The South Australian
The South Australian was a newspaper published in Adelaide, the capital of colonial South Australia from 2 June 1838 to 19 August 1851. Between 1838 and 1844, it was published as The Southern Australian.
History
The Southern Australian
The Southern Australian was founded by the Crown Solicitor,
The newspaper was founded as an opposition to South Australia's first newspaper, the
It is needless to shew that up to this time we have had no Free Press in the Colony. It will on all hands be admitted that one Journal devoted to sectional interests in the community, does not realize the idea entertained of a Free Press. ... We have had indeed a pernicious and corrupting monopoly.[3]
The founding of The Southern Australian carried the stated support of prominent early colonists, including
The Register of last Saturday informed the public, that upwards of twenty persons were buried in the Cemetery during the previous week, and that they had principally died from the slow fever, which it reported was prevalent. The truth is, that only four or five persons have been buried during the last few weeks ... The slow fever, of course, is equally apocryphal. We cannot suppose the Editor such an idiot as to publish a statement of this kind knowingly. We charitably presume it to be a very cruel hoax, to which system our solemn brother seems to be peculiarly subject.[4]
The Southern Australian was a mixture of advertisements for the city auctioneers, the expanding mines at
Initially the newspaper was published weekly on a Saturday, then Wednesdays from 9 January 1839, and Thursdays from 12 December 1839, at the price of sixpence per four-page issue (perhaps $30.00 in today's values);[citation needed] six pages from 30 January 1840. From May 1840 it became bi-weekly, published on Tuesdays and Fridays at sixpence for four pages. The original editor, James Allen, left in 1842 when he purchased the Register.
The South Australian
In 1844 the proprietor, Richard Blackham, sold the newspaper to Andrew Murray, who changed the newspaper's title to The South Australian, but without any interruption to the publication numbering. In July 1851 the newspaper became weekly again and the following month it ceased altogether. This was probably due to the rush to the Victorian gold fields, when South Australia lost much of its male work force and the colony suffered an economic downturn.
Digitisation
The
References
- ^ South Australian, 13 March 1849, p. 2
- ^ "Advertising". Southern Australian. Vol. I, no. 1. South Australia. 2 June 1838. p. 1. Retrieved 17 October 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Southern Australian, 2 June 1838, p. 1
- ^ Southern Australian, 22 March 1844, p. 2