 The Argus office at 76Collins Street, Melbourne in 1867 | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet, thentabloid from 1942[1] |
| Founder(s) | William Kerr |
| Founded | 1846 (1846) |
| Ceased publication | January 19, 1957 (1957-01-19) |
| Free online archives | https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/title/13 |
The Argus was an Australian daily morning newspaper inMelbourne from 2 June 1846 to 19 January 1957, and was considered to be the general Australiannewspaper of record for this period.[2] Widely known as aconservative newspaper for most of its history, it adopted aleft-leaning approach from 1949.The Argus's main competitor wasDavid Syme's more liberal-minded newspaper,The Age.
The newspaper was originally owned by William Kerr, who was also Melbourne's town clerk from 1851 to 1856 and had been a journalist at theSydney Gazette before moving to Melbourne in 1839 to work onJohn Fawkner's newspaper, thePort Phillip Patriot.
The first edition was published on 2 June 1846. The paper soon became known for its scurrilous abuse and sarcasm, and by 1853, after he had lost a series of libel lawsuits, Kerr was forced to sell the paper's ownership to avoid financial ruin. The paper was then published byEdward Wilson.[3] By 1855, it had a daily circulation of 13,000.[4]
In October 1881, an afternoon edition was launched, theEvening Mail, edited byHenry Short, but this was a failure, and ceased publication in August 1882.[5]In 1883, newspaper editor and ownerRichard Twopeny (1857–1919) regardedThe Argus as "the best daily paper published out of England".[6] The paper become a stablemate to the weeklyThe Australasian, which became theAustralasian Post in 1946.
During the Depression, in 1933, it launched theMelbourne Evening Star in competition withThe Herald newspaper of theHerald & Weekly Times, but ended the venture in 1936 due to poor circulation figures.
The company's newspaper operations experienced severe financial losses from 1939 onwards, which would continue through the 1940s and the 1950s due to economic turmoil, increased costs of newsprint, and cut-throat competition for newspaper circulation in Melbourne.
In June 1949,The Argus was acquired by theLondon basedDaily Mirror newspaper group and, on 28 July 1952, it became the first newspaper in the world to publish colour photographs in a daily paper. The paper also had interests in radio and, from 1956, the new medium of television, being part of the consortium General Telecasters Victoria (GTV) and its television stationGTV-9 (now part of theNine Network).
On 19 January 1957, after 110 years, seven months and 17 days, the final edition ofThe Argus was published. The paper was discontinued and sold to the Herald and Weekly Times group (HWT), which undertook to re-employArgus staff and continue publication of selected features,[7] and also made an allocation of shares to the UK owners. The company's other print and broadcasting operations were unaffected.[8]