated metropolitan, regional and rural print, online and digital media business in Australasia with The Advocate the only daily newspaper covering all areas of North West and Western Tasmania.
In 2009 all printing was centralised in Launceston, at a print facility run by The Examiner, a former rival publication that was owned by Fairfax Media, the then-owner of The Advocate. The press was dismantled and shipped off to a newspaper in New Zealand, where it was deployed at another newspaper owned by the Fairfax Media group.
The Advocate anniversary and celebratory editions regularly draw on the historical photographs of the newspaper.[6][7]
Nine Entertainment briefly owned the newspaper after its $4-billion merger with Fairfax Media in July2018.[8] However, that changed when The Advocate along with 160regional mastheads owned by Fairfax were purchased by media entrepreneur Anthony Catalano for $115million,[9] who owns Australian Community Media.[10]
Ownership and leadership
As of 2021[update] the newspaper is published by Australian Community Media and located at 39-41 Alexander Street Burnie.[11]
Anthony Haneveer was appointed editor in March2022 following the departure of Luke Sayer. Haneveer previously served as the paper's deputy for four years.[12] He replaced Luke Sayer, who was appointed editor in 2017.[13]
Notable staff
Kerry Pink OAM, a journalist of more than 40 years and local historian, author of And Wealth for Toil: A History of North-West and Western Tasmania 1825-1900 and other books.[14]
↑ Tasmanian Family History Society. Burnie Branch; Genealogical Society of Tasmania. Burnie Branch (1998), Index to The Advocate: Births, deaths, and marriages, Burnie, Tasmania: Genealogical Society of Tasmania, ISBN978-1-876445-01-0
↑ "Advertising". The Advocate (Australia). Tasmania, Australia. 30 September 1950. p.1 (The Advocate Diamond Jubilee SUPPLEMENT 1890–1950). Retrieved 30 August 2021– via National Library of Australia.
Burnie is a port city in Tasmania, Australia, located in Emu Bay on the north-west coast, 47 kilometres (29 mi) west from Devonport and 17 kilometres (11 mi) east from Wynyard. With an urban population of 19,550 in 2019, Burnie is the fourth largest city in Tasmania, serving as a major port for north-western agricultural and mining industries.
The Daily Liberal is a daily newspaper produced in the city of Dubbo, New South Wales, Australia. The news stories published relate particularly to the city of Dubbo and the surrounding district. The newspaper was first printed in 1875. The current price for the daily editions is A$2.00. It has previously been published as The Dubbo Liberal and Macquarie Advocate and The Daily Liberal and Macquarie Advocate.
The history of the railways on the West Coast of Tasmania has fascinated enthusiasts from around the world, because of the combination of the harsh terrain in which the railways were created, and the unique nature of most of the lines.
The Strahan–Zeehan Railway, also known as the "Government Railway", was a railway from Strahan to Zeehan on the west coast of Tasmania.
Australian rules football in Tasmania, has been played since the late 1870s and draws the largest audience for a football code in the state.
Metro Tasmania, commonly called Metro, a Tasmanian Government business enterprise, is the largest bus operator in the state of Tasmania, Australia, with operations in three of the four largest urban centres of Hobart, Launceston, and Burnie. Urban services in Devonport are provided by a private operator, Kinetic. Services are provided by Metro under a range of urban and non-urban contracts with the Transport Commission, a division within the Department of State Growth.
Burnie City Council is a local government body in Tasmania, located in the city and surrounds of Burnie in the north-west of the state. The Burnie local government area is classified as urban and has a population of 19,348, which also encompasses Cooee, Hampshire, Natone and Ridgley.
The Zeehan and Dundas Herald was a newspaper for the West Coast Tasmania community, based in Zeehan and Dundas from 1890 to 1922.
Joshua Thomas Hoskins Whitsitt was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly from 1909 to 1922 and a member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1922 to 1925.
The Emu Bay Railway was a Tasmania, Australian railway company. The railway was significant during full operation, in that it linked the Tasmanian Government Railways system at Burnie with that at Zeehan that further linked to the Mount Lyell railway allowing connection through to Queenstown.
The Burnie Gift is a professional footrace held in Burnie, Tasmania during an annual sports carnival, held on a grass track at West Park Oval on New Year's Eve. It is conducted by the Tasmanian Athletic League in conjunction with the Burnie Athletic Club. The Burnie Gift is a sprint event conducted over the traditional 'Gift' distance of 120 metres.
James Joseph Gaffney was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly from 1899 to 1903, representing the electorate of Lyell.
In the Australian state of Tasmania, there are many areas which are commonly known by regional names. Regions are areas that share similar characteristics. These characteristics may be natural such as the Furneaux Islands, the coastline, or the Central Highlands. Alternatively, the characteristics may be cultural, such as a viticulture land use. Tasmania is divided by numerous regional boundaries, based on different characteristics. In many cases boundaries defined by different government agencies are coterminous and are often cited by the Australian and local media that tend to distinguish between North West, West Coast, Southern, and East Coast.
Montello is a suburb of the city of Burnie in North West Tasmania. It is about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) south-west of the centre of Burnie, and recorded a population of 1217 in the 2016 census.
Alfred Pickett was an Australian cricketer. He played two first-class matches for Tasmania between 1899 and 1900. He also played for Abbotsham and Leven.
Australian Community Media (ACM) is a media company in Australia responsible for over 160 regional publications. Its mastheads include the Canberra Times, Newcastle Herald, The Examiner, The Border Mail, The Courier and the Illawarra Mercury along with more than one hundred community-based websites across Australia and numerous agricultural publications including The Land and Queensland Country Life.
The Eyre Peninsula Tribune was a weekly newspaper published in Cleve, South Australia, founded in late 1910 and published from March 1911 to April 9, 2020. From 1911 to 1950 it was titled Eyre's Peninsula Tribune, reflecting a time when South Australia's peninsulas were referred to using possessives. It was later sold to Rural Press, previously owned by Fairfax Media, but now an Australian media company trading as Australian Community Media.
The West Coaster was a passenger train operated by the Emu Bay Railway between Burnie and Rosebery from October 1960 until January 1964.
Charles John Mackenzie was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly from 1886 to 1909, representing the electorate of Wellington.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
