 Front page of theTownsville Bulletin 6 October 2007 | |
| Type | Monday - Saturdaynewspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid |
| Owner | News Corp Australia[1] |
| Publisher | Queensland Newspapers |
| Editor | Cas Garvey |
| Founded | 1881 |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | Townsville, Australia Shop 2, 62 Walker St TownsvilleQLD 4810 |
| Circulation | 84,000 Monday-Friday 104,000 Saturday |
| Price | A$1.10 Monday-Friday A$1.70 Saturday |
| Website | townsvillebulletin.com.au |
TheTownsville Bulletin is a dailynewspaper published inTownsville, Queensland, Australia, formerly known as theTownsville Daily Bulletin. It is the only daily paper that serves thenorthern Queensland region. The paper has a print edition, a subscription digital edition and a website.[2]
The newspaper is published by The North Queensland Newspaper Company Pty Ltd, which has been a subsidiary ofNews Limited since 1984.[3][4] News Limited is Australia's largest newspaper publisher and a subsidiary ofNews Corporation associated withRupert Murdoch.
TheBulletin is published Monday through Saturday, with a higher price on the Saturday edition.[5] It is intabloid format.
The town of Townsville's early newspaper wasThe Cleveland Bay Herald and Northern Pioneer which came into existence on 3 March 1866, which was soon renamed as theCleveland Bay Express, and later became theTownsville Herald.[6] TheTownsville Bulletin was then established on 5 September 1881 by Edward Rhode, John Kiley Mehan (–1941) and Dodd Smith Clarke (–July 1918).[7][6][8] Rhode, Mehan, and Clarke had previously started a newspaper inCairns.[9]
Co-founder and first editor Clarke was credited as 'mainly instrumental through his brilliant writings in making the venture the success it proved'.[10][11] It was priced at three pence, a 50% reduction on that of the two other local newspapers, and became a daily publication on 1 January 1883.[8] Out of this, theNorth Queensland Bulletin was launched as a weekly journal by mid-1883.[8]
With the formation of the Townsville Newspaper Company in 1884, theTownsville Herald was acquired, and later merged into theBulletin.[8] It would appear as theNorth Queensland Herald.
TheBulletin offices were first in a premises on the eastern side of Stokes Street, before moving to a larger premises at south-eastern corner of Flinders and Stanley Streets from 1887 to 1896. The company then moved to the south-western corner of the intersection, until November 1908 when they moved further west on Flinders Street to a two-story building.[8] Prior to air conditioning systems, the building was selected for cool air flow, and had installed an electric fan system.
The original newspaper was printed on a doubledemyAlbion hand press, followed about 1883 by a gas engine powering a small single feeder Inglis machine – which printed two pages at a time, resulting in 250 newspapers an hour – before settling on a Cox Duplexrotary self-feeding and folding machine, able to turn out 1000 eight-page broadsheet by 1909.[8] Electricity had also been installed, but with gas lighting maintained in case of emergency.
Staffing-wise, the 1881 start saw three proprietors and a boy; by 1909, eight staff had over twenty years service with the company.[8]
A fire of the premises on 18 October 1912 destroyed much of the newspaper's early records.[12] Described as completely gutted other than for the strong-room, insurance amounts totalled £13,680.[13] The newspaper continued for the moment between theEvening Star andNorthern Miner offices.[14]
TheBulletin was later amalgamated withThe Northern Miner,[6] and in 1940, it incorporatedThe Townsville Evening Star.[15]
In 1984, theTownsville Daily Bulletin was acquired byNews Corp Australia and renamed as theTownsville Bulletin.[15][4]
The newspaper chartered aBoeing 747 to take North Queensland fans to the2005 NRL grand final, the Cowboys' first.[16]
It was awardedNews Limited's Regional Newspaper of the Year in 2009.[citation needed]
Along with nearly every other News Corp newspaper, the Bulletin endorsed the Liberal Party in its editorial on the2019 Australian federal election.[17]
"satellite view of Townsville Bulletin" (Map).Google Maps. Retrieved1 October 2011. (requires Javascript)
The paper has been digitised as part of theAustralian Newspapers Digitisation Program of theNational Library of Australia.[18][19]
19°15′46″S146°48′56″E / 19.2627°S 146.8155°E /-19.2627; 146.8155
